352 
inquiry, he was frequently obliged to sub- 
sist for successive weeks and months—nay 
for years, on a scanty supply of brown bread 
alone, which (measuring his daily consump- 
tion, not by his appetite but his purse) he 
regularly notched into so many portions as 
there would be meal-times before he 
could afford to procure another loaf. The 
mere accommodation of an unfurnished 
room, in which he cculd moisten his scanty 
portion with a little-water, pursue his stu- 
dies, and lay himself down for a few hours 
of sheltered slumber, was a bounty of bene- 
volence. Such were the circumstances 
under which that information and those 
acquirements were attained, which brought 
to its maturity one of the most truly philo- 
sophical and benignant mind’ that ever 
did honour to humanity; procured for him 
the friendship of Lessing, the veneration 
of the profound, the enlightened and the 
liberal of his age, the admiration even of 
the most exalted, and the esteem of all ; 
and occasioned his death (which occurred 
on the 4th of January 1786, in his fifty- 
eighth -year) to be regarded as a public 
calamity. 
** Mendelsohn died as he had lived, calm and pla- 
cid; he took an earthly smilewith him into eternity. 
When his death became known, the whole city of 
Berlin was a scene of unfeigned sorrow. The citi- 
zens of all denominations looked upon the event as 
a national calamity. The nobility, the court, sent 
letters of condolence to the widow; and the learned 
of all parts of Europe, where his writings were 
known, paid him a tribute of their respect by joining 
the general lamentation.” 
Nor, at this distance of time, do we with- 
hold the sympathy of our admiration. That 
he adhered to the religion and ceremonial 
rites of his forefathers—was a Jew and not a 
Christian—makes to us no difference in the 
estimation, and abates not one jot of our 
brotherly love and human sympathy. We 
weigh not estimation by creeds and cere- 
monies, but by the practical utilities of the 
head and heart. If our divine Milton has 
clothed the deity of his belief with the 
pomps of oriental despotism, and presents 
him, to us, as snufling the incense of orien- 
tal adulation; if our Newton, as some of 
his yet existing manuscripts are said to 
shew, was infected with all the mysticism 
ofa Jacob Beeman;—the poetic genius and 
the patriot wisdom of the one, or the placid 
perseyerance and scientific comprehension 
of the other, are not shaken thereby, or 
lessened in their claims upon our venera- 
tion: nor is Moses Mendelsohn excom- 
municated from the bosom of our faith 
(the faith of universal benevolence) be- 
cause he believed that a religion, founded 
upon the evidence of the public personal 
legislation of deity, was more satisfactory 
than a faith founded on.the eyidence of 
miracles.* 
*** According to my religious theory, miracles are 
not, indiscriminately, a distinctive mark of truth; 
nor do they yield a moral evidence of a prophct’s 
Monthly Review of Literature. 
[May 1, 
We are members of a ciyil community, 
not of a celestial hierarchy ; and our business 
is with the hearts and actions, not with the 
creeds or metaphysical speculations of our 
fellow-beings. The different opinions 
which omnipotent wisdom (in whose hand 
is the bolt, that could annihilate whatever 
he thinks unfit to be endured) has thought 
fit to tolerate, we can tolerate likewise—con- 
scious that, from those with whom we may 
differ, we stand in need of toleration also. 
Actions may trespass upon us, and may, 
therefore, rightly be restrained ; but opi- 
nions, however erroneous, give us nO ali- 
noyance. 
We have marked, as we read, a number 
of passages for quotation, illustrative not 
only of the circumstances. of this very ex- 
traordinary life, but of the benignant wis- 
dom of this Hebrew philosopher ; we find, 
however, on revision, that they would more 
than fill up the whole space of our Review ; 
and, in the difficulty of choice, we must re- 
linquish them all; earnestly recommending 
to our readers the perusal of the work itself : 
nor do we scruple to pronounce, in taking 
a reluctant farewell of so interesting a sub- 
ject, that if true religion be, as we conceive, 
a matter of the heart, not of particular 
rites and dogmas, they will find it, even in 
defiance of superstitious observances, be- 
neath the Jewish gaberdine of Moses Men- 
delsohn. 
Tne Life of Friedrich Schiller. Compre- 
hending an Examination of his Works.  &vo. 
—This is another highly interesting speci- 
men of that most valuable and most in- 
structive of all of the classes of historical 
composition — biography : the biography of 
aman of yast powers of mind and splendid 
genius— of one ofthe great lights and master- 
spirits of the age—of one of those who 
have not only created, for successive ages 
and myriads yet unborn, new sources of in- 
tellectual gratification, but who have left, as 
it were, the elements of their own superior 
minds behind them, to mingle with the soeial 
atmosphere which their survivors and their 
posterity must breathe, and which must, 
consequently, haye an- influence on the 
future progress and history of mankind. 
The work is ably written, with a pene- 
trating and enlightened spirit, embued alike 
with just principles of criticism and philo- 
» sopby,; 
divine legation. The public giving of the law, only, 
could, according to our creed, impart satisfactory 
authenticity ; because the ambassador had, in this 
case, no need of credentials, the divine commission 
being given in the hearing of the whole nation. Here 
no truths were to be confirmed by actual proceed- 
ings, no doctrine by preternatural occurrences, but 
it was intended it should be believed, that the divine 
manifestation had chosen this very prophet for its 
legate, as every individual had heard himself the no- 
mination. - Accordingly we read, (Exod. xix. 9.) And 
the Lord-said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee ina 
thick cloud, that the. people may hear when I speak 
tnto thee, and believe thee for ever.” p. 92. , 
' 
