Goethe did not spend his
days in the company of the two lights; while they were plying their
mission, he threw himself into the distractions of the town, as usual
making himself a conspicuous figure by his overflowing spirits and his
practical jokes. Only at night, when he did not happen to have a
dancing partner, did he snatch a moment to pay a visit to Basedow,
whom he found in a close, unventilated room, enveloped in tobacco
smoke, and dictating endlessly to his secretary from his couch; for it
was one of Basedow's peculiarities that he never went to bed. On one
occasion Goethe had an excellent opportunity of observing the
contrasted characters of the two prophets. The three had gone to
Nassau to visit the Frau von Stein, mother of the statesman, and a
numerous company had been brought together to meet them. All three had
the opportunity of displaying their special gifts; Lavater his skill
in physiognomy, Goethe the gift he had inherited from his mother of
story-telling to children; but in the end Basedow asserted himself in
his most characteristic style. With a power of reasoning and a
passionate eloquence, to which both Goethe and Lavater bear witness,
he proclaimed the conditions of the regeneration of society--the
improved education of youth and the necessity for the rich to open
their purses for its accomplishment.
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