Founder of a Metaphysics of Morals 323house, but hired a cook and began to give dinner parties at his home. There
can be little doubt that he did this to continue the tradition started by Green.
Kant did not embark on this new venture alone. He asked Kraus, his
former student and closest colleague, to participate.^223 The practice be¬
gan on Easter 1787. At first, they would be alone, but gradually the invited
circle of friends grew larger. The first guests were Hamann and his chil¬
dren. They had wanted to visit Kraus, but were told by Lampe, whom they
met on the way, that Kraus was with Kant. Accordingly, they went to Kant's
house: "We found the two bachelors in a cold room, completely frozen,
and Kant ordered right away a bouteille of good wine.... When I have to
drink one glass, I cannot easily stop. Kraus was sitting there like a poor
sinner, he had hardly eaten half of his small portion.. ,"^224
Hamann invited himself more than once during I787.^225 But he left
Königsberg at the beginning of 1788 to go to Münster and Düsseldorf,
where he had great admirers. The main reason was his desire to get per¬
sonally acquainted with Jacobi. Hamann died soon after he left, in Mün¬
ster. Kraus was devastated.^226 Kant, who never had become a close friend
of Hamann and who usually met him because they were part of the same cir¬
cle of friends, was less affected.
Others who were regularly invited were Hippel, Jensch, Scheffner,Vig-
ilantius, Karl Gottfried Hagen, Dr. Rink, professor Pörschke, professor
Gensichen, bank director Ruffmann, city inspector Brahl, Pastor Sommer,
candidate Ehrenboth, Motherby, and the brothers Jachmann.^227 They were
all leading citizens of Königsberg, and they included high government of¬
ficials, preachers, and merchants. The complexion of this little society or
club changed as some of his friends died and others were invited. When
Kant died, there were still about twenty-four of his Tischfreunde, who fol¬
lowed his coffin.^228 These were the people with whom he spent most of
his time during his last years. They knew him better then anyone else alive
at that time, though they did not know him very well, as the dinners were
in the end rather formal occasions.
Kant was always elegantly dressed and took great care of his external
appearance, but Kraus did not pay much attention to such matters. He let
himself go and was often seen in old and worn-out clothes, which were
frequently soiled by tobacco stains from Kraus's snuff.
When he shared his table with Kant and also went more frequently to other social oc¬
casions without thinking of replacing his badly worn clothes with better ones, Kant
once took the occasion to steer the conversation to clothes and said to Kraus: 'Listen,