SOLOMON MAIMON.
 
 SOLOMON MAIMON 
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, WITH ADDITIONS 
 AND NOTES, 
 
 J. CLARK MURRAY, LL.D., F.R.S.C., 
 
 Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, M'Gill College, Montreal. 
 
 ALEXANDER GARDNER, 
 
 PAISLEY; AND 12 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 
 DAWSON BROTHERS, MONTREAL; CUPPLES AND KURD, BOSTON. 
 
 1888.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE, - - - ix. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. State of Poland in last century, - i 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. My Grandfather's Housekeeping,- - 6 
 
 II. First Reminiscences of Youth, - 19 
 
 'III. Private Education and Independent Study,- 22 
 
 IV. Jewish Schools The Joy of being released from 
 
 them causes a Stiff Foot,- - . 32 
 
 V. My Family is driven into Misery, and an old 
 Servant loses by his great Faithfulness a 
 Christian Burial, - - - 38 
 
 VI. New Abode, New Misery The Talmudist, - 42 
 VII. Joy endureth but a little while, - - 49 
 
 VIII. The Pupil knows more than the Teacher A theft 
 & la J?ousseau, which is discovered "The 
 ungodly provideth, and the righteous putteth 
 it on," , . . '54 
 
 2092795
 
 vi. Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 IX. Love Affairs and Matrimonial Proposals The 
 Song of Solomon may be used in the service 
 of Matchmaking A new Modus Lucrandi 
 Smallpox, - * 59 
 
 X. I become an object of Contention, get two Wives 
 
 at once, and am kidnapped at last, - - 65 
 
 XL My Marriage in my eleventh Year makes me the 
 Slave of my Wife, and procures for me 
 Cudgellings from my Mother-in-Law A 
 Ghost of Flesh and Blood, - - 74 
 
 XII. The Secrets of the Marriage State Prince 
 Radzivil, or what is not all allowed in 
 Poland ? - 79 
 
 XIII. Endeavour after mental Culture amid ceaseless 
 
 Struggles with Misery of every Kind, - 89 
 
 XIV. I study the Cabbalah, and become at last a 
 
 Physician, - - - 94 
 
 XV. A brief Exposition of the Jewish Religion from 
 
 its Origin down to the most recent Times, 1 1 1 
 
 XVI. Jewish Piety and Penances,- - 132 
 
 XVII. Friendship and Enthusiasm, - 138 
 
 XVIIL The Life of a Family Tutor, - 145 
 
 XIX. Also on a Secret Society, and therefore a Long 
 
 Chapter, - 151 
 
 XX. Continuation of the Former, and also Something 
 
 about Religious Mysteries, - 176
 
 Contents. vii. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XXI. Journeys to Kb'nigsherg, Stettin, and Berlin, for 
 the purpose of extending my Knowledge of 
 Men, - . 187 
 
 XXII. Deepest Stage of Misery, and Deliverance, - 197 
 
 XXIII. Arrival in Berlin Acquaintances Mendelssohn 
 Desperate Study of Metaphysics Doubts 
 Lectures on Locke and Adelung, 210 
 
 XXIV. Mendelssohn A Chapter devoted to the Memory 
 
 of a worthy Friend, - - 221 
 
 XXV. My Aversion at first for Belles Lettres, and my 
 subsequent Conversion Departure from Berlin 
 Sojourn in Hamburg I drown myself in 
 the same way as a bad Actor shoots himself 
 An old Fool of a Woman falls in Love with 
 me, but her Addresses are rejected, - 234 
 
 XXVI. I return to Hamburg A Lutheran Pastor 
 pronounces me to be a scabby Sheep, and 
 unworthy of Admission into the Christian 
 Fold I enter the Gymnasium, and frighten 
 the Chief Rabbi out of his Wits, - - 253 
 
 XXVII. Third journey to Berlin Frustrated Plan of 
 Hebrew Authorship Journey to Breslau 
 Divorce, - ... 265 
 
 XXVIII. Fourth journey to Berlin Unfortunate circum- 
 stances Help Study of Kant's Writings 
 Characteristic of my own Works, - 279 
 
 CONCLUDING CHAPTER, - - - - 290
 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 ONE effect of Daniel Deronda was to make known to a 
 wide circle of readers the vitality of Judaism as a system 
 which still holds sway over the mental as well as the 
 external life of men. During the few years which have 
 passed since the publication of that great fiction, the in- 
 terest in modern Judaism has continued to grow. It is 
 but a short time since the Western world was startled by 
 the outbreak of an ancient feeling against the Jews, 
 which had been supposed to be long dead, at least in 
 some of the quarters where it was displayed. The popu- 
 lar literature of the day also seems to indicate that the 
 life of existing Jewish communities is attracting a large 
 share of attention in the reading world. The charming 
 pictures which Emil Franzos has drawn of Jewish life in 
 the villages of Eastern Galicia, are not only popular in 
 Germany, but some have been reproduced in a cheap 
 form in New York to meet the demand of German Am- 
 ericans, and some have also been translated into Eng- 
 lish. The interest of English readers in the same sub- 
 ject is further shown by the recent translation of Kom- 
 pert's Scenes from the Ghetto, as well as by Mr. Cumber- 
 
 A
 
 x. Translator's Preface. 
 
 land's still more recent and powerful romance of The 
 Rabbi's Spell. Among students of philosophical litera- 
 ture a fresh interest has been awakened in the history of 
 Jewish thought by the revival of the question in refer- 
 ence to the sources of Spinoza's philosophy. The affini- 
 ties of this system with the familiar tendencies of Carte- 
 sian speculation have led the historians of philosophy gen- 
 erally to represent the former as simply an inevitable 
 development of the latter, while the affinities of Spinoz- 
 ism with the unfamiliar speculations of earlier Jewish 
 thinkers have been almost entirely ignored. 
 
 In these circumstances a special interest may be felt 
 in the life of one of the most remarkable Jews of modern 
 times a life which forms one of the most extraordinary 
 biographies in the history of literature. 
 
 Readers of Daniel Deronda may remember that, in 
 his search among the Jews of London for some one who 
 could throw light on the sad story of Mirah, the hero of 
 the novel was attracted one day to a second-hand book- 
 shop, where his eye fell on " that wonderful bit of auto- 
 biography the life of the Polish Jew, Solomon Mai- 
 mon." There are few men so remarkable as Maimon 
 who have met with so little recognition in English litera- 
 ture. Milman, in his History of the Jews, refers once * 
 to the autobiography as " a curious and rare book," but 
 apparently he knew it only from some quotations in 
 
 * Vol. iii., p. 370, note.
 
 Translator's Preface. xi. 
 
 Franck's La Cabbale. Among English metaphysical 
 writers the only one who seems to have studied the 
 speculations of Maimon is Dr. Hodgson.* Even the 
 new edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica gives no 
 place to Maimon among its biographies. And yet he is 
 a prominent figure among the metaphysicians of the 
 Kantian period. Kuno Fischer, in his Geschichte der 
 Neueren Philosophic^ devotes a whole chapter to the 
 life of Maimon, while the contemporary critics of Kant 
 are dismissed with little or no biographical notice. 
 Fischer's sketch is just sufficient to whet curiosity for 
 fuller details ; but, amid the dearth of rare literature in 
 Colonial libraries, I certainly never expected to come, 
 in a Canadian town, upon " a curious and rare book " of 
 last century, which was known even to the learned Mil- 
 man only through some quotations from a French 
 author. One day, however, in Toronto, in order to 
 while away an unoccupied hour, I was glancing, like 
 Daniel Deronda, over the shelves of a second-hand 
 bookseller, when I was attracted by a small volume, in 
 a good state of preservation, with "S. Maimon's Lebens- 
 geschichte " on the back ; and on taking it down I 
 found it to be the veritable autobiography which I had 
 been curious to see. 
 
 Some account of the work was given in an article in 
 
 * See the Preface to his Philosophy of Reflection, pp. 16-18. 
 t Vol. v., chap. 7.
 
 xii. Translators Preface. 
 
 the British Quarterly Review for July, 1885 ; but I 
 thought that a complete translation would probably be 
 welcomed by a considerable circle of English readers. 
 The book has many attractions. If the development of 
 the inner life of man can ever be characterised as a 
 romance, the biography of Maimon may, in the truest 
 sense, be said to be one of the most romantic stories 
 ever written. Perhaps no literature has preserved a 
 more interesting record of a spirit imprisoned within 
 almost insuperable barriers to culture, yet acquiring 
 strength to burst all these, and even to become an ap- 
 preciable power in directing the course of speculation. 
 The book, however, is much more than a biography ; it 
 possesses historical interest. It opens up what, to many 
 English readers, must be unknown efforts of human 
 thought, unknown wanderings of the religious life. The 
 light, which it throws upon Judaism especially, both in 
 its speculative and in its practical aspects, is probably, 
 in fact, unique. For the sketches, which the book con- 
 tains, of Jewish speculation and life were made at a time 
 when the author had severed all vital connection with 
 his own people and their creed ; and they are therefore 
 drawn from a point of view outside of Jewish prejudices: 
 but they are penned by one who had been brought up 
 to believe the divine mission of his people, as well as the 
 divine authority of their religion; and the criticism of 
 his old faith is generally tempered by that kindly sym- 
 pathy, with which the heart is apt to be warmed on
 
 Translator's Preface. xiii. 
 
 lingering over the companionships and other associations 
 of earlier years. Maimon's account of Jewish philosophy 
 and theology acquires an additional value from the fact, 
 that he was caught in the full tide of the Kantian move- 
 ment, and he was thus in a position to point out unex- 
 pected affinities between many an old effort of speculative 
 thought among the Jews and the philosophical tendencies 
 of modern Christendom. 
 
 Since writing the above-mentioned article for the 
 British Quarterly Review, I learnt that a volume of 
 Maimoniana had been issued in 1813 by an old friend 
 of our philosopher, Dr. Wolff* ; and through the kind- 
 ness of a friend in Leipsic, I was enabled, after some 
 delay, to procure a copy. It is a small volume of 260 
 pages, and adds extremely little to our knowledge of 
 Maimon. Nearly one third is simply a condensation of 
 the autobiography ; and the remainder shows the author 
 with the opportunities indeed, but without the faculty, 
 of a Boswell. He has preserved but few of the felicities 
 of Maimon's conversation ; and what he has preserved 
 loses a good deal of its flavour from his want of the 
 lively memory by which Boswell was able to reproduce 
 the peculiar mannerisms of Johnson's talk. Still I have 
 
 * The volume bears the somewhat quaint title in full : 
 oniana, oder Rhapsodicn Zur Charakteristik Salomon Maimorfs. 
 Aus Seinem Privatleben gesammelt von Sabattia Joseph Wolff, 
 M.D. Berlin, gedruckt bei G. Hayn, 1813.
 
 xiv. Translator's Preface. 
 
 culled from the little volume a few notes for illustration 
 of the autobiography, and I am indebted to it for most 
 of the materials of the concluding chapter. All my 
 additions are indicated by " Trans." appended. 
 
 The translation gives the whole of the biographical 
 portion of the original. There are, however, ten chapters 
 which I have omitted, as they are occupied entirely with 
 a sketch of the great work of Maimonides, the Moreh 
 Nebhochim, or Guide of the Perplexed. Owing to their 
 somewhat loose connection* with the rest, these chapters 
 excite just the faintest suspicion of " padding ; " and at 
 all events there is no demand for such a sketch in 
 English now, when our literature has been recently 
 enriched by Dr. Friedlander's careful translation of the 
 whole work. 
 
 In the performance of my task I have endeavoured to 
 render the original as literally as was consistent with 
 
 *The only logical connection is the fact, that the writings of 
 Maimonides formed the most powerful influence in the intellectual 
 development of Maimon. In illustration of this he writes : " My 
 reverence for this great teacher went so far, that I regarded him as 
 the ideal of a perfect man, and looked upon his teachings as if 
 they had been inspired with Divine Wisdom itself. This went so 
 far, that, when my passions began to grow, and I had sometimes 
 to fear lest they might seduce me to some action inconsistent with 
 those teachings, I used to employ, as a proved antidote, the abjura- 
 tion, ' I swear, by the reverence which I owe my great teacher, 
 Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, not to do this act.' And this vow, so 
 far as I can remember, was always sufficient to restrain me." 
 Lebensgeschichte, Vol. ii., pp. 3-4.
 
