struction ia general literature and philosophy. Chance favored him v.ith the acquaintance of a Polish .lew who possessed a profound knowledge of m.athematics. The Bole became his instructor in Euclid, wliich he studied from a copy of the work in Hebrew, this being the only language understood by his teacher. Be- sides Locke's Essay on thv Human Understandintj, he studied the writings of Wolf, Leibnitz, and Spinoza, which exercised the greatest influence upon his men- tal development. Thus passed seven of the most la- borious years of his life; it was the period of &\->- prenticeship served to science, (iradually this most reserved but most persevering and highly-cultivated j-outh became known in wider circles. His fortune now began to turn. A rich co-religionist of Berlin, Isaac Bernhard, a silk manufacturer, engaged him as tutor for his children. Henceforth he was in easy if not af- fluent circumstances. His connection with the house of Bernhard continued throughout life, first as tutor in the family, afterwards as book-keeper in the manufac- tory, and eventually as manager if not as partner in the concern. In the intervals of business he published, in concert with his friend, Tobias Bock, some essays on natural philosophy in Hebrew, for the use of young men studj-ing the Talmud. This publication, which ap- peared in the 1D^"a P5~p, i. e. "The Hebrew Preach- er," gave some offence to the rabbins, and he escaped persecution only by his strict observance of the Oral Law, to which he undeviatingly submitted all the rest of his life, although his internal convictions were little in accordance with its practices. About this time (1754) be became accjuainted with Lessing ((j. v.) and Nicolai (q. v.). With the former he formed an intimate friend- ship, always regarded by jMendelssohn as aniong the most fortunate circumstances of his life ; for in " Lessing, than whom no man \vas ever more free from the preju- dices of creed and nation, Mendelssohn found a hearty sympathy and an effective fellow-laborer in his projects for bettering the condition of the (lerman Jews, an ob- ject which then and at all times lay nearest his heart. Indeed, the known friendship of so eminent a man for one of that tribe, in defiance of all the i)rejudices of his age, was scarcely less important to the Jews in general than it was to Mendelssohn in particular." For two hours every day regularly they met and discussed to- gether literary and philosophical subjects, a circum- stance which led Mendelssolni to write his Philosophi- sche Gesptdche.thc very first .effort by which he became distinguished beyond the pale of Judaism. The MS. of these dialogues JMendelssohn left with Lessing for examination ; but how great was the former's surprise when one day Lessing returned his dialogues in print, published without the author's knowledge. He next sent forth Pope, ein Metaphysiker (together with Les- sing [1755J), and several other essays, and finally his iJrie/e iiber die Kmpfimhtngen (1764). In the same year he also wrote Abhandlitnt/en iiber die Eridenz der vieta- physischen W'issenschaJ'tai as a prize essay for the Berlin Academy, which was crowned by that learned body, who besides unanimously resolved to elect him a mem- ' ber of their number. Frederick the Great, however, generally prejudiced against the Jews, struck the name off the list, and the Jew had to content himself with the consciousness that he enjoyed less than his contempora- ries believed him eiuiiled to. Jlendelssohn afterwards, at the instigation of Nicolai and Lessing. collected all his philoso|(hical lucubrations, and iiuldished them in 1761 uiidcr the title of J'hi/osophi.irhe gchri/lni, of which in a short time three editions were published (3d ed. 1777, 2 vols. 8vo). ,\t thirty-one Jlendelssohn mar- ried a lady from Hamburg, Ijy whom he had several children, among them a son, whose l)irth gave rise to one of his most celebrated works, the Morfjenslunden, which treats on the existence of (ioil. in refutation of Pantheism and Spinozism — the result of many years' inquiry on that subject. Mendelssohn had formerly
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