MENDELSSOHN MENDOZA. 



771 



Germany. His father, Mendel,* a schoolmaster, 

 though very poor, gave him a careful education. He 

 himself instructed the boy in Hebrew and the rudi- 

 ments of Jewish learning ; others instructed him in 

 tlie Talmud. The Old Testament also contributed 

 to the formation of his mind. The poetical books of 

 those ancient records attracted the boy particularly. 

 The famous book of Maimonides, More Nebochim 

 (Guide of the Erring), happening to fall into his 

 hands, excited him first to the inquiry after truth, and 

 to a liberal way of thinking. He studied this work 

 with such ardent zeal, that he was attacked by a 

 nervous fever, which, carelessly treated, entailed upon 

 him for the rest of his life a crooked spine and weak 

 health. His father was unable to support him any 

 longer, and he wandered, in 1742, to Berlin, where 

 he lived several years in great poverty, dependent on 

 the charity of some persons of his own religion. 

 Chance made him acquainted with Israel Moses, a 

 man of philosophical penetration, and a great mathe- 

 matician, who, persecuted everywhere on account of 

 his liberal views, lived also in utter poverty, and 

 became a martyr to truth. This man often argued 

 with Mendelsshon on the principles of Maimonides. 

 He also gave him a Hebrew translation of Euclid, 

 and thus awakened in the youth a love for mathe- 

 matics. A young Jewish physician, named Kisch, 

 encouraged him to study Latin, and gave him some 

 instruction in this language ; doctor Gumpery made 

 him acquainted with modern literature. Thus he 

 lived without any certain support, all the time oc- 

 cupied with study, until a silk manufacturer of his 

 tribe, at Berlin, Mr Bernard, appointed him tutor of 

 his children. At a later period, he took him as a 

 partner in his business. In 1754, he became ac- 

 quainted with Lessing (q. v.) who had a decided 

 influence upon his mind. Intellectual philosophy 

 became now his chief study. His Letters on Senti- 

 ments were the first fruit of his labours in this 

 branch. He became now also acquainted with 

 Nicolai and Abbt, and his correspondence with the 

 latter is a fine monument of the friendship and fami- 

 liarity which existed between these two distinguished 

 men . Mendelssohn contributed to several of the first 

 periodicals, and now and then appeared before the 

 public with philosophical works, which acquired him 

 fame, not only in Germany, but also in foreign 

 countries. He established no new system, but was, 

 nevertheless, one of the most profound and patient 

 thinkers of his age, and the excellence of his charac- 

 ter was enhanced by his modesty, uprightness, and 

 amiable disposition. His disinterestedness was with- 

 out limits, and his beneficence ever ready as far as 

 his small means would allow. He knew how to 

 elude with delicacy the zealous efforts of Lavater 

 (q. v.) to convert him to Christianity; yet his grief 

 at seeing himself so unexpectedly assailed, brought 

 on him a severe sickness, which long incapacitated 

 him for scientific pursuits. In his Jerusalem, oeler 

 ilber religiose Macht und Judenthum, he gave to the 

 world, in 1783, many excellent ideas, which were 

 much misunderstood, partly because they attacked 

 the prejudices of centuries. In some morning lessons 

 he had expounded to his son, and other Jewish 

 youths, the elements of his philosophy, particularly 

 the doctrine of God. He therefore gave the name 

 of Morning Hours (Morgenstunden) to the work 

 containing the results of his investigations, of which 

 his death prevented him from completing more than 

 one volume. F. H. Jacobi having addressed to him 

 a treatise On the Doctrine of Spinoza, he thought 



* It is very customary among the Gorman Jews to add the 

 syllable shon (son) to the name of the father. A similar usage 

 exists among many Asiatic tribes, and among nations in gen- 

 eral in their early stages. 



himself obliged to defend his deceased friend Lessing 

 against the charge of having been an advocate of 

 Spinoza's doctrines. Without regarding the ex- 

 hausted state of his health, lie hastened to publish 

 his piece entitled Moses Mendelssohn to the Friends 

 of Lessing, and became, in consequence, so much 

 weakened, that a cold was sufficient to put an end to 

 his valuable life, in 1786. The German language is 

 indebted to him, in part, for its development. In 

 the philosophical dialogue, he made the first success- 

 ful attempt among the writers of his country, taking 

 for his models Plato and Xenophon. Besides the 

 works already mentioned, he wrote Philosophische 

 Schriften (Berlin, 1761 and 1771, 2 vols.) ; his 

 masterpiece, Pheedon, or On the Immortality of the 

 Soul, which has gone through several editions since 

 1767, and has been translated into most modern 

 European languages ; and his translation of the five 

 books of Moses, the Psalms, &c. 



MENDEZ-PINTO, FERDINAND, a celebrated tra- 

 veller, was a native of Portugal. In 1537, he 

 embarked in a ship bound for the Indies ; but, in the 

 voyage, it was attacked by the Moors, who carried 

 it to Mocha, and sold Ferdinand for a slave. After 

 various adventures, he arrived at Ormus, whence he 

 proceeded to the Indies, and returned to Portugal in 

 1558. He published a curious account of his travels, 

 which has been translated into French and English. 

 Mendez-Pinto, from his excessive credulity, has been 

 classed with the English Sir John Mandeville, and 

 both are now chiefly quoted for their easy belief and 

 extravagant fiction. 



MENDICANT ORDERS. See Orders, Religious. 



MENDOZA, DON DIEGO HURTADO DE; a Spanish 

 classic, distinguished, likewise, as a politician and a 

 general, in the brilliant age of Charles V. He was 

 descended from an ancient family, which had pro- 

 duced several eminent scholars and statesmen, and 

 was born at Granada, in 1503. As a poet and his- 

 torian, he contributed to establish the reputation of 

 Castilian literature ; but his public life displayed 

 nothing of the finer feelings of the poet, the impartial 

 love of truth of a philosopher, or the clear discern- 

 ment of the experienced statesman. Stern, severe, 

 arbitrary, haughty, he was a formidable instrument 

 of a despotic court. When don Diego left the 

 university of Salamanca, where his talents, wit, and 

 acquirements had rendered him conspicuous, he 

 served in the Spanish army in Italy, and, in 1538, 

 Charles V. appointed him ambassador to Venice. 

 In 1542, he was imperial plenipotentiary to the 

 council of Trent, and in 1547, ambassador to the 

 court of Rome, where he persecuted and oppressed 

 all those Italians who yet manifested any attachment 

 to the freedom of their country. As captain-general 

 and governor of Sienna, he subjected that republic 

 to the dominion of Cosmo I. of Medici, under Spanish 

 supremacy, and crushed the Tuscan spirit of liberty. 

 Hated by the liberals, held in horror by Paul TIL, 

 whom lie was charged to humble in Rome itself, he 

 ruled only by bloodshed; and, although constantly 

 threatened with the dagger of assassins, not only for 

 his abuses of his power, but also on account of his 

 love intrigues in Rome, he continued to govern until 

 1554, when he was recalled by Charles V. Amidst 

 the schemes of arbitrary power, Mendoza employed 

 himself in literary labours, and particularly in the 

 collection of Greek and Latin manuscripts. He sent 

 learned men to examine the monastery of Mount 

 Athos, for this purpose, and took advantage of his 

 influence at Soliman's court for the furtherance of 

 the same object. After the abdication of Charles V., 

 he was attached to the court of Philip II. An affair 

 of gallantry involved him in a quarrel with a rival, 

 who turned his dagger upon him. Don Diego threw 

 3c 2 