 Translator's Preface. xv. 
 
 readable English. Only in one or two passages I have 
 toned down the expression slightly to suit the tastes of 
 our own time ; but even in these I have not been 
 unfaithful to the author's meaning. 
 
 In the spelling of Hebrew and other foreign words I 
 have never, without some good reason, interfered with 
 the original. But as Maimon is not always consistent 
 with himself in this respect, I have felt myself at liberty 
 to disregard his usage by adopting such forms as are 
 more familiar, or more likely to be intelligible, to an 
 English reader.
 
 SOLOMON MAIMON. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE inhabitants of Poland may be conveniently divided 
 into six classes or orders : the superior nobility, the 
 inferior nobility, the half-noble, burghers, peasantry and 
 Jews. 
 
 The superior nobility consist of the great landowners 
 and administrators of the high offices of government. 
 The inferior nobility also are allowed to own land and to 
 fill any political office ; but they are prevented from 
 doing so by their poverty. The half-noble can neither 
 own land, nor fill any high office in the State ; and by 
 this he is distinguished from the genuine noble. Here 
 and there, it is true, he owns land ; but for that he is in 
 some measure dependent on the lord of the soil, within 
 whose estate his property lies, inasmuch as he is required 
 to pay him a yearly tribute. 
 
 The burghers are the most wretched of all the orders. 
 They are not, 'tis true, in servitude to any man ; they 
 also enjoy certain privileges, and have a jurisdiction of
 
 2 Introduction. 
 
 their own. But as they seldom own any property 'of 
 value, or follow rightly any profession, they always 
 remain in a condition of pitiable poverty. 
 
 The last two orders, namely the peasantry and the 
 Jews, are the most useful in the country. The former 
 occupy themselves . with agriculture, raising cattle, keep- 
 ing bees, in short, with all the products of the soil. 
 The latter engage in trade, take up the professions and 
 handicrafts, become bakers, brewers, dealers in beer, 
 brandy, mead and other articles. They are also the 
 only persons who farm estates in towns and villages, 
 except in the case of ecclesiastical properties, where the 
 reverend gentlemen hold it a sin to put a Jew in a 
 position to make a living, and accordingly prefer to hand 
 over their farms to the peasants. For this they must 
 suffer by their farms going to ruin, as the peasantry have 
 no aptitude for this sort of employment ; but of course 
 they choose rather to bear this with Christian resignation. 
 
 In consequence of the ignorance of most of the Polish 
 landlords, the oppression of the tenantry, and the utter 
 want of economy, most of the farms in Poland, at the 
 end of last century,* had fallen into such a state of 
 decay, that a farm, which now yields about a thousand 
 Polish gulden, was offered to a Jew for ten ; but in con- 
 sequence of still greater ignorance and laziness, with all 
 that advantage even he could not make a living off the 
 
 * That is, of course, the seventeenth. Trans.
 
 Introduction. 3 
 
 farm. An incident, however, occurred at this time, 
 which gave a new turn to affairs. Two brothers from 
 Galicia, where the Jews are much shrewder than in 
 Lithuania, took, under the name of Dersawzes or farmers- 
 general, a lease of all the estates of Prince Radzivil, and, 
 by means of a better industry as well as a better economy, 
 they not only raised the estates into a better condition, 
 but also enriched themselves in a short time. 
 
 Disregarding the clamour of their brethren, they in- 
 creased the rents, and enforced payment by the sub- 
 lessees with the utmost stringency. They themselves 
 exercised a direct oversight of the farms ; and wherever 
 they found a farmer who, instead of looking after his own 
 interests and those of his landlord in the improvement 
 of his farm by industry and economy, spent the whole 
 day in idleness, or lay drunk about the stove, they soon 
 brought him to his senses, and roused him out of his 
 indolence by a flogging. This procedure of course 
 acquired for the farmers-general, among their own people, 
 the name of tyrants. 
 
 All this, however, had a very good effect. The farmer, 
 who at the term had hitherto been unable to pay up his 
 ten gulden of rent without requiring to be sent to jail 
 about it, now came under such a strong inducement to 
 active exertion, that he was not only able to support a 
 family off his farm, but was also able to pay, instead of 
 ten, four or five hundred, and sometimes even a thousand 
 gulden.
 
 The Jews, again, may be divided into three classes : 
 (i) the ffliteiate workingpeople, (2) those who make 
 learning their profession, and (3) those who merely de- 
 vote themselves to learning without engaging inanyre- 
 Mnaative occupation, being supported by the industrial 
 dass. To the second dass belong the chief rabbis, 
 
 and others of similar 
 
 profession. The third dass consists of those who, by 
 
 Learning, attrart thg regard 
 
 of die ""VtflMH'dj are talmn by these into their families, 
 married to f"^* r daughters, ****! maml ai|> ^*' for y*iy 
 years widi wife and chfldien at dieir expense. Afterwards, 
 however, the wife is obliged to take upon herself the 
 maintenance of tff*f tainfly idler and the children (who 
 are usually very numerous) ; and for this, as is natural, 
 she thinks a good deal of herself. 
 
 There is perhaps no country besides Poland, where 
 religious freedom and religious enmity are to be met with 
 in equal degree. The Jews enjoy there a perfectly free 
 exercise of dieir religion and all other civil liberties ; they 
 have even a jurisdiction of their own. On the other 
 hand, however, religious hatred goes so far, that the name 
 of Jew has become an abomination ; and this abhorrence, 
 which had taken root in barbarous times, continued to 
 show its effects till about thirteen years ago. But this 
 apparent contradiction may be very easily removed, if it 
 is considered diat the religious and civil liberty, conceded 
 to the Jews in Poland, has not its source in any respect
 
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 Solomon Maiinon : 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 My Grandfather's Housekeeping. 
 
 My grandfather, Heimann Joseph, was farmer of some 
 villages in the neighbourhood of the town of Mir, in the 
 territory of Prince Radzivil.* He selected for his 
 residence one of these villages on the river Niemen, 
 called Sukoviborg, where, besides a few peasants' plots, 
 there was a water-mill, a small harbour, and a warehouse 
 for the use of the vessels that come from Konigsberg, in 
 Prussia. All this, along with a bridge behind the 
 village, and on the other side a drawbridge on the river 
 Niemen, belonged to the farm, which was then worth 
 about a thousand gulden, and formed my grandfather's 
 Chazakah.\ This farm, on account of the warehouse 
 and the great traffic, was very lucrative. With sufficient 
 industry and economical skill, si mens non laeva fuissef, 
 my grandfather should have been able, not only to 
 support his family, but even to gather wealth. The bad 
 
 * Maimon himself nowhere mentions the date or place of his 
 birth ; but Wolff says that he was born at Nesvij, in Lithuania, 
 about the year 1754 (Maimoniana, p. 10). Trans. 
 
 t This word is explained below, at the beginning of the next 
 chapter.
 
 An Autobiography. 7 
 
 constitution of the country, however, and his own want 
 of all the acquirements necessary for utilising the land, 
 placed extraordinary obstacles in his way. 
 
 My grandfather settled his brothers as tenants under 
 him in the villages belonging to his farm. These not 
 only lived continually with my grandfather under the 
 pretence of assisting him in his manifold occupations, 
 but in addition to this they would not pay their rents at 
 the end of the year. 
 
 The buildings, belonging to my grandfather's farm, 
 had fallen into decay from age, and required therefore to 
 be repaired. The harbour and the bridge also had 
 become dilapidated. In accordance with the terms of 
 the lease the landlord was to repair everything, and put 
 it in a condition fit for use. But, like all the Polish 
 magnates, he resided permanently in Warsaw, and could 
 therefore give no attention to the improvement of his 
 estates. His stewards had for their principal object the 
 improvement rather of their own condition than of their 
 landlord's property. They oppressed the farmers with 
 all sorts of exactions, they neglected the orders given for 
 the improvement of the farms, and the moneys intended 
 for this purpose they applied to their own use. My 
 grandfather indeed made representations on the subject 
 to the stewards day after day, and assured them that it 
 was impossible for him to pay his rent, if everything was 
 not put into proper condition according to the lease. 
 All this, however, was of no avail. He always received
 
 8 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 promises indeed, but the promises were never fulfilled. 
 The result was not only the ruin of the farm, but several 
 other evils arising from that. 
 
 As already mentioned, there was a large traffic at this 
 place ; and as the bridges were in a bad state, it hap- 
 pened not infrequently that these broke down just when 
 a Polish nobleman with his rich train was passing, and 
 horse and rider were plunged into the swamp. The 
 poor farmer was then dragged to the bridge, where he 
 was laid down and flogged till it was thought that suf- 
 ficient revenge had been taken. 
 
 My grandfather therefore did all in his power to guard 
 against this evil in the future. For this purpose he 
 stationed one of his people to keep watch at the bridge, 
 so that, if any noble were passing, and an accident of 
 this sort should happen, the sentinel might bring word 
 to the house as quickly as possible, and the whole family 
 might thus have time to take refuge in the neighbouring 
 wood. Every one thereupon ran in terror out of the 
 house, and not infrequently they were all obliged to 
 remain the whole night in the open air, till one after 
 another ventured to approach the house. 
 
 This sort of life lasted for some generations. My father 
 used to tell of an incident of this sort, which happened 
 when he was still a boy of about eight years. The whole 
 family had fled to their usual retreat. But my father, 
 who knew nothing of what had happened, and was play- 
 ing at the back of the stove, stayed behind alone. When
 
 An Autobiography. 9 
 
 the angry lord came into the house with his suite, and 
 found nobody on whom he could wreak his vengeance, 
 he ordered every corner of the house to be searched, 
 when my father was found at the back of the stove. 
 The nobleman asked him if he would drink brandy, and, 
 on the boy refusing, shouted : " If you will not drink 
 brandy, you shall drink water." At the same time he 
 ordered a bucketful of water to be brought, and forced 
 my father, by lashes with his whip, to drink it out. Na- 
 turally this treatment brought on a quartan fever, which 
 lasted nearly a whole year, and completely undermined 
 his health. 
 
 A similar incident took place when I was a child of 
 three years. Every one ran out of the house ; and the 
 housemaid, who carried me in her arms, hurried forth. 
 But as the servants of the nobleman who had arrived ran 
 after her, she quickened her steps, and in her extreme 
 haste let me fall from her arms. There I lay whimpering 
 on the skirt of the wood, till fortunately a peasant passing 
 by lifted me up and took me home with him. It was 
 only after everything had become quiet again, and the 
 family had returned to the house, that the maid remem- 
 bered having lost me in the flight, when she began to 
 lament and wring her hands. They sought me every- 
 where, but could not find me, till at last the peasant 
 came from the village and restored me to my parents. 
 
 It was not merely the terror and consternation, into 
 which we used to be thrown on the occasion of such a 
 
 B
 
 I0 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 flight ; to this was added the plundering of the house 
 when deprived of its inhabitants. Beer, brandy, and 
 mead were drunk at pleasure ; the spirit of revenge even 
 went so far at times, that the casks were left to run out ; 
 corn and fowls were carried off; and so forth. 
 
 Had my grandfather, instead of seeking justice from a 
 more powerful litigant, rather borne the injustice, and 
 built the bridge in question at his own expense, he would 
 have been able to avoid all these evils. He appealed, 
 however, persistently to the terms of his lease, and the 
 steward made sport of his misery. 
 
 And now something about my grandfather's domestic 
 economy. The manner of life, which he led in his 
 house, was quite simple. The annual produce of the 
 arable lands, pasture-lands, and kitchen-gardens, belong- 
 ing to the farm, was sufficient, not only for the wants of 
 his own family, but also for brewing and distilling. He 
 could even, besides, sell a quantity of grain and hay. 
 His bee-hives were sufficient for the brewing of mead. 
 He had also a large number of cattle. 
 
 The principal food consisted of a poor kind of corn- 
 bread mixed with bran, of articles made of meal and 
 milk, and of the produce of the garden, seldom of flesh- 
 meat. The clothing was made of poor linen and coarse 
 stuff. Only the women made in these matters a slight 
 exception, and my father also, who was a scholar, required 
 a different sort of life. 
 
 Hospitality was here carried very far. The Jews in
 
 An Autobiography. n 
 
 this neighbourhood are continually moving about from 
 place to place; and as there was a great traffic at our 
 village, they were frequently passing through it, and of 
 course they had always to stop at my grandfather's inn. 
 Every Jewish traveller was met at the door with a glass 
 of spirits ; one hand making the salaam* while the other 
 reached the glass. He then had to wash his hands, and 
 seat himself at the table which remained constantly 
 covered. 
 
