classic languages; but Mendelsohn, inquisitive after all knowledge, and reading with avidity every accessible work which promised him any information, soon discovered that without an acquaintance with Greek and Latin his literary researches must remain extremely bounded. He therefore resolved to acquire these languages. But how he was to take the first step in this pursuit it was not very easy to understand. The Hebrew and the German were the only languages he knew, and there was no Greek or Latin grammar, as far as he was aware, written in either. In this difficulty a fortunate chance brought him acquainted with a brother Jew, a person of the name of Kish, from Prague, who was a medical practitioner, and knew something of Latin. Mendelsohn prevailed upon this man to give him gratuitously a quarter of an hour's instruction every day, till he had made himself master of the Latin nouns and verbs. When he had advanced thus far, he dispensed with his instructor. Having purchased for a trifle an old dictionary which had been very ill-used, he considered himself to be in possession of all the necessary aid for commencing the work of translation; which accordingly he forthwith essayed on the first Latin book he could obtain. This, it is related, happened to be no other than a Latin translation of Locke on the Human Understanding the whole of which he toiled through. After this achievement he applied himself to the Roman classics, and he found that he could read them in general with ease and pleasure.

Mendelsohn's classical studies had probably already begun to subject him to unpleasant suspicions and imputations from the more bigoted among his Israelitish brethren. This may have been partly the reason that led him to attach himself about this time to a Polish Jew of the name of Israel Moses, who had come to reside in Berlin, having been obliged to leave his native country in consequence of being supposed to hold opinions too liberal for the taste of the great majority of his nation. This person, among his other acquirements, was a proficient in mathematics-a branch of learning of which as yet Mendelsohn knew nothing. On the other hand, Israel Moses was altogether ignorant of Latin. It was agreed therefore that the two friends should become each other's instructors. The Pole accordingly carried Mendelsohn through the elements of geometry by means of a Hebrew translation of Euclid; and in return received lessons from the latter in Latin and German. Such was the manner in which this ardent student availed himself of every chance opportunity of making a new acquisition in useful or liberal knowledge-rarely having it in his power to travel towards his object by the most direct and usual road, but not deterred on that account from seeking it by any by-path, however circuitous, that lay open to him. During the time he remained at Berlin in obscurity and indigence, Mendelsohn's studies extended to many other subjects besides those we have mentioned. In particular he made himself familiar with both the

French and English languages. But, after several years had passed away without improving his worldly circumstances, a rich Jew of the name of Bernard, who resided in the city, fortunately heard of his talents and his worth, and, being at the time in want of a tutor for his children, determined to employ him in that capacity. To poor Mendelsohn this was at that time an elevation that satisfied his highest ambition. He had now not only a comfortable home, but a salary which enabled him to buy books, and to take lessons in those branches of scholarship of which he was yet ignorant. It was after this that he began the study of the Greek language, to which he had not ventured to apply himself so long as he was unable to obtain the assistance of a master. The duties of his situation allowed him considerable leisure, which he devoted, with his wonted ardour, both to various new departments of science and literature, and to the further prosecution of those upon which he had already entered. He thus extended his mathematical acquirements to algebra and fluxions; while natural philosophy, natural history, general history, and metaphysics, all came in for a share of his

attention.

Among his other accomplishments were a remarkably beautiful handwriting and great skill in accounts. Trivial as these acquirements may be deemed, it so turned out that to them, principally, Mendelsohn was indebted for the prosperity of his future life. His diligence in the performance of his regular duties, and his excellent general conduct, soon raised him high in the favour of his employer; but that gentleman was particularly struck with the talent he displayed in the arts we have just mentioned; and he at last resolved to remove him from the school-room to the counting-house, and to employ him as one of his clerks. From this situation he afterwards promoted him to a higher place in his establishment, which was a large silk manufactory; and at last he appointed him manager of the whole concern.

Mendelsohn was now in the enjoyment of a handsome income; but neither this nor the laborious duties of his place relaxed his diligence as a student. His evenings, and a great portion of the night, were still regularly given to literature and philosophy. He had long looked with anxious and compassionate interest upon the general ignorance of his Hebrew brethren; and the desire of diffusing among them the light of modern literature and science had become, as it continued to be throughout his life, the first wish of his heart. With this view he projected, in conjunction with a friend, a Hebrew periodical work, to consist of short essays on such parts of science and morals as could most easily be made popular and interesting, to be entitled "The Moral Preacher." Of this work, however, the first in which Mendelsohn tried his powers as a public writer, only two numbers appeared, when he felt it prudent to discontinue it, in consequence of the outcry raised against it by his

more bigoted brethren, to whom such an attempt to displace their ancient rabbinical manuals of instruction seemed fraught both with presumption and profanity. But Mendelsohn, though turned from his course for the moment, was not thus to be driven to relinquish finally what he deemed to be as much the path of his duty as it was of his ambition.

