JOHANN KASPAR

LAVATER (1741—1801)  , German poet and physiognomist, was born at Zurich on the 15th of November 1741 . He was educated at the gymnasium of his native town, where J . J . Bodmer and J . J . Breitinger were among his teachers . When barely one-and-twenty he greatly distinguished himself by denouncing, in conjunction with his friend, the painter H . Fuseli, an iniquitous magistrate, who was compelled to make restitution of his ill-gotten gains . In 1769 Lavater took orders, and officiated till his death as deacon or pastor in various churches in his native city . His oratorical fervour and genuine depth of conviction gave him great personal influence; he was extensively consulted as a casuist, and was welcomed with demonstrative enthusiasm in his numerous journeys through Germany . His mystical writings were also widely popular . Scarcely a trace of this influence has remained, and Lavater's name would be forgotten but for his work on physiognomy, Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beforderung der Menschenkenntnis and Menschenliebe (1775-1778) .

The fame even of this

book, which found enthusiastic admirers in France and England, as well as in Germany, rests to a great extent upon the handsome style of publication and the accompanying illustrations . It left, however, the study of physiognomy (q.v.), as desultory and unscientific as it found it . As a poet, Lavater published Christliche Lieder (1776—1780) and two epics, Jesus Messias (1780) and Joseph von Arimathia (1794), in the style of Klopstock . More important and characteristic of the religious temperament of Lavater's age are his introspective Aussichten in die Ewigkeit (4 vols., 2768—1778); Geheimes Tagebuch von einem Beobachter seiner LAVELEYE 291 selbst (2 vols., 1772—1773) and Pontius Pilatus, oder der Mensch in alien Gestalten (4 vols., 1782—1785) . From 1774 on, Goethe was intimately acquainted with Lavater, but at a later period he became estranged from him, somewhat abruptly accusing him of superstition and hypocrisy . Lavater had a mystic's indifference to historical Christianity, and, although esteemed by himself and others a champion of orthodoxy, was in fact only an antagonist of rationalism . During the later years of his life his influence waned, and he incurred ridicule by some exhibitions of vanity . He redeemed himself by his patriotic conduct during the French occupation of Switzerland, which brought about his tragical death . On the taking of Zurich by the French in 1799, Lavater, while endeavouring to appease the soldiery, was shot through the body by an infuriated grenadier; he died after long sufferings borne with great fortitude, on the 2nd of January 18ot . Lavater himself published two collections of his writings, Vermischte Schriften (2 vols., 1774—1781), and Kleinere prosaische Schriften (3 vols., 1784—1785) . His Nachgelassene Schriften were edited by G . Gessner (5 vols., 18oi—1802) ; Samtliche Werke (but only poems) (6 vols., 1836—1838) ; Ausgewahlte Schriften (8 vols., 1841—1844) .

See G . Gessner, Lavaters Lebensbeschreibung (3 vols., 18o2—18o3); U . Hegner, Beitrage zur Kenntnis Lavaters (1836) ; F . W . Bodemann, Lavater nach seinem Leben, Lehren and Wirken (1856; 2nd ed., 1877); F . Muncker, J . K . Lavater (1883); H . Waser, J . K . Lavater nach Hegners Aufzeichnungen (1894); J . K .

Lavater, Denkschrift zum zoo . Todestag (1902) .