 The support of a numerous family along with this 
 hospitality would have had no serious effect in impairing 
 my grandfather's circumstances, if at the same time he 
 had introduced a better economy in his house. This, 
 however, was the source of his misfortune. 
 
 My grandfather was in trifles almost too economical, 
 and neglected therefore matters of the greatest import- 
 ance. He looked upon it, for example, as extravagance 
 to burn wax or tallow candles ; their place had to be 
 supplied with thin strips of resinous pine, one end of 
 which was stuck into the chinks of the wall, while the 
 other was lit. Not unfrequently by this means fires were 
 occasioned, and much damage caused, in comparison 
 with which the cost of candles was not worth taking into 
 consideration. 
 
 The apartment, in which beer, spirits, mead, herrings, 
 salt and other articles were kept for the daily account of 
 
 * The customary Jewish salutation.
 
 12 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 the inn, had no windows, but merely apertures, through 
 which it received light. Naturally this often tempted the 
 sailors and carriers who put up at the inn to climb into 
 the apartment, and make themselves drunk gratuitously 
 with spirits and mead. What was still worse, these 
 carousing heroes, from fear of being caught in the act, 
 often took to flight, on hearing the slightest noise, with- 
 out waiting to put in the spigot, sprang out at the holes 
 by which they had come in, and let the liquor run as long 
 as it might. In this way sometimes whole casks of 
 spirits and mead ran out. 
 
 The barns had no proper locks, but were shut merely 
 with wooden bolts. Any one therefore, especially as the 
 barns were at some distance from the dwelling-house, 
 could take from them at pleasure, and even carry off 
 whole waggonloads of grain. The sheepfold had, all 
 over, holes, by which wolves (the forest being quite near) 
 were able to slink in, and worry the sheep at their con- 
 venience. 
 
 The cows came very often from the pasture with empty 
 udders. According to the superstition which prevailed 
 there, it was said in such cases, that the milk had been 
 taken from them by witchcraft, a misfortune, against 
 which it was supposed that nothing could be done. 
 
 My grandmother, a good simple woman, when tired 
 with her household occupations, lay down often in her 
 clothes to sleep by the stove, and had all her pockets 
 full of money, without knowing how much. Of this the
 
 An Autobiography. 13 
 
 housemaid took advantage, and emptied the pockets of 
 half their contents. Nevertheless my grandmother 
 seldom perceived the want, if only the girl did not play 
 too clumsy a trick. 
 
 All these evils could easily have been avoided of 
 course by repairing the buildings, the windows, the 
 window-shutters and locks, by proper oversight of the 
 manifold lucrative occupations connected with the farm, 
 as also by keeping an exact account of receipts and dis- 
 bursements. But this was never thought of. On the 
 other hand, if my father, who was a scholar, and educa- 
 ted partly in town, ordered for himself a rabbinical suit, 
 for which a finer stuff was required than that in common 
 use, my grandfather did not fail to give him a long and 
 severe lecture on the vanity of the world. " Our fore- 
 fathers," he used to say, "knew nothing of these new- 
 fashioned costumes, and yet were devout people. You 
 must have a coat of striped woolen cloth,* you must 
 have leather hose, with buttons even, and everything on 
 the same scale. You will bring me to beggary at last ; I 
 shall be thrown into prison on your account. Ay me, 
 poor unfortunate man ! What is to become of me ? " 
 
 My father then appealed to the rights and privileges of 
 the profession of a scholar, and showed moreover that, 
 
 * The original is "ein Kalamankenes Leibserdak," a provin- 
 cialism which, I believe, is substantially rendered in this transla- 
 tion. Trans,
 
 14 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 in a well-arranged system of economy, it does not so 
 much matter whether you live somewhat better or worse, 
 and that even my grandfather's misfortunes arose, not 
 from extravagant consumption in housekeeping, but 
 rather from the fact that he allowed himself by his re- 
 missness to be plundered by others. All this however 
 was of no avail with my grandfather. He could not 
 tolerate innovations. Everything therefore had to be 
 left as it was. 
 
 My grandfather was held in the place of his abode to 
 be a rich man, which he could really have been if he had 
 known how to make use of his opportunities ; and on this 
 account he was envied and hated by all, even by his own 
 family, he was abandoned by his landlord, he was op- 
 pressed in every possible way by the steward, and cheated 
 and robbed by his own domestics as well as by strangers. 
 In short, he was the poorest rich man in the world. 
 
 In addition to all this there were still greater misfor- 
 tunes, which I cannot here pass over wholly in silence. 
 The pope, that is, the Russian clergyman in this village, 
 was a dull ignorant blockhead, who had scarcely learned 
 to read and write. He spent most of his time at the inn, 
 where he drank spirits with his boorish parishioners, and 
 let his liquor always be put down to his account, without 
 ever a thought of paying his score. My grandfather at 
 last became tired of this, and made up his mind to give 
 him nothing more upon credit. The fellow naturally 
 took this very ill, and therefore resolved upon revenge.
 
 An Autobiography. 15 
 
 For this he found at length a means, at which indeed 
 humanity shudders, but of which the Catholic Christians 
 in Poland were wont to make use very often at that time. 
 This was to charge my grandfather with the murder of a 
 Christian, and thus bring him to the gallows. This was 
 done in the following way : A beaver-trapper, who so- 
 journed constantly in this neighbourhood to catch 
 beavers on the Niemen, was accustomed at times to trade 
 in these animals with my grandfather ; and this had to 
 be done secretly, for the beaver is game preserved, and 
 all that are taken must be delivered at the manor. The 
 trapper came once about midnight, knocked and asked 
 for my grandfather. He showed him a bag which was 
 pretty heavy to lift, and said to him with a mysterious 
 air, " I have brought you a good big fellow here." My 
 grandfather was going to strike a light, to examine the 
 beaver, and come to terms about it with the peasant. 
 He however said, that this was unnecessary, that my 
 grandfather might take the beaver at any rate, and that 
 they would be sure to agree about it afterwards. My 
 grandfather, who had no suspicion of evil, took the bag 
 just as it was, laid it aside, and betook himself again to 
 rest. Scarcely, however, had he fallen asleep again, when 
 he was roused a second time with a loud noise of 
 knocking. 
 
 It was the clergyman with some boors from the village, 
 who immediately began to make search all over in the 
 house. They found the bag, and my grandfather already
 
 1 6 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 trembled for the issue, because he believed nothing else 
 than that he had been betrayed at the manor on account 
 of his secret trade in beavers, and he could not deny the 
 fact. But how great was his horror, when the bag was 
 opened, and, instead of a beaver, there was found a 
 corpse ! 
 
 My grandfather was bound with his hands behind his 
 back, his feet were put into stocks, he was thrown into a 
 waggon, and brought to the town of Mir, where he was 
 given over to the criminal court. He was made fast in 
 chains, and put into a dark prison. 
 
 At the trial my grandfather stood upon his innocence, 
 related the events exactly as they had happened, and, as 
 v,-as reasonable, demanded that the beaver-trapper should 
 be examined too. He, however, was nowhere to be 
 found, was already over the hills and far away. He was 
 sought everywhere. But the blood-thirsty judge of the 
 criminal court, to whom the time became tedious, 
 ordered my grandfather three times in succession to be 
 brought to torture. He, however, continued steadfast 
 in his assertion. 
 
 At last the hero of the beavers was found. He was 
 examined; and as he straightway denied the whole affair, 
 he also was put to the test of torture. Thereupon at 
 once he blabbed the whole story. He declared that, 
 some time before, he had found this dead body in the 
 water, and was going to bring it to the parsonage for 
 burial. The parson however had said to him, " There is
 
 An Autobiography. 17 
 
 plenty of time for the burial. You know that the Jews 
 are a hardened race, and are therefore damned to all 
 eternity. They crucified our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 even yet they seek Christian blood, if only they can get 
 hold of it for their passover, which is instituted as a sign 
 of their triumph. They use it for their passover-cake. 
 You will therefore do a meritorious work, if you can 
 smuggle this dead body into the house of the damned 
 Jew of a farmer. You must of course clear out, but 
 your trade you can drive anywhere." 
 
 On this confession the fellow was whipped out of the 
 place, and my grandfather set free; but the pope re- 
 mained pope. 
 
 For an everlasting memorial of this deliverance of my 
 grandfather from death, my father composed in Hebrew 
 a sort of epopee, in which the whole event was narrated, 
 and the goodness of God was sung. It was also made a 
 law, that the day of his deliverance should be celebrated 
 in the family every year, when this poem should be 
 recited in the same way as the Book of Esther at the 
 festival of Haman.* 
 
 * Till quite recently it had been almost forgotten that one of the 
 commonest manifestations of fanaticism against the Jews, especially 
 in Eastern Europe, was to charge them with the murder of Christian 
 children for the use of some horrid religious rite, and that scarcely 
 ever was the dead body of a child found in the neighbourhood of a 
 Jewish community without some outburst of this cruel suspicion, 
 ending in an indiscriminate massacre of the Jews by the infuriated
 
 1 8 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 mob. It is a singularly creditable proof of the liberal government 
 of Stephen Batory, one of the ablest monarchs who ever sat on 
 the throne of Poland, that, so long ago as 1576, he Issued an edict 
 prohibiting the imputation of this crime to the Jews, as being 
 utterly inconsistent with the principles of their religion. Yet, in 
 spite of this enactment, the fanatical suspicion continued to display 
 itself at frequent intervals. Milman supposed it had been finally 
 quelled by the ukase of the Russian Government in 1835, which 
 went in the same direction as the earlier prohibition of the Polish 
 king {History of the Jews, vol. iii., p. 389). What would have 
 been his astonishment, had he lived to learn that, half a century 
 after he thought it extinguished, this ancient delusion was to revive, 
 that an Hungarian court was to spend thirty one days in the solemn 
 trial of a Jewish family on the charge of sacrificing a Christian girl 
 in their synagogue, that a learned professor in the Imperial and 
 Royal University of Prague was to write in defence of the charge, 
 and that the trial was to form the subject of an extensive contro- 
 versial literature in the language of the most learned nation in the 
 world ! An interesting account of this famous trial at Tisza Eszlar, 
 as well as of the literature connected with it, will be found in an 
 article by Dr. Wright, on The Jews and the Malicious Charge of 
 Human Sacrifice in the Nineteenth Century, for November, 1883. 
 Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 First Reminiscences of Youth. 
 
 IN this manner my grandfather lived for many years in 
 the place where his forefathers had dwelt ; his farm had 
 become, as it were, a property of the family. By the 
 Jewish ceremonial law the Chazakah, that is, the right 
 of property in an estate, is acquired by three years' 
 possession ; and the right is respected even by Christians 
 in this neighbourhood. In virtue of this law no other 
 Jew could try to get possession of the farm by a 
 Hosaphah, that is, an offer of higher rent, if he would 
 not bring down upon himself the Jewish excommunica- 
 tion. Although the possession of the farm was accom- 
 panied with many hardships and even oppressions, yet it 
 was from another point of view very lucrative. My 
 grandfather could not only live as a well-to-do man, but 
 also provide richly for his children. 
 
