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. He at last resolved to remove him from the schoolroom to the counting-room, and to employ him as one of his clerks. From this situation he afterward 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, afterward so celebrated among the literary ornaments of his country, but who was then, like his new friend, only a young man of twenty-five, 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 connexion 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 afterward greatly distinguished themselves in the regeneration of the literature of their country. These young men were the principal supporters of various periodical works which then existed 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 been published, and requested him to read it and give his opinion of it. Ön returning the book some days afterward, Mendelsohn observed that he thought he could, without much difficulty, refute the author's propositions. 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. "In the mean 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 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 this rapid sketch 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 almost without a rival among his contemporaries. His treatise, in particular, on the immortality of the soul, entitled "Phædon," 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 very greatest performances. The incessant literary labours of this illustrious man were often carried on under the pressure of ill-health, and always amid the interruptions of business or of society. He eventually became the partner of Mr. Bernard in his silkmanufacturing 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,* 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 at his house; and, on his return, he usually found a numerous assembly in his room, who anxiously await

* Memoir, p. 139, 140.

*

ed his appearance. There were theologians, literati, philosophers, public 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 XVII.

Jerome Stone; Sir Dudley North; Thomas Holcroft.-Conclusion.

JEROME STONE was, in great part, a self-educated man. The only notice we have of his life is in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, where we are told he was born in 1727, in the parish of Scoonie, in Fife, and that his father was a seaman, who died abroad when Jerome was only three years old, leaving his widow to maintain herself and her young family in the best way she could by her own exertions. Elementary education in Scotland, however, has long been so cheap as to be within the reach of the poorest; and Jerome was accordingly taught reading, writing, and a little arithmetic, at the parish school. But in his mother's narrow circumstances it was necessary that he should, as soon as possible, do something for his own support; and therefore, while yet a boy, he commenced travelling the country as a chapman or pedler, with a miscellaneous assortment of trinkets, tapes, and other portable wares. Jerome, howev