LAVA'TER, JOHN CASPAR, was born in 1741 at Zurich, where his father was a physician. The severity of his mother oppressed his youthful mind, and iu his juvenile days he was remarkable for a fantastic solitary disposition, and an aversion to school. lie soon discovered a decided tendency to religion, end in early years he had a great predilection for singing hymns and reading the Bible. Ho made no great progress in philological studies, but bad au aptitude at expressing his thoughts, and feelings which admirably qualified him for the office of clergyman. In 1763 he travelled through Leipzig and Berlin in the company of Fuseli, the subsequently celebrated painter, and to Barth in Swedish Pomerania to study theology under the celebrated Speldiug. In 1764 he returned to his native town, and occupied himself with his duties as a preacher, with biblical studies, and poetical composition. The poems of Klopstock and Bodmer had produced an effect on his mind, and in 1767 he published his admired 'Swiss Songs,' and in the following year his 'Aussiehten in die Ewigkeit ' (' Prospects of Eternity ').
In 1769 Lavater was made deacon of the Orphan house church at Ziirich, where the extraordinary effect of his sermons, his blameless life, and benevolent disposition made him the idol of his congregation, while his printed sermons eent forth his fame to distant parts. His 'Phygiognomie Fragment,' appeared lu 1775, in 4 vols. 4to, a work which has since been translated, abridged, and illustrated in every variety of form. In early life he bad become acquainted with men of various characters, and bad observed corresponding points of resemblance in the character of their mind and their features; and as he had a disposition to generalise particular observations as much as possible, he endeavoured to raise physiognomy to the rank of a science. He collected likenesses from all parts, made silhouettes of his friends, and the result of this pursuit was the celebrated work above mentioned. It is said that in after-life Lavater had less faith in physiognomy than at first. But whatever may have been the case with regard to his opinions on physiognomy, Lavater always firmly clung to his peculiar religious views, which were a mixture of new interpretations with ancient orthodoxy, and mystical even to super stition. Oue leading article of his faith was a belief in the sensible
manifestation of supernatural powers. His disposition to give credence to the miraculous led him to believe the strange pretensions of many individuals, such as the power to exorcise devils, to perform cures by animal magnetism, &c. Some even suspected him of Roman Catho licism. Thus while his mystical tendency rendered him an object of ridicule to the party called the enlightened (Aufgeklarte), the favour he showed to many new institutions offended the religionists of the old school. However, many of the religious world, even of those not immediately belongiog to his congregation, regarded Lavater with great veneration, and, opening a correspondence with him, looked to his letters as the great source of their spiritual consolation.
In the latter years of Lavater his writings were less esteemed; his poems were compared with those of more recent German writers, and lost by the comparison ; while a free-thinking spirit was on the increase, which checked sympathy with his warm religious feelings. The begin ning of the French Revolution Lavater regarded with pleasure; but Lie love changed to horror after the decapitation of the king. On the appearance of the revolution in Switzerland, he mounted the pulpit with the greatest zeal, and there, as well as in all public assem blies, declaimed against the French party with the utmost fervour and courage. When, on the 26th of September 1799 Menem took Zurich. Lavater, who was busied iu the streets exciting the soldiery and aiding the sufferers, was shot by a grenadier. It is said that this grenadier was not one of the enemy, and that the act was that of an assassin ; and it is further supposed that Lavater knew the man, but from a Christian spirit of forgiveness never betrayed him. Ho suffered a long time from this wound, but did not die till the beginning of 1801. During his illness he wrote some papers on the times and some poems, which are considered to be mom; his best productions.