 His three daughters were well dowered, and married 
 to excellent men. His two sons, my uncle Moses and 
 my father Joshua, were married likewise ; and when he 
 became old, and enfeebled by the hardships to which he 
 had been exposed, he gave over the management of the
 
 20 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 house to his two sons in common. These were of 
 different temperaments and inclinations, my uncle Moses 
 being of strong bodily constitution, but inferior intelli- 
 gence, while my father was the opposite ; and conse- 
 quently they could not work together well. My grand- 
 father therefore gave over to my uncle another village, 
 and kept my father by himself, although from his 
 profession as a scholar my father was not particularly 
 adapted for the occupations of household-management. 
 He merely kept accounts, made contracts, conducted 
 processes at law, and attended to other matters of the 
 same sort. My mother, on the other hand, was a very 
 lively woman, well disposed to all sorts of occupations. 
 She was small of stature, and at that time still very young. 
 An anecdote I cannot avoid touching on here, because 
 it is the earliest reminiscence from the years of my youth. 
 I was about three years old at the time. The merchants, 
 who put up constantly at the place, and especially the 
 Shaffers, that is, the nobles who undertook the navigation, 
 the purchase and delivery of goods, for the higher nobi- 
 lity, were extremely fond of me on account of my liveli- 
 ness, and made all sorts of fun with me. These merry 
 gentlemen gave my mother, on account of her small 
 stature and liveliness, the nickname of Kuza, that is, a 
 young filly.* As I heard them often call her by this 
 
 * It seems that Maimon gives a euphemistic explanation of this 
 word, as I am told its real meaning makes much more intelligible its 
 extreme offensiveness to his mother. Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 21 
 
 name, and knew nothing of its meaning, I also called her 
 Mama Kuza. My mother rebuked me for this, and 
 said, " God punishes any one who calls his mother 
 Mama Kuza." One of these Shaffers, Herr Piliezki, 
 used every day to take tea in our house, and enticed me 
 to his side by giving me at times a bit of sugar. One 
 morning while he was drinking his tea, when I had 
 placed myself in the usual position for receiving the 
 sugar, he said he would give it to me only on condition 
 that I should say Mama Kiiza. Now as my mother was 
 present, I refused to do it. He made a sign therefore 
 to my mother to go into an adjoining room. As soon 
 as she had shut the door, I went to him and whispered 
 into his ear, Mama Kuza. He insisted however that I 
 should say it out loud, and promised to give me a piece 
 of sugar for each time that it was spoken. Accordingly 
 I said, " Herr Piliezki wants me to say Mama Kuza ; 
 but I will not say Mama Kuza, because God punishes 
 any one who says Mama Kuza." Thereupon I got my 
 three pieces of sugar. 
 
 My father introduced into the house a more refined 
 mode of life, especially as he traded with Konigsberg in 
 Prussia, where he procured all sorts of pretty and useful 
 articles. He provided himself with tin and brass 
 utensils ; we began to have better meals, to wear finer 
 clothes, than before ; I was even clad in damask.
 
 22 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Private Education and Independent Study. 
 
 IN my sixth year my father began to read the Bible with 
 me. " In the beginning God created the heaven and 
 the earth." Here I interrupted my father, and asked, 
 " But, papa, who created God ? " 
 
 " God was not created by any one," replied my father ; 
 " He existed from all eternity." 
 
 " Did he exist ten years ago ?" I asked again. 
 
 " O yes," my father said, " He existed even a hundred 
 years ago." 
 
 " Then perhaps," I continued, " God is already a 
 thousand years old ?" 
 
 " Silence ! God was eternal." 
 
 " But," I insisted, " He must surely have been born at 
 some time." 
 
 " You little fool," said my father, " No ! He was for 
 ever and ever and ever." 
 
 With this answer I was not indeed satisfied; but I 
 thought " Surely papa must know better than I, and with 
 that I must therefore be content."
 
 An Autobiography. 23 
 
 This mode of representation is very natural in early 
 youth, when the understanding is still undeveloped, while 
 the imagination is in full bloom. The understanding 
 seeks merely to grasp, the imagination to grasp all round.* 
 That is to say, the understanding seeks to make the 
 origin of an object conceivable, without considering, 
 whether the object, whose origin is known, can also be 
 actually represented by us or not. The imagination, on 
 the other hand, seeks to gather into a complete image 
 something, the origin of which is to us unknown. Thus, 
 for example, an infinite series of numbers, which pro- 
 gresses according to a definite law, is for the under- 
 standing an object, to which by this law definite qualities 
 are attached, and an object just as good as a finite series, 
 which progresses according to the same law. For the 
 imagination, on the other hand, the latter indeed is an 
 object ; but not the former, because it cannot grasp the 
 former as a completed whole. 
 
 A long time afterwards, when I was staying in Breslau, 
 this consideration suggested to me a thought, which I 
 expressed in an essay that I laid before Professor Garve, 
 and which, though at the time I knew nothing of the 
 Kantian philosophy, still constitutes its foundation. I 
 explained this somewhat in the following way : The 
 metaphysicians necessarily fall into self-contradiction. 
 
 * The original runs : " Der Verstand sucht bloss zu fassen, die 
 Einbildungskraft aber zu umfassen." Tr>
 
 24 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 According to the confession of Leibnitz himself, who in 
 this appeals to the experiment of Archimedes with the 
 lever, the Law of Sufficient Reason or Causality is a 
 principle of experience. Now, it is quite true that in 
 experience everything is found to have a cause ; but for 
 the very reason, that every thing has a cause, nothing 
 can be met with in experience which is & first cause, that 
 is, a cause which has no cause to itself. How then can 
 the metaphysicians infer from this law the existence of a 
 first cause ? 
 
 Afterwards I found this objection more particularly 
 developed in the Kantian philosophy, where it is shown 
 that the Category of Cause, or the form of hypothetical 
 judgments used in reference to the objects of nature, by 
 which their relation to one another is determined a 
 priori, can be applied only to objects of experience 
 through an a priori schema. The first cause, which 
 implies a complete infinite series of causes, and therefore 
 in fact a contradiction, since the infinite can never be 
 complete, is not an object of the understanding, but an 
 idea of reason, or, according to my theory, a fiction of 
 the imagination, which, not content with the mere know- 
 ledge of the law, seeks to gather the multiplicity, which 
 is subject to the law, into an image, though in opposition 
 to the law itself. 
 
 On another occasion I read in the Bible the story of 
 Jacob and Esau ; and in this connection my father quoted 
 the passage from the Talmud, where it is said, " Jacob
 
 An Autobiography. 25 
 
 and Esau divided between them all the blessings of the 
 world. Esau chose the blessings of this life, Jacob, on 
 the contrary, those of the future life ; and since we are 
 descended from Jacob, we must give up all claim to tem- 
 poral blessings." On this I said with indignation, 
 " Jacob should not have been a fool ; he should rather 
 have chosen the blessings of this world." Unfortunately 
 I got for answer, "You ungodly rascal ! " and a box on 
 the ear. This did not of course remove my doubt, but 
 it brought me to silence at least. 
 
 The Prince Radzivil, who was a great lover of the 
 chase, came one day with his whole court to hunt in the 
 neighbourhood of our village. Among the party was his 
 daughter who afterwards married Prince Rawuzki. The 
 young princess, in order to enjoy rest at noon, betook 
 herself with the ladies of her court, the servants in waiting 
 and the lackeys, to the very room, where as a boy I was 
 sitting behind the stove. I was struck with astonishment 
 at the magnificence and splendour of the court, gazed 
 with rapture at the beauty of the persons and at the 
 dresses with their trimmings of gold and silver lace ; I 
 could not satisfy my eyes with the sight. My father 
 came just as I was out of myself with joy, and had broken 
 into the words, " O how beautiful ! " In order to calm 
 me, and at the same time to confirm me in the principles 
 of our faith, he whispered into my ear, " Little fool, in 
 the other world the dukselvtill kindle \he pezsure for us," 
 which means, In the future life the princess will kindle 
 
 c
 
 2 6 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 the stove for us. No one can conceive the sort of feel- 
 ing which this statement produced in me. On the one 
 hand, I believed my father, and was very glad about this 
 future happiness in store for us ; but I felt at the same 
 time pity for the poor princess who was going to be 
 doomed to such a degrading service. On the other hand, 
 I could not get it into my head, that this beautiful rich 
 princess in this splendid dress should ever make a fire 
 for a poor Jew. I was thrown into the greatest perplexity 
 on the subject, till some game drove these thoughts out 
 of my head. 
 
 I had from childhood a great inclination and talent for 
 drawing. True, I had in my father's house never a 
 chance of seeing a work of art, but I found on the title- 
 page of some Hebrew books woodcuts of foliage, birds 
 and so forth. I felt great pleasure in these woodcuts, 
 and made an effort to imitate them with a bit of chalk or 
 charcoal. What however strengthened this inclination 
 in me still more was a Hebrew book of fables, in which 
 the personages who play their part in the fables the 
 animals were represented in such woodcuts. I copied 
 all the figures with the greatest exactness. My father 
 admired indeed my skill in this, but rebuked me at the 
 same time in these words, " You want to become a 
 painter ? You are to study the Talmud, and become a 
 rabbi. He who understands the Talmud, understands 
 everything." 
 
 This desire and faculty for painting went with me so
 
 An Autobiography. 27 
 
 far, that when my father had settled in H , where 
 
 there was a manor-house with some beautifully tapestried 
 rooms, which were constantly unoccupied because the 
 landlord resided elsewhere, and very seldom visited the 
 place, I used to steal away from home whenever I could, 
 to copy the figures on the tapestries. I was found once 
 in mid-winter half-frozen, standing before the wall, hold- 
 ing the paper in one hand (for there was no furniture in 
 this apartment), and with the other hand copying the 
 figures off the wall. Yet I judge of myself at present, 
 that, if I had kept to it, I should have become a great, 
 but not an exact, painter, that is to say, I sketched with 
 ease the main features of a picture, but had not the 
 patience to work it out in detail. 
 
 My father had in his study a cupboard containing 
 books. He had forbidden me indeed to read any books 
 but the Talmud. This, however, was of no avail : as he 
 was occupied the most of his time with household affairs, 
 I took advantage of the opportunity thus afforded. 
 Under the impulse of curiosity I made a raid upon the 
 cupboard and glanced over all the books. The result 
 was, that, as I had already a fair knowledge of Hebrew, I 
 found more pleasure in some of these books than in the 
 Talmud. And this result was surely natural. Take the 
 subjects of the Talmud, which, with the exception of 
 those relating to jurisprudence, are dry and mostly un- 
 intelligible to a child the laws of sacrifice, of purifica- 
 tion, of forbidden meats, of feasts, and so forth in which
 
 28 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 the oddest rabbinical conceits are elaborated through 
 many volumes with the finest dialectic, and the most 
 absurd questions are discussed with the highest efforts 
 of intellectual power ; for example, how many white hairs 
 may a red cow have, and yet remain a red cow ; what 
 sorts of scabs require this or that sort of purification ; 
 whether a louse or a flea may be killed on the Sabbath, 
 the first being allowed, while the second is a deadly 
 sin ; whether the slaughter of an animal ought to be 
 executed at the neck or the tail ; whether the highpriest 
 put on his shirt or his hose first ; whether the Jabam, 
 that is, the brother of a man who died childless, being 
 required by law to marry the widow, is relieved from his 
 obligation if he falls off a roof and sticks in the mire. 
 Ohejam satis est ! Compare these glorious disputations, 
 which are served up to young people and forced on them 
 even to disgust, with history, in which natural events are 
 related in an instructive and agreeable manner, with a 
 knowledge of the world's structure, by which the outlook 
 into nature is widened, and the vast whole is brought into 
 a well-ordered system; surely my preference will be 
 justified. 
 
 The most valuable books in the collection were four. 
 There was a Hebrew chronicle under the title of Zemach 
 David* written by a sensible chief rabbi in Prague, 
 
 * That is, The Branch (or Offspring) of David. See Jeremiah 
 xxiii. 5 ; xxxiii. 15 ; Isaiah xi. i. Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 29 
 
 named Rabbi David Cans. He was also the author of 
 the astronomical book spoken of in the sequel, and he 
 had had the honour of being acquainted with Tycho 
 Brahe, and of making astronomical observations with 
 him in the Observatory at Copenhagen. There were 
 besides, a Josephus, which was evidently garbled, and a 
 History of the Persecutions of the Jews in Spain. But 
 what attracted me most powerfully was an astronomical 
 work. In this work a new world was opened to me, and 
 I gave myself up to the study with the greatest diligence. 
 Think of a child about seven years of age, in my posi- 
 tion, with an astronomical work thrown in his way, and 
 exciting his interest. I had never seen or heard anything 
 of the first elements of mathematics, and I had no one 
 to give me any direction in the study : for it is needless 
 to say, that to my father I dared not even let my curio- 
 sity in the matter be known, and, apart from that, he was 
 not in a position to give me any information on the sub- 
 ject. How must the spirit of a child, thirsting for know- 
 ledge, have been inflamed by such a discovery ! This 
 the result will show. 
 