About the year 1754, an event took place which greatly influenced Mendelsohn's future career; we mean his introduction to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, afterwards so celebrated among the literary ornaments of his country, but who was then, like his new friend, a young man of five-and-twenty, and only beginning to be known as a writer. Mendelsohn is said to have been first made known to Lessing by a Jewish medical practitioner of the name of Gumpertz, by whom he had been assisted in learning some of the modern languages. They had also occasionally played at chess together; and it was as a proficient in this game that the young Jewish philosopher was first recommended to the acquaintance of the future author of "Nathan the Wise." But these two congenial minds soon turned their intercourse to higher ends. To Mendelsohn this connection was especially important, inasmuch as it speedily introduced him to various other literary men then residing in Berlin, to whose society, from their difference of religious creed, he would not otherwise have had access. In this manner he became the intimate associate of Nicolai, Abbt, and others, who afterwards greatly distinguished themselves in the regeneration of the literature of their country. These young men were the principal supporters of various periodical works which were then carried on at Berlin; and Mendelsohn now joined his contributions to theirs. He had not yet, however, published any work in his own name; when one day, his friend Lessing brought him a philosophical treatise which had just come out, and requested him to read it and give his opinion of it. On returning the book some days afterwards, Mendelsohn observed that he thought he could without much difficulty refute the author's positions. Encouraged by his friend, he accordingly sat down to the composition of his reply. When he had finished it, he brought the manuscript to Lessing, and requested him to be kind enough to read it, which the latter promised to do as soon as he should be at leisure. At their next interview, however, somewhat to Mendelsohn's surprise, the matter was never mentioned by Lessing; and Mendelsohn was too modest to introduce it himself. This happened several times-till at last the anxious author ventured to ask his friend if he had found time to look at the manuscript. Lessing again complained of want of leisure; but promised him that he should certainly contrive to find time to read it immediately. time," he added, "here is a small volume on the same subject, which has just appeared; take it home with you, and let me know what you think

"In the mean

of it." Mendelsohn's surprise may be conceived when on opening this volume he found it to be his own work already in print-his "Philosophical Dialogues," as he had entitled it. "Put it into your pocket," said Lessing, enjoying his amazement, " and this Mammon along with it; it is what I got for the copyright."

From this time Mendelsohn took his place in the very front rank of the literary men of Germany. It does not, however, belong to so slight and rapid a sketch as the present even to enumerate the long succession of works by which, during almost every year of his remaining life, he sustained and added to his fame. For the classical elegance of his German style he was considered as ranking with the first of his contemporaries. His treatise, in particular, on the immortality of the soul, entitled "Phaedon," attracted, immediately on its appearance, universal attention, and, being translated into English, French, Dutch, Italian, Danish, and Hebrew, spread the fame of the author over all Europe. But the great effort of his life still continued to be the moral and intellectual improvement of his brethren of the house of Israel. For this purpose he brought all the resources of his learning and genius to the illustration of the Hebrew Scriptures; and his translations of the books of Moses and the Psalms, the latter in verse, are reckoned among his ablest performances. The incessant literary labours of this remarkable man were often carried on under the pressure of ill-health, and always amidst the interruptions of business or of society. He eventually became the partner of Mr. Bernard in his silk-manufacturing establishment, and lived in the enjoyment of opulence. In his thirty-third year he married, and had the happiness before his death of seeing his family growing up around him. One of his publications, which he entitles Morning Hours," consists of a series of lectures on natural philosophy, which he was for some years in the habit of delivering to his children every morning for two or three hours after sunrise. His habits of living were extremely simple and abstemious. "It was inconceivable," says Mr. Samuels ("Memoir," pp. 139, 140), to whose memoir we have been principally indebted for the above facts, "that the quantity of food to which he restricted himself could sustain a human being; and at the same time it was affecting to see him press his guests good humouredly to partake of viands and liquors which himself, though ever so desirous, durst not venture to taste. * * * He was very fond of company, and never courted solitude, except from four or five o'clock in the morning till about eight or nine, when he adjourned to his counting-house, and remained there till noon. After dinner he generally attended to business again, till about four in the afternoon. About this hour his friends and pupils used to meet him at his house; and, on his return, he usually found a numerous assembly in his room, who anxiously awaited his appearance. There were theologians, literati, philosophers, public

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functionaries, merchants, natives, foreigners, old and young, in promiscuous groups, with whom he conversed till eight o'clock, on various topics." Mendelsohn died, in consequence of a cold which he caught in returning one morning from the synagogue (in his attendance on which he was always extremely regular), on the 4th of January, 1786, in the fifty-eighth year of his age.

CHAPTER XXXV.

JOHN OF SALISBURY; ROGER BACON.

THE persons with whom we have been occupied in the chapters immediately preceding the present have all belonged to what may almost be called our own times; or, at least, their pursuits have been such as to indicate an advanced state of literature, philosophy, and civilization generally. It is only within the last two or three centuries that anything like a spirit of independent speculation has formed a pervading characteristic of the literature of modern Europe. Up to that period the intellect of our forefathers may be said, in most of its efforts, to have walked in leading-strings. The peculiar circumstances in which literature sprung up a second time in western Europe, after the subversion of the Roman empire, sufficiently explain why it remained so long in a state of pupilage. But the extended period in modern history called the Dark Ages was only the night of the human mind, and by no means its sleep, as it has sometimes been described. The numbers of those who then applied themselves to literary pursuits were very great, and their zeal and industry in many cases such as has never been surpassed. As an evidence of the assiduity with which it was customary for men to devote themselves to the studies then in fashion, we may quote the account which our countryman JOHN OF SALISBURY, who flourished in the twelfth century, gives us of the education he had received. "He says" (we quote the version of the original Latin which Mr. Turner has given in his "History of England," vol. i. p. 507), "that, in the year after Henry I. died, he went to the Peripatetic School at Paris,* on the Mount of St. Geneviève, and there studied logic; he afterwards adhered to Master Alberic, as opinatissimus dialecticus (a dialectician in the highest repute), and an acerrimus impugnator (most keen impugner) of the Nominal sect. He was two years with him and Robert Metridensis, an Englishman, both men acuti ingenii and studii pervicacis (of acute genius and resolute studiousness). He then for three years transferred

So translated by Mr. Turner; but the phrase in the original is Ad Peripateticum Palatinum, which means "to the Peripatetic

of Palais," the common name by which the celebrated Abelard was known in that age, from his place of birth, Palais, in Bretagne.