The day on which he composed _The Lake of Zurich_ was one of the
pleasantest in his life. Cramer says: 'He has often told me and still
tells, with youthful fervour, about those delightful days and this
excursion: the boat full of people, mostly young, all in good
spirits; charming girls, his wife Herzel, a lovely May morning.'

But, unlike St Preux, he 'seemed less impressed by our scenery than
by the beauty of our girls,[13] and his letters bear out the
remark.[14] Yet delight in Nature was always with him: Klopstock's
lofty morality pours forth all through it. Nature, love, fame, wine,
everything is looked at from an ennobling point of view.'

Fair is the majesty of all thy works
On the green earth, O Mother Nature fair!
But fairer the glad face
Enraptured with their view.
Come from the vine banks of the glittering lake,
Or--hast thou climbed the smiling skies anew--
Come on the roseate tip
Of evening's breezy wing,
And teach my song with glee of youth to glow,
Sweet joy, like thee--with glee of shouting youths,
Or feeling Fanny's laugh.

Behind us far already Uto lay.
At whose feet Zurich in the quiet vale
Feeds her free sons: behind--
Receding vine-clad hills.
Uncloud'd beamed the top of silver Alps,
And warmer beat the heart of gazing youths,