 As I was still a child, and the beds in my father's 
 house were few, I was allowed to sleep with my old 
 grandmother, whose bed stood in the above-mentioned 
 study. As I was obliged during the day to occupy my- 
 self solely with the study of the Talmud, and durst not 
 take another book in my hand, I devoted the evenings 
 to my astronomical inquiries. Accordingly after my
 
 30 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 grandmother had gone to bed, I put some fresh wood on 
 the fire, made for the cupboard, and took out my beloved 
 astronomical book. My grandmother indeed scolded 
 me, because it was too cold for the old lady to lie alone 
 in bed ; but I did not trouble myself about that, and 
 continued my study till the fire was burnt out. 
 
 After I had carried this on for some evenings, I came 
 to the description of the celestial sphere and its imagin- 
 ary circles, designed for the explanation of astronomical 
 phenomena. This was represented in the book by a 
 single figure, in connection with which the author gave 
 the reader the good advice, that, since the manifold 
 circles could not be represented in a plane figure except 
 by straight lines, he should, for the sake of rendering 
 them more clearly intelligible, make for himself either an 
 ordinary globe or an armillary sphere. I therefore 
 formed the resolution to make such a sphere out of 
 twisted rods ; and after I had finished this work, I was 
 in a position to understand the whole book. But as I 
 had to take care lest my father should find out how I 
 had been occupied, I always hid my armillary sphere in 
 a corner behind the cupboard before I went to bed. 
 
 My grandmother, who had on several occasions 
 observed that I was wholly absorbed in my reading, but 
 now and then lifted my eyes to look at a number of 
 circles formed of twisted rods laid on one another, fell 
 into the greatest consternation over the matter; she 
 believed nothing less than that her grandson had lost his
 
 An Autobiography. 31 
 
 wits. She did not delay, therefore, to. tell my father, 
 and point out to him the place where the magical 
 instrument was kept. He soon guessed what was the 
 meaning of this. Accordingly he took the sphere in his 
 hand, and sent for me. When I came, he asked me, 
 " What sort of plaything is this ? " 
 
 " It is a Kadvr* " I replied. 
 
 " What does it mean ? " he asked. 
 
 I then explained to him the use of all the circles for 
 the purpose of making the celestial phenomena intelli- 
 gible. My father, who was a good rabbi indeed, but 
 had no special talent for science, could not comprehend 
 all that I endeavoured to make comprehensible. He 
 was especially puzzled, by the comparison of my 
 armillary sphere with the figure in the book, to under- 
 stand how out of straight lines circles should be evolved ; 
 but one thing he could see, that I was sure of my 
 business. He therefore scolded me, it is true, because I 
 had transgressed his command to meddle with nothing 
 beyond the Talmud ; but still he felt a secret pleasure, 
 that his young son, without a guide or previous training, 
 had been able by himself to master an entire work of 
 science. And with this the affair came to an end. 
 
 * The Hebrew word for a globe.
 
 2 2 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Jewish Schools The Joy of being released from them causes a stiff 
 foot. 
 
 Mv brother Joseph and I were sent to Mir to school. 
 My brother, who was about twelve years old, was put to 
 board with a schoolmaster of some repute at that time, 
 by name Jossel. This man was the terror of all young 
 people, " the scourge of God ; " he treated those in his 
 charge with unheard of cruelty, flogged them till the 
 blood came, even for the slightest offence, and not in- 
 frequently tore off their ears, or beat their eyes out. 
 When the parents of these unfortunates came to him, and 
 brought him to task, he struck them with stones or what- 
 ever else came to hand, and drove them with his stick 
 out of the house back to their own dwellings, without any 
 respect of persons. All under his discipline became 
 either blockheads or good scholars. I, who was then 
 only seven years old, was sent to another schoolmaster. 
 
 An anecdote I must here relate, which shows on the 
 one side great brotherly love, and on the other may be 
 viewed as expressing the condition of a child's mind, 
 thac sways between the hope of lightening an evil, and 
 the fear of increasing it. One day as I came from school,
 
 An Autobiography. 33, 
 
 my eyes were all red with weeping, for which there was 
 doubtless good cause. My brother observed this, and 
 asked the reason. At first I showed some hesitation in 
 answering ; but at last I said, " I weep because we dare 
 not tell tales out of school." My brother understood 
 me very well, was extremely indignant at my teacher, and 
 was going to read him a lesson on the subject. I begged 
 him however not to do it, because in all probability the 
 teacher would take his revenge on me for telling tales 
 out of school. 
 
 I must now say something of the condition of the 
 Jewish schools in general. The school is commonly a 
 small smoky hut, and the children are scattered, some 
 on benches, some on the bare earth. The master, in a 
 dirty blouse sitting on the table, holds between his knees 
 a bowl, in which he grinds tobacco into snuff with a huge 
 pestle like the club of Hercules, while at the same time 
 he wields his authority. The ushers give lessons, each 
 in his own corner, and rule those under their charge 
 quite as despotically as the master himself. Of the 
 breakfast, lunch, and other food sent to the school for 
 the children, these gentlemen keep the largest share for 
 themselves. Sometimes even the poor youngsters get 
 nothing at all ; and yet they dare not make any complaint 
 on the subject, if they will not expose themselves to the 
 vengeance of these tyrants. Here the children are im- 
 prisoned from morning to night, and have not an hour
 
 34 
 
 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 to themselves, except on Friday and a half-holiday at 
 the Newmoon. 
 
 As far as study is concerned, the reading of Hebrew 
 at least is pretty regularly learned. On the other hand, 
 with the mastery of the Hebrew language very seldom is 
 any progress made. Grammar is not treated in the 
 school at all, but has to be learnt ex usu, by translation 
 of the Holy Scriptures, very much as the ordinary man 
 learns imperfectly the grammar of his mother-tongue by 
 social intercourse. Moreover there is no dictionary of 
 the Hebrew language. The children therefore begin at 
 once with the explanation of the Bible. This is divided 
 into as many sections as there are weeks in the year, in 
 order that the Books of Moses, which are read in the 
 synagogues every Saturday, may be read through in a 
 year. Accordingly every week some verses from the 
 beginning of the section proper to the week are explained 
 in school, and that with every possible grammatical 
 blunder. Nor can it well be otherwise. For the Hebrew 
 must be explained by means of the mother-tongue. But 
 the mother-tongue of the Polish Jews is itself full of 
 defects and grammatical inaccuracies ; and as a matter 
 of course therefore also the Hebrew language, which is 
 learned by its means, must be of the same stamp. The 
 pupil thus acquires just as little knowledge of the 
 language, as of the contents, of the Bible. 
 
 In addition to this the Talmudists have fastened all 
 sorts of extraordinary conceits on the Bible. The
 
 An Autobiography. 35 
 
 ignorant teacher believes with confidence, that the Bible 
 cannot in reality have any other meaning than that which 
 these expositions ascribe to it; and the pupil must 
 follow his teacher's faith, so that the right understanding 
 of words necessarily becomes lost. For example, in the 
 first Book of Moses it is said, "Jacob sent messengers 
 to his brother Esau, etc." Now, the Talmudists were 
 pleased to give out, that these messengers were angels. 
 For though the word Malachim in Hebrew denotes 
 messengerias well as angels, these marvel-mongers pre- 
 ferred the second signification, because the first contains 
 nothing marvellous. The pupil therefore holds the 
 belief firm and fast, that Malachim denotes nothing but 
 angels; and the natural meaning of messengers is for 
 him wholly lost. A correct knowledge of the Hebrew 
 language and a sound exegesis can be attained only 
 gradually by independent study and by reading grammars 
 and critical commentaries on the Bible, like those of 
 Rabbi David Kimchi * and Aben Esra ; but of these 
 very few rabbis make use. 
 
 * This rabbi belonged to a family of eminent linguists. The 
 father, Joseph Kimchi, was one of the numerous Jews who were 
 obliged to flee from Spain to escape the cruel persecutions of the 
 Mohades about the middle of the twelfth century. He left two 
 sons who both followed his favourite studies. The elder, Moses, 
 has the credit of having educated his younger and more illustrious 
 brother, David, whose Hebrew grammar and dictionary continued 
 in general use among scholars for centuries. Kimchi is said to 
 have been powerfully influenced, not only by Maimonides, but also
 
 3 6 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 As the children are doomed in the bloom of youth to 
 such an infernal school, it may be easily imagined with 
 what joy and rapture they look forward to their release. 
 We, that is, my brother and I, were taken home to the 
 great feasts ; and it was on a trip of this sort, that the 
 following incident happened, which in relation to me was 
 very critical. My mother came once before Whitsuntide 
 to the town where we were at school, in order to pur- 
 chase sundry articles required for the house. She then 
 took us home with her. The release from school, and 
 the sight of the beauty of nature which at this season 
 displays its best attire, threw us into such ecstasy, that 
 we fell upon all sorts of wanton fancies. When we were 
 not far from home, my brother sprang out of the carriage, 
 and ran forward on foot. I was going to imitate his 
 daring leap, but unfortunately had not sufficient strength. 
 I fell down therefore with violence on the carriage, so 
 that my legs came between the wheels, and one of these 
 passed over my left leg, which was thereby pitiably 
 crushed. I was carried home half-dead. My foot 
 became cramped, and I was wholly unable to move it. 
 
 A Jewish doctor was consulted, who had not indeed 
 regularly studied and graduated at a university, but had 
 acquired his medical knowledge merely by serving with 
 
 by Aben Esra, who preceded him by nearly a century, and who 
 was one of the most learned scholars, as well as one of the most 
 versatile authors, of his time. (Jost's Gescliichte des Judenthums, 
 vol. ii., pp. 419-423 ; and vol. Hi., pp. 30-31). Trans,
 
 An Autobiography. 37 
 
 a physician and reading some medical books in the 
 Polish language, who was nevertheless a very good 
 practical physician, and effected many successful cures. 
 He said that at present he was provided with no 
 medicines, the nearest apothecary's shop was about 
 twenty miles* distant, and consequently he could pre- 
 scribe nothing in the ordinary method, but that mean- 
 while a simple domestic remedy might be applied. The 
 remedy was, to kill a dog and thrust into it the cramped 
 foot ; this, repeated several times, was to give certain 
 relief. The prescription was followed with the desired 
 result, so that after some weeks I was able to use the 
 foot again, and by degrees I completely recovered. 
 
 I think it would not be at all amiss, if medical men 
 gave more attention to such domestic remedies, which 
 are used with good results in districts where there are no 
 regular physicians or apothecaries' shops ; they might 
 even make special journeys with this end in view. I 
 know many a case of this sort, which can be in nowise 
 explained away. This however in passing. I return to 
 my story. 
 
 *That is, about 100 English miles. Trans.
 
 38 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 My Family is driven into Misery, and an old Servant loses by his 
 great Faithfulness a Christian Burial. 
 
 MY father, who, as already mentioned, traded with 
 Konigsberg in Prussia, had once shipped in a vessel of 
 Prince Radzivil's some barrels of salt and herrings which 
 he had bought there. When he came home and was 
 going to fetch his goods, the agent, Schachna, absolutely 
 refused to let him take them. My father then showed 
 the bill of lading, which he had got on the shipment of 
 the goods ; but the agent tore it out of his hands, and 
 threw it into the fire. My father found himself therefore 
 compelled to carry on a long and costly suit, which he 
 had to delay till the following year, when he would again 
 make a journey to Konigsberg. Here he obtained a 
 certificate from the custom-house, showing that he had 
 shipped the said goods in a vessel of Prince Radzivil's 
 under the direction of Herr Schachna. On this certifi- 
 cate the agent was summoned before the court, but 
 found it convenient not to make an appearance ; and 
 my father gained the suit in the first, second, and third 
 instances. In spite of this, however, as a consequence 
 of the wretched administration of justice in Poland at
 
 An Autobiography. 39 
 
 the time, my father had no power to execute this 
 decision, and therefore from this successful suit he did 
 not even recover the costs. 
 
 To this was added the further result, that by this suit 
 he made Herr Schachna an enemy who persecuted him 
 now in every possible way. This the cunning scoundrel 
 could accomplish very well, as by all sorts of intrigues 
 he had been appointed by Prince Radzivil steward of all 
 his estates situated in the district of Mir. He resolved 
 therefore on my father's ruin, and only waited for a 
 convenient opportunity to carry out his revenge. 
 
 This he found soon ; and indeed a Jew, who was 
 named after his farm Schwersen, and was known as the 
 biggest scoundrel in the whole neighbourhood, offered 
 him a hand. This fellow was an ignoramus, did not 
 even understand the Jewish language, and made use 
 therefore of Russian. He occupied himself mainly in 
 examining the farms in the neighbourhood, and he knew 
 how to get possession of the most lucrative among them 
 by offering a higher rent and bribing the steward. With- 
 out troubling himself in the least about the laws of the 
 Chazakah* he drove the old legal farmers from their 
 possessions, and enriched himself by this means. He 
 thus lived in wealth and fortune, and in this state 
 reached an advanced age. 
 
