and gray collar,
gnawing a _Butterbrot_ like a wolf. From Bonn they drove to Cologne,
Goethe on the way inscribing in an album the concluding lines of the
_Dine zu Coblenz_:--

Und, wie nach Emmaus, weiter ging's
[Transcriber's Note: corrected error "Emaus"]
Mit Geist und Feuerschritten,
Prophete rechts, Prophete links,
Das Weltkind in der Mitten.

At Cologne they parted for the day, Lavater proceeding to Muelheim[181]
and Goethe to Duesseldorf. On the 21st Goethe was at Elberfeld, where
his former friend Jung Stilling was settled as a physician. Stilling
has related how Goethe made him aware of his presence. A message came
to him that a stranger, who had been taken ill at an inn, wished to
see him. He found the stranger in bed with head covered, and when at
his request he leant over to feel his pulse, the patient flung his
arms round his neck. On the evening of the same day there was a social
gathering at the house of a pious merchant in the town in honour of
Lavater, who had come to Elberfeld and was the merchant's guest. As
described by Stilling, the guests, chiefly consisting of persons of
the pietist persuasion, were as remarkable for their appearance as for
their opinions, and the artist who accompanied Lavater in his travels
busily sketched their heads throughout the evening. Goethe was in his
wildest mood, dancing round the table in a manner familiar to those
who knew him, but which led the strangers present to doubt his sanity.
It was apparently during the same evening that there occurred an
incident which, as recorded by Lavater, shows us another side of
Goethe. Among the guests was one Hasenkamp, a pietistic illuminist,
who suddenly, when the company was in the full flow of amicable
conversation, turned to Goethe and asked him if he were the Herr
Goethe, the author of _Werther_. "Yes," was the answer. "Then I feel
bound in my conscience to express to you my abhorrence of that
infamous book. Be it God's will to amend your perverted heart!" The
company did not know what to expect next, when Goethe quietly replied:
"I quite understand that from your point of view you could not judge
otherwise, and I honour you for your candour in thus taking me to
task. Pray for me!"[182]

[Footnote 181: Basedow remained for a time at Muelheim. As we shall
see, he and Goethe met again later in the month.]

[Footnote 182: As _Werther_ was not published till the autumn of 1774,
there must be some c