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.
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