 The scoundrel had already for a long time had his eye 
 
 * See above, p. 14. Trans.
 
 40 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 on my grandfather's farm, and waited merely for a 
 favourable opportunity and a plausible pretext to get 
 possession of it himself. Unfortunately my granduncle 
 Jacob, who lived in another village belonging to my 
 grandfather's farm, had been obliged to become a debtor 
 of the scoundrel to the amount of about fifty rix-dollars. 
 As he could not clear off the debt at the time when it 
 was due, his creditor came with some servants of the 
 manor, and threatened to seize the cauldron, in which 
 my granduncle's whole wealth consisted. In conster- 
 nation he loaded a waggon secretly with the cauldron, 
 drove with all haste to my grandfather's, and, without 
 letting any of us know, hid it in the adjoining marsh 
 behind the house. His creditor, however, who followed 
 on his heels, came to my grandfather's, and made search 
 all over, but could find the cauldron nowhere. Irritated 
 at this unsuccessful stroke, and breathing vengeance 
 against my grandfather who, he believed, had prevented 
 his success, he rode to the town, carried to the steward 
 an imposing present, and offered for my grandfather's 
 farm double the rent, besides an annual voluntary present 
 to the steward. 
 
 This gentleman, joyous over such an offer, and mind- 
 ful of the disgrace which my father, a Jew, had brought 
 upon him, a Polish noble, by the above-mentioned suit, 
 made on the spot a contract with the scoundrel, by which 
 he not only gave over to him this farm with all the rights 
 pertaining to it even before the end of my grandfather's
 
 An Autobiography. 41 
 
 lease, but also robbed my grandfather of all he had, 
 his barns full of grain, his cattle, etc., and shared the 
 plunder with the new farmer. 
 
 My grandfather was therefore obliged with his whole 
 family to quit his dwelling-place in mid-winter, and, 
 without knowing where he should settle again, to wander 
 about from place to place. Our departure from this 
 place was very affecting. The whole neighbourhood 
 lamented our fate. An old and faithful servant of eighty 
 years, named Gabriel, who had carried in his arms even 
 my grandfather as a child, insisted on going with us. 
 Representations were made to him on the severity of the 
 season, our unfortunate situation, and the uncertainty in 
 which we ourselves were placed as to our future destiny. 
 But it was of no avail. He placed himself on the road 
 before the gate, by which our waggons had to pass, and 
 lamented so long that we were obliged to take him up. 
 He did not however travel with us long : his advanced 
 age, his grief over our misery, and the severe season gave 
 him soon the finishing stroke. He died when we had 
 gone scarcely two or three miles ; and as no Catholic or 
 Russian community would allow him burial in their 
 churchyard he was a Prussian and a Lutheran he 
 was buried at our expense in the open field.
 
 42 Solomon Maimon; 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 New Abode, new Misery The Talmudist. 
 
 WE wandered about therefore in the country, like the 
 Israelites in the wilderness of Arabia, without knowing 
 where or when we should find a place of rest; At last 
 we came to a village which belonged to two landlords. 
 The one part was already leased; but the landlord of the 
 other could not lease his, because he had still to build a 
 house. Weary of wandering in winter-time with a whole 
 family, my grandfather resolved to take a lease of this 
 house, which was still to be built, along with its appur- 
 tenances, and meanwhile, till the house was ready, to 
 make shift as well as he could. Accordingly we were 
 obliged to take up our quarters in a barn. The other 
 farmer did all in his power to prevent our settlement in 
 the place; but it was of no avail. The building was 
 finished, we took possession, and began to keep house. 
 
 Unfortunately however everything went backward here; 
 nothing would succeed. An addition came to our mis- 
 fortunes in my mother's illness. Being of a very lively 
 temperament and disposed to a life of activity, she found 
 here the weariness of having nothing to do. This, with
 
 An Autobiography. 43 
 
 her anxiety about the means of subsistence, threw her 
 into a state of melancholy, which developed at last into 
 insanity. In this condition she remained for some 
 months. Everything was tried for her benefit, but 
 without success. At last my father hit upon the idea of 
 taking her to a celebrated doctor at Novogrod, who made 
 a specialty of curing mental disorders. 
 
 The method of cure employed by this specialist is 
 unknown to me, because I was at the time too young to 
 wish or be able to institute inquiries on the subject ; but 
 so much I can declare with certainty, that in the case of 
 my mother, as well as most of his patients afflicted with 
 the same malady, the treatment was followed with success. 
 My mother returned home fresh and healthy, and from 
 that time she never had an attack of the same sort. 
 
 Immediately after this I was sent to school at Iwenez, 
 about fifteen miles from our abode, and here I began to 
 study the Talmud. The study of the Talmud is the 
 chief object of a learned education among our people. 
 Riches, bodily advantages, and talents of every kind 
 have indeed in their eyes a certain worth, and are 
 esteemed in proportion ; but nothing stands among 
 them above the dignity of a good Talmudist. He has 
 the first claim upon all offices and positions of honour in 
 the community. If he enters an assembly, he may be 
 of any age or rank, every one rises before him most 
 respectfully, and the most honourable place is assigned 
 to him. He is director of the conscience, lawgiver and
 
 44 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 judge of the common man. He, who does not meet 
 such a scholar with sufficient respect, is, according to 
 the judgment of the Talmudists, damned to all eternity. 
 The common man dare not enter upon the most trivial 
 undertaking, if, in the judgment of the scholar, it is not 
 according to law. Religious usages, allowed and for 
 bidden meats, marriage and divorce are determined not 
 only by the rabbinical laws which have already accumu- 
 lated to an enormous mass, but also by special rabbinical 
 judgments which profess to deduce all special cases from 
 the general laws. A wealthy merchant, farmer or pro- 
 fessional man, who has a daughter, does everything in 
 his power to get a good Talmudist for his son-in-law. 
 As far as other matters are concerned, the scholar may 
 be as deformed, diseased, and ignorant as possible, he 
 will still have the advantage over others. The future 
 father-in-law of such a phoenix is obliged, at the be- 
 trothal, to pay to the parents of the youth a sum fixed by 
 previous agreement ; and besides the dowry for his 
 daughter, he is further obliged to provide her and her 
 husband with food, clothing, and lodging, for six or 
 eight years after their marriage, during which time the 
 interest on the dowry is paid, so that the learned son-in- 
 law may continue his studies at his father-in-law's ex- 
 pense. After this period he receives the dowry in hand, 
 and then he is either promoted to some learned office, 
 or he spends his whole life in learned leisure. In either 
 case the wife undertakes the management of the house-
 
 An Autobiography. 45 
 
 hold and the conduct of business ; and she is content if 
 only in return for all her toils she becomes in some 
 measure a partaker of her husband's fame and future 
 blessedness. 
 
 The study of the Talmud is carried on just as 
 irregularly as that of the Bible. The language of the 
 Talmud is composed of various Oriental languages and 
 dialects; there is even many a word in it from Greek 
 and Latin. There is no dictionary, in which you can 
 turn up the expressions and phrases rnet with in the 
 Talmud ; and, what is still worse, as the Talmud is not 
 pointed, you cannot even tell how such words, that are 
 not pure Hebrew, are to be read. The language of the 
 Talmud, therefore, like that of the Bible, is learned only 
 through frequent translation; and this constitutes the 
 first stage in the study of the Talmud. 
 
 When the pupil has been directed for some time in 
 translation by the teacher, he goes on to the independent 
 reading or explanation of the Talmud. The teacher 
 gives him a limited portion of the Talmud, containing 
 within itself a connected argument, as a task in exposi- 
 tion, which he must perform within a fixed time. The 
 particular expressions and forms of speech occurring in 
 the passage must either be known by the pupil from his 
 former lessons, or the teacher, who here takes the place 
 of a dictionary, explains them to him. But the tenor 
 and the entire connection of the prescribed passage the
 
 46 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 pupil is required to bring out himself; and this consti- 
 tutes the second stage in the study of the Talmud. 
 
 Two commentaries, which are commonly printed along 
 with the text, serve as the chief guides at this point. 
 The author of the one is Rabbi Solomon Isaac,* a man 
 gifted with grammatical and critical knowledge of lan- 
 guage, with extensive and thorough Talmudic insight, 
 and with an uncommon precision of style. The other is 
 known by the title of Tosaphoth (Additions), and is the 
 work of several rabbis. Its origin is very remarkable. 
 A number of the most famous rabbis agreed to study the 
 Talmud in company. For this purpose each selected a 
 separate portion, which he studied by himself till he 
 believed that he had fully comprehended it, and retained 
 it in memory. Afterwards all the rabbis met, and began 
 to study the Talmud in company according to the order 
 of its parts. As soon as the first part had been read out, 
 thoroughly explained, and settled according to the 
 Talmudic Logic, one of the rabbis produced, from the 
 part of the Talmud with which he was most familiar, 
 anything that appeared to contradict this passage. 
 Another then adduced, from the part which he had 
 made thoroughly his own, a passage which was able to 
 
 * Solomon ben Isaac, as he is more correctly named, or Raschi, 
 as he is also called, was an eminent Talmudic scholar of Troyes in 
 the latter half of the eleventh century. It was his son-in-law, 
 Meir, and the three sons of Meir, who may be said to have begun 
 the Tosaphoth, referred to in the text. Trans,
 
 An Autobiography. 47 
 
 remove this contradiction by means of some distinction 
 or some qualification unexpressed in the preceding 
 passage. Sometimes the removal of such a contradiction 
 occasioned another, which a third rabbi disclosed, and a 
 fourth laboured to remove, till the first passage was ex- 
 plained harmoniously by all, and made perfectly clear. 
 It may easily be imagined, what a high degree of subtlety 
 is required to reduce the Talmud to first principles, from 
 which correct inferences may be drawn after an uniform 
 method; for the Talmud is a voluminous and hetero- 
 geneous work, in which even the same subject often 
 turns up in different passages, where it is explained in 
 different ways. 
 
 Besides these two there are several other commen- 
 taries which treat the subject further, and even make 
 corrections on the two just mentioned. Indeed, every 
 rabbi, if he possesses sufficient acuteness, is to be viewed 
 as a living commentary on the Talmud. But the highest 
 effort of the mind is required to prepare a selection from 
 the Talmud or a code of the laws deducible from it. 
 This implies not only acuteness, but also a mind in the 
 highest degree systematic. Herein our Maimonides un- 
 doubtedly deserves the first rank, as may be seen from 
 his code, Jad Hachazekah. 
 
 The final stage in the study of the Talmud is that of 
 disputation. It consists in eternally disputing about the 
 book, without end or aim. Subtlety, loquacity, and im- 
 pertinence here carry the day. This sort of study was
 
 48 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 formerly very common in the Jewish high schools ; * but 
 in our times along with the schools it has also fallen in- 
 to decay. It is a kind of Talmudic scepticism, and 
 utterly incompatible with any systematic study directed 
 to some end. 
 
 *As it was at one time throughout all Christendom, and pro- 
 bably under every civilisation at a certain stage of its history. 
 Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 49 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Joy endureth but a little while. 
 
 AFTER this digression on the study of the Talmud I re- 
 turn to my story. As already mentioned, I was sent to 
 school at Iwenez. My father gave me a letter to the 
 chief rabbi of this place, who was a relation of ours, re- 
 questing him to give me in charge to an able teacher, 
 and to give some attention to the progress of my studies. 
 He gave me however in charge to a common school- 
 master, and told me I was to visit him every Sabbath in 
 order that he might examine me himself. This injunc- 
 tion I punctually followed ; but the arrangement did not 
 continue long ; for at one of these examinations I began 
 to dispute about my lessons and suggest difficulties, 
 when, without replying to them, the chief rabbi asked 
 me if I had stated these difficulties to my teacher also. 
 
 " Of course," I replied. 
 
 " And what did he say ? " asked the chief rabbi. 
 
