habit of
playing on his friends. Seeing an unfinished sermon of Lavater on his
desk, he completed it during the absence of Lavater, who, in ignorance
of the addition, preached the whole sermon as his own.--_Ib._ p. 58.]

In Zurich happened what Merck had foreseen. Goethe had grown tired of
his over-exuberant fellow-travellers, whose ways, moreover, did not
commend them to the sensitive Lavater. Goethe himself indeed was
capable of wild enough pranks, but behind his wild humours lay ever
the "serious striving" which was the regulative force of his nature,
and which Lavater had recognised from the beginning of their
intercourse. A lucky accident gave Goethe the opportunity of escaping
from his late comrades without an open breach. In Zurich he found a
friend whom he had looked forward to meeting there. This was a native
of Frankfort, Passavant by name, who was settled in Switzerland as a
Reformed pastor. Passavant was a man of intelligence and attractive
character, and when he proposed that they should make a tour together
through the smaller Swiss Cantons, Goethe jumped at the suggestion.

From Goethe's own narrative of his tour with Passavant we are to infer
that the distracting image of Lili was never absent from his mind, and
that all the glories of the scenery through which they passed were
only its background seen through the haze of his wandering
imaginations. And the testimony of the prose narrative in his
Autobiography is confirmed by the successive lyrics, prompted by the
intrusive image of Lili, which fell from him by the way. In the
following lines, composed on the Lake of Zurich on the first morning
of their journey, he clothes in poetical form the confession he had
made to Johanna Fahlmer from Emmendingen:--

Und frische Nahrung, neues Blut
Saug' ich aus freier Welt;
Wie ist Natur so hold und gut,
Die mich am Busen haelt!

Die Welle wieget unsern Kahn
Im Rudertakt hinauf,
Und Berge, wolkig himmelan,
Begegnen unserm Lauf.

Aug', mein Aug', was sinkst du nieder?
Goldne Traeume, kommt ihr wieder?
Weg, du Traum! so Gold du bist;
Hier auch Lieb' und Leben ist.

Auf der Welle blinken
Tausend schwebende Sterne;
Weiche Nebel trinken
Rings die tuermende Ferne;

Morgenwind umfluegelt
Die beschattete Bucht,
Und im See bespiegelt
Sich die reifende Frucht.

Fresh cheer and quickened blood I suck