Essays on physiognomy : designed to promote the knowledge and the love of mankind / written in the German language by John Caspar Lavater ; and translated into English by Thomas Holcroft ; to which are added, One hundred physiognomonical rules, a posthumous work by Mr. Lavater ; and memoirs of the life of the author, compiled principally from the life of Lavater, by G. Gessner.

  • Lavater, Johann Caspar, 1741-1801.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays on physiognomy : designed to promote the knowledge and the love of mankind / written in the German language by John Caspar Lavater ; and translated into English by Thomas Holcroft ; to which are added, One hundred physiognomonical rules, a posthumous work by Mr. Lavater ; and memoirs of the life of the author, compiled principally from the life of Lavater, by G. Gessner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    here give one of the many instances, with which I am acquainted, of the superior degree in which this in- tuition was possessed by Mr. Lavater. A person to whom he was an entire stranger was once announced, and introduced to him as a visitor. The first idea that rose in his mind, the moment he saw him, was, * This man is a murderer.' He, how- ever, suppressed the thought as unjustifiably severe and hasty, and conversed with the person with his accustomed civility. The cultivated understanding, extensive information, and ease of manner which h-e discovered in his visitor, inspired him with the highest respect for his intellectual endowments; and his esteem for these, added to the benevolence and can- dour natural to him, induced him to disregard the unfavourable impression he had received from his first appearance with respect to his moral character. The next day he dined with him by invitation; but soon after it was known that this accomplished gentleman was one of the assassins of the late king of Sweden ; and he found it advisable to leave the country as speedily as possible. In the summer of the year 1777, Lavater received a visit from his friend Zollikofer, whom, on his return, he accompanied a part of the way. They took their road through Waldshut, where the emperor Joseph II. then was, who hearing that Lavater was in the town, sent for him, and held a conversation with him on the subject of physiognomy. Of this conversation, Lavater has himself given the following account. It is impossible to describe the gracious manner