 " Nothing to the point," I replied, " except that he en- 
 joined silence on me, and said, ' A youngster must not 
 be too inquisitive; he must see to it merely that he 
 understands his lesson, but must not overwhelm his 
 teacher with questions.' "
 
 50 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 "Ah !" said the chief rabbi, "your teacher is alto- 
 gether too easy, we must make a change. I will give 
 you instruction myself. I will do it merely out of 
 friendship, and I hope that your father will have as little 
 to say against it as your former teacher. The fee which 
 your father pays for your education, will be given to 
 your teacher without deduction." 
 
 In this way I got the chief rabbi for a teacher. He 
 struck out a way of his own with me. No weekly 
 lessons repeated till they are impressed on the memory, 
 no tasks which the pupil is obliged to perform for him- 
 self, and in which the course of his thoughts is very 
 often arrested for the sake of a single word or a figure of 
 speech, which has little to do with the main subject. 
 His method distinguished itself from all this. He made 
 me explain something from the Talmud ex tempore in 
 his presence, conversed with me on the subject, ex- 
 plained to me so much as was necessary to set my own 
 mind in activity, and by means of questions and answers 
 turned my attention away from all side-issues to the 
 main subject, so that in a short time I passed through 
 all the three above-mentioned stages in the study of the 
 Talmud. 
 
 My father, to whom the chief rabbi gave an account 
 of his plan with me and of my progress, went beside 
 himself with joy. He returned his warmest thanks to 
 this excellent man for putting himself to so much trouble 
 with me out of mere friendship, and that notwithstand-
 
 An Autobiography. 51 
 
 ing his delicate state of health, for he was consumptive. 
 But this joy did not last long ; before a half year was 
 ended, the chief rabbi had to betake himself to his 
 fathers, and I was left like a sheep without a shepherd. 
 
 This was announced to my father, who came and 
 
 fetched me home. Not, however, to H , from 
 
 which I had been sent to school, but to Mohilna, about 
 six miles from H , whether my father had mean- 
 while removed. This new change of abode had taken 
 place in the following way. 
 
 Mohilna is a small hamlet in the territory of Prince 
 Radzivil four miles from Nesvij, his residence. The 
 situation of this place is excellent. Having the river 
 Niemen on one side, and on the other a large quantity 
 of the best timber for ships, it is adapted equally for 
 trade and for shipbuilding. Moreover the district in it- 
 self possesses great fertility and amenity. These facts 
 could not escape the attention of the Prince. The far- 
 mer or arendant of the place, whose family for some 
 generations had been in possession of this lucrative farm, 
 and had become rich by means of the shipbuilding trade, 
 and the numerous fine products of the district, took all 
 possible pains to prevent these great advantages from 
 being observed, in order that he might be able to enjoy 
 them alone without being disturbed. But it happened 
 once that the prince was travelling through the place, 
 and was so taken with its beauty, that he resolved to 
 make a town of it. He sketched a plan for this, and
 
 52 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 made an announcement that the place was to be a 
 Slabode ; that is, every one was to be at liberty to settle 
 in the place, and drive any kind of trade, and was even 
 to be free from all taxes for the first six years. For a 
 long time, however, this plan was never carried out, owing 
 to all sorts of intrigues on the part of the arendant, who 
 went so far as even to bribe the advisers of the prince to 
 turn his attention away from the subject. 
 
 My father, who saw clearly that the miserable farm of 
 
 H could not support him and his family, and had 
 
 been obliged to remain there hitherto only from want of 
 a better abode, rejoiced very much at the announcement, 
 because he hoped that Mohilna would offer him a place 
 of refuge, especially as the arendant was a brother-in-law 
 of my uncle. In this connection he made a journey to 
 the place with my grandfather, had a conversation with 
 the arendant, and opened to him his proposal to settle 
 in Mohilna with his consent. The arendant, who had 
 feared that, on the announcement of the prince's wish, 
 people would stream in from all sides, and press him out 
 of his possession, was delighted that at least the first who 
 settled there was not a stranger, but related to his family 
 by marriage. He therefore not only gave his consent to 
 the proposal, but even promised my father all possible 
 assistance. Accordingly my father removed with his 
 whole family to Mohilna, and had a small house built 
 for himself there ; but till it was ready, the family were 
 obliged once more to take up their quarters in a barn.
 
 An Autobiography. 53 
 
 The arendant, by whom at first we were received in a 
 friendly manner, had unfortunately meanwhile changed 
 his mind, and found that his fear of being pressed out of 
 his possession by strangers was wholly without ground, 
 inasmuch as already a considerable time had passed 
 since the announcement of the prince's wish, and yet 
 nobody had presented himself besides my father. The 
 prince, as a Polish chief and Voivode in Lithuania, was 
 constantly burdened too much with State affairs in War- 
 saw, to be able to think on the carrying out of his plan 
 himself; and his subordinates could be induced by 
 bribes to frustrate the whole plan. These considerations 
 showed the arendant that the new-comer could not only 
 be spared, but was even a burden, inasmuch as he had 
 now to share with another what he had before held in 
 possession alone. He sought therefore to restrict my 
 father, and to disturb him in his settlement, as much as 
 possible. With this view he built for himself a splendid 
 house, and succeeded in obtaining a command from 
 the prince, in accordance with which none of the new- 
 comers should enjoy the rights of a burgher till he had 
 built a similar house. My father saw himself therefore 
 compelled to waste his little fortune, which was indis- 
 pensably required for the new arrangements, wholly and 
 solely on this useless building.
 
 54 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Pupil knows more than the Teacher A theft a la Rousseau, 
 which is discovered "The ungodly provideth, and the 
 righteous putteth it on." 
 
 MY father's condition had thus externally an improved 
 appearance, but so much the more doubtful did it ap- 
 pear internally on that account. My mother, notwith- 
 standing her unwearied activity, was able to make only 
 a very sorry provision for the family. Accordingly my 
 father was obliged to seek, in addition to his other duties, 
 a position as teacher, in which he carried on my educa- 
 tion ; and I must confess that in this connection I gave 
 him, on the one hand, much joy, but, on the other hand, 
 not a little vexation. I was then indeed only about 
 nine years old ; still, I could not only understand the 
 Talmud and its commentaries correctly, but I even took 
 delight in disputing about it, and in this I felt a childish 
 pleasure in triumphing over my honest father, whom I 
 thereby threw into no small perplexity. 
 
 The arendant and my father lived together like neigh- 
 bours ; that is, they envied and hated each other. The 
 former looked on my father as a vagrant, who had forced 
 himself upon him, and disturbed him in his undivided
 
 An Autobiography. 55 
 
 possession of the advantages of the place. My father 
 took the arendant for a wealthy blockhead, who, against 
 the consent which he had granted, which my father 
 might have dispensed with altogether and had sought 
 merely from the love of peace, endeavoured in every 
 way to restrict him and to narrow his rights, notwith- 
 standing the fact that he received actual advantages from 
 his settlement. For from this time Mohilna had acquired 
 a sort of independence, by means of which the arendant 
 was spared many expenses and depreciations. There 
 was also a small synagogue erected, and my father took 
 the position of chief rabbi, preacher, and director of the 
 conscience, as he was the only scholar in the place. He 
 lost, indeed, no opportunity of representing all this to 
 the arendant, and making complaints of his conduct; 
 but unfortunately this was of little use. 
 
 I must take this opportunity of mentioning the only 
 theft which I ever perpetrated in my life. I often went 
 to the house of the arendant, and played with his child- 
 ren. Once, when I entered a room and found no one 
 there, it being summer and the people of the house all 
 busy out of doors, I spied in an open closet a neat little 
 medicine -box which appeared to me uncommonly 
 charming. When I opened it, I found, to my very 
 great sorrow, some money in it ; for it belonged to one 
 of the children of the house. I could not resist the de- 
 sire to carry off the little box ; but to take the money 
 seemed to me in the highest degree shameful. But
 
 56 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 when I considered that the theft would be all the more 
 easily discovered if I put the money out, full of fear and 
 shame I took the box as it was and thrust it in my 
 pocket. I went home with it, and buried it very care- 
 fully. The night following I could not sleep, and was 
 disquieted in conscience, especially on account of the 
 money. I resolved, therefore, to take it back; but in 
 regard to the little box, I could not conquer myself : it 
 was a work of art, the like of which I had never seen be- 
 fore. The next day I emptied the box of its contents, 
 slunk with them into the room already mentioned, and 
 waited for an opportunity when nobody was there. I 
 was already engaged in smuggling the money into the 
 closet ; but I had so little skill in doing this without 
 noise and with the necessary despatch, that I was caught 
 in the act, and forced to a confession of the whole theft. 
 I was obliged to dig up again the valuable work of art, 
 it must have cost about a quarter of a groschen, to re- 
 turn it to its owner, little Moses, and to hear myself 
 called thief by the children of the house. 
 
 Another incident, which happened to me and had a 
 comical issue, was the following. The Russians had 
 been quartered for some time in Mohilna, and as they 
 obtained new mountings, they were allowed to sell the 
 old. My eldest brother Joseph and my cousin Beer 
 applied to Russian acquaintances of theirs, and received 
 in a present some brass buttons, which, being considered 
 a fine decoration, they got sewed on to their hose instead
 
 An Autobiography. 57 
 
 of the wooden buttons they had before. I also was de- 
 lighted with the decoration ; but as I had not the skill 
 to furnish myself by my own diligence, I was compelled 
 to make use of force. I applied, therefore, to my father, 
 and demanded that Joseph and Beer should be required 
 to share their buttons with me. My father, who, indeed, 
 was extremely fair, but still was fond of me above every- 
 thing, said that the buttons were, of course, the rightful 
 property of their owners, but that, as these had more 
 than they required for their own wants, it was but fair 
 that they should give me some of those that they did 
 not require. To my commendation and their confusion 
 he added the passage of the Bible, " The ungodly pro- 
 videth, and the righteous putteth it on."* This decision 
 had to be carried out in spite of the protest of Joseph 
 and Beer; and I had the pleasure of also shining in 
 brass buttons on my hose. 
 
 Joseph and Beer however could not get over their loss. 
 They complained loudly of the impious wrong which had 
 been done to them. My father, who wished to get rid 
 of the affair, told them therefore, that, as the buttons had 
 been already sewed on to Solomon's hose, they must not 
 use force, but that, if they could get them back again by 
 
 * This seems to be Job xxvii. 17, which in our Authorised Ver- 
 sion runs : " He (a wicked man) may prepare it (raiment), but 
 the just shall put it on." Maimon seems to render it from memory: 
 " Der Gottlose schafft sich an, und der Fromme bekleidet sich 
 damit." Trans. 
 
 E
 
 58 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 stratagem, they were at liberty to do so. Both were 
 pleased with this decision. They came to me, looked at 
 my buttons, and both at once exclaimed in astonishment, 
 " Oh ! what is that we see ? Buttons sewed on to cloth 
 hose with linen instead of hemp thread ! They must be 
 taken off at once." While they were speaking, they took 
 off all the buttons, and went off with joy over their suc- 
 cessful stratagem. I ran after them, and demanded that 
 they should sew the buttons on again ; but they laughed 
 me to scorn. My father said to me smiling at this, 
 " Since you are so credulous, and allow yourself to be 
 deceived, I cannot help you any longer ; I hope you will 
 be wiser in the future." With this the affair came to an 
 end. I was obliged to content myself with wooden 
 buttons, and to have often repeated to my mortification 
 by Joseph and Beer, the biblical passage, which my 
 father had used to my advantage, "The ungodly pro- 
 videth, and the righteous putteth it on."
 
 An Autobiography. 59 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Love Affairs and Matrimonial Proposals The Song of Solomon 
 may be used in Matchmaking A new Modus Lucrandi 
 Smallpox. 
 
 IN my youth I was very lively, and had in my nature a 
 good deal that was agreeable. In my passions I was 
 violent and impatient. Till about my eleventh year, as 
 I had the benefit of a very strict education, and was kept 
 from all intercourse with women, I never traced any 
 special inclination towards the fair sex. But an incident 
 produced in me a great change in this respect. 
 
 A poor, but very pretty, girl about my own age was 
 taken into our house as a servant. She charmed me un- 
 commonly. Desires began to stir in me, which till this 
 time I had never known. But in accordance with the 
 strict rabbinical morals, I was obliged to keep on my 
 guard against looking on the girl with attentive gaze, and 
 still more against speaking with her, so that I was able 
 only now and then to throw at her a stolen glance. 
 
 It happened once however that the women of the 
 house were going to bathe, which by the usage of the 
 country they are accustomed to do two or three times a 
 week. By chance my instinct drove me without reflec-
 
 60 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 tion towards the place where they bathed ; and there I 
 suddenly perceived this beautiful girl, as she stepped out 
 of the steam-bath and plunged into the river flowing by. 
 At this sight I fell into a sort of rapture. After my feel- 
 ings had calmed down again, being mindful of the strict 
 Talmudic laws, I wished to flee. But I could not; I 
 remained standing, as if rooted in the spot. As I 
 dreaded however lest I might be surprised here, I was 
 obliged to return with a heavy heart. From that time I 
 became restless, was sometimes beside myself; and this 
 state continued till my marriage. 
 
 Our neighbour, the arendant, had two sons and three 
 daughters. The eldest daughter, Deborah, was already 
 married. The second, Pessel, was about my age ; the 
 peasantry of the place professed to find even a certain 
 resemblance in our features, and therefore, in accordance 
 with all the laws of probability, conjectured that there 
 would be a match between us. We formed also a 
 mutual affection. But by ill luck the youngest daughter, 
 Rachel, had to fall into a cellar and dislocated one of her 
 legs. She herself, indeed, completely recovered, but the 
 leg remained somewhat crooked. The arendant then 
 started a hunt after me ; he was absolutely determined 
 to have me for a son-in-law. My father was quite agree- 
 able, but he wished to have for his daughter-in-law the 
 straight-legged Pessel rather than Rachel of the crooked 
 leg. The arendant however declared that this was imprac- 
 ticable, inasmuch as he had fixed on a rich husband for
 
 An Autobiography. 61 
 
 the elder, while the youngest was destined for me ; and as 
 my father was unable to give me anything, he was willing 
 to provide for her richly out of his own fortune. Besides 
 a considerable sum which he agreed to give as a portion, 
 he was willing in addition to make me a joint-heir of his 
 fortune, and to provide me with all necessaries the whole 
 of my life. Moreover he promised to pay my father a 
 fixed sum immediately after the betrothal, and not only 
 to leave him undisturbed in his rights, but also to try 
 and promote his domestic happiness in every possible 
 way. The feuds between the two families were to cease 
 from this time, and a league of friendship was to unite 
 them for the future into one family. 
 
 Had my father lent an ear to these representations, he 
 would without doubt have established the fortune of his 
 house, and I should have lived with a spouse, who, it is 
 true, had a crooked leg, but (as I found out some time 
 afterwards when I was tutor in her family) was in other 
 respects an amiable woman. I should thus have been 
 freed from all cares in the midst of good fortune, and I 
 should have been able to apply myself without hindrance 
 to my studies. But unhappily my father rejected this 
 proposal with scorn. He was absolutely determined to 
 have Pessel for his daughter-in-law; and since this, as 
 already mentioned, was impracticable, the feuds between 
 the two families broke out afresh. But as the arendant 
 was rich, and my father was a poor man, the latter was 
 necessarily always the loser.
 
 62 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 Some time afterwards another matrimonial proposal 
 
 for me turned up. Mr. L of Schmilowitz, a learned 
 
 and at the same time a rich man, who had an only 
 daughter, was so enchanted with my fame, that he chose 
 me for his son-in-law without having seen me before. 
 He began by entering into correspondence with my 
 father on the subject, and left it to him to prescribe the 
 conditions of the union. My father answered his letter 
 in lofty style, made up of Biblical verses and passages 
 from the Talmud, in which he expressed the conditions 
 briefly by means of the following verses from the Canticles, 
 "The thousand gulden are for thee, O Solomon, and the 
 two hundred for those who keep his fruits." * Consent 
 was given to everything. 
 
 My father accordingly made a journey to Schmilowitz, 
 saw his future daughter-in-law, and had the marriage- 
 contract drawn in accordance with the terms agreed 
 upon. Two hundred gulden were paid to him on the 
 spot. With this, however, he was not content, but 
 insisted that in his letter he had been obliged to limit 
 himself to two hundred gulden merely for the sake of the 
 
 * Evidently viii., 12, rendered in our Authorised Version, "Thou, 
 O Solomon, must have a thousand (pieces of silver), and those that 
 keep the fruit thereof two hundred." Maimon translates apparently 
 from memory, " Die tausend Gulden sind fur dich, Salomo, und 
 die Zweihundert fur die, die seine Fruchte bewahren." In my 
 rendering of this the pronoun "his " must be understood in its old 
 English latitude as either neuter or masculine. Trans,
 
 An Autobiography. 63 
 
 beautiful verse which he did not wish to spoil ; but he 
 would not enter into the transaction at all unless he 
 received for himself twice two hundred gulden (fifty 
 thalers in Polish money). They had therefore to pay 
 him two hundred gulden more, and to hand over to him 
 the so-called little presents for me, namely, a cap of black 
 velvet trimmed with gold lace, a Bible bound in green 
 velvet with silver clasps, etc. With these things he came 
 home full of joy, gave me the presents, and told me that 
 I was to prepare myself for a disputation to be held on 
 my marriage day, which would be in two months' time. 
 
 Already my mother had begun to bake the cakes she 
 was expected to take with her to the wedding, and to 
 prepare all sorts of preserves; I began also to think 
 about the disputation I was to hold, when suddenly the 
 mournful news arrived that my bride had died of 
 smallpox. My father could easily reconcile himself to 
 this loss, because he thought to himself that he had 
 made fifty thalers by his son in an honourable way, and 
 that now he could get fifty thalers for him again. I also, 
 who had never seen my bride, could not particularly 
 mourn her loss ; I thought to myself, " The cap and the 
 silver-clasped Bible are already mine, and a bride will 
 also not be awanting long, while my disputation can 
 serve me again." My mother alone was inconsolable 
 about this loss. Cakes and preserves are of a perishable 
 nature and will not keep long. The labour which my 
 mother had expended was therefore rendered fruitless by
 
 64 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 this fatal accident ; and to this must be added, that she 
 could find no place to keep the delicious cakes from my 
 secret attacks.
 
 An Autobiography. 65 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 I become an object of contention, get two wives at once, and am 
 kidnapped at last. 
 
 MEANWHILE the domestic circumstances of my father 
 became every day worse. He saw himself, therefore, 
 compelled to make a journey to the town of Nesvij, and 
 apply for a position as teacher there, whither I also had 
 to follow him. Here he opened under favourable con- 
 ditions a school of his own, in which he could employ 
 me as assistant. 
 
 A widow, celebrated for her superior talents, as well 
 as for her Xanthippe-like character, kept a public-house 
 at the extremity of one of the suburbs. She had a 
 daughter who yielded to her in none of the above- 
 mentioned qualities, and who was indispensable to her 
 in the management of the house. Madam Rissia, (this 
 was the widow's name), excited by my constantly in- 
 creasing reputation, fixed on me as a husband for her 
 daughter Sarah. Her family represented to her the 
 impossibility of carrying out this plan ; first, my father's 
 pride, and the demands which he would therefore make, 
 and which she could never satisfy ; then my fame, which 
 had already excited the attention of the most prominent
 
 66 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 and wealthy people of the town ; and finally, the 
 moderate character of her own fortune, which was far 
 from sufficient to carry out such a proposal. All these 
 representations, however, were of no avail with her. She 
 had once for all taken it into her head, to have me for a 
 son-in-law, let it cost her what it might ; and she 
 thought, the devil would needs be in it, if she could not 
 get the young man. 
 
 She sent a proposal to my father, let him have no rest 
 the whole time he was in the town, discussed the matter 
 with him herself on various occasions, and promised to 
 satisfy all his demands. My father, however, sought to 
 gain time for deliberation, and to put off the question 
 for a while. But the time came when we were to return 
 home. My father went with me to the widow's house, 
 which was the last on our road, in order to wait for a 
 conveyance which started from that place. Madam 
 Rissia made use of the opportunity, began to caress me, 
 introduced my bride, and asked me how I was pleased 
 with her. At last she pressed for a decisive answer 
 from my father. He was still always holding back, how- 
 ever, and sought in every possible way to represent the 
 difficulties connected with the subject. 
 
 While they were thus treating with one another, sud- 
 denly there burst into the room the chief rabbi, the 
 preacher, and the elders of the place, with many of the 
 most respectable people. This sudden appearance was 
 brought about without any magic in the following way.
 
 An Autobiography. 67 
 
 These gentlemen had been invited to a circumcision at 
 the house of a prominent man in this very suburb. 
 Madam Rissia, who knew this very well, sent her son 
 at once to the house with an invitation to the whole 
 company to come, immediately after rising from table, to 
 a betrothal at her house. They came therefore half 
 intoxicated ; and as they believed nothing else than that 
 all the preliminaries of the marriage contract had been 
 settled, and that nothing was awanting but to write out 
 and subscribe the contract, they sat down to table, set 
 my father in the midst, and the chief rabbi began to 
 dictate the contract to the scribe of the community. 
 
 My father assured them that on the main point nothing 
 had yet been decided, and that still less had the pre- 
 liminary articles been settled. The chief rabbi fell into 
 a passion at this, for he supposed that it was only a 
 quibble, and that his sacred person and the whole 
 honourable company were being made sport of. He 
 turned therefore to the company, and said with a 
 haughty air, " Who is this Rabbi Joshua, who makes 
 himself of so much consequence ? " My father replied, 
 " The Rabbi is here superfluous. I am, 'tis true, a 
 common man ; but I believe, no man can dispute my 
 right to care for the welfare of my son, and to place his 
 future happiness on a firm footing." 
 
 The chief rabbi was greatly offended with the ambi- 
 guity of the expression, ' The Rabbi is here superfluous." 
 He saw clearly that he had no right to lay down laws to
 
 68 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 my father in the matter, and that it was a piece of 
 rashness on the part of Madam Rissia to invite a 
 company to a betrothal before the parties were agreed 
 on the preliminary articles. He began therefore to 
 strike a lower tone. He represented to my father the 
 advantages of this match, the high ancestry of the bride, 
 (her grandfather, father, and uncle, having been learned 
 men, and chief rabbis), her personal attractions, and the 
 willingness and ability of Madam Rissia to satisfy all 
 his demands. 
 
 My father, who in fact had nothing to say against all 
 this, was compelled to yield. The marriage-contract 
 was made out, and in it Madam Rissia made over to 
 her daughter her public-house with all its belongings as 
 a bridal portion, and came under an obligation also to 
 board and clothe the newly-married couple for six years. 
 Besides I received as a present the entire work of the 
 Talmud with its appurtenances, together worth two or 
 three hundred thalers,* and a number of other gifts. 
 My father came under no obligation at all, and in addi- 
 tion received fifty thalers in cash. Very wisely he had 
 refused to accept a bill for this sum ; it had to be paid 
 to him before the betrothal. 
 
 * The bulk of the gift explains its costliness. " The Babylonian 
 Talmud is about four times as large as that of Jerusalem. Its thirty- 
 six treatises now cover, in our editions, printed with the most 
 prominent commentaries (Rashi and Tosafoth), exactly 2947 folio 
 leaves in twelve folio volumes." (E. Deutsch's Literary Remains, 
 p. 41). Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 69 
 
 After all this had been arranged, there was a capital 
 entertainment, and the brandy bottle was vigorously 
 plied. The very next day my father and I went home. 
 My mother-in-law promised to send after us as soon as 
 possible the so-called little presents and the articles of 
 clothing for me, which in the hurry she had not been 
 able to get ready. Many weeks however passed without 
 our hearing or seeing anything of these. My father was 
 perplexed about this ; and as the character of my mother- 
 in-law had long been suspicious to him, he could think 
 nothing else than that this intriguing woman was seeking 
 some subterfuge to escape from her burdensome contract. 
 He resolved therefore to repay like with like. 
 
 The following circumstance strengthened him in this 
 resolve. A rich arendant, who used to bring spirits to 
 Nesvij for sale, and to lodge in our house on his journey 
 through Mohilna, likewise cast his eye upon me. He 
 had an only daughter, for whom he fixed on me in his 
 thoughts as a husband. He knew however what diffi- 
 culties he would have to overcome, if he were to treat 
 on the subject directly with my father. He chose there- 
 fore an indirect way. His plan was to make my father 
 his debtor ; and as his critical circumstances would make 
 it impossible for him to clear off the debt, he expected 
 to force him, as it were, to consent to this union with 
 the view of wiping out the debt by means of the amount 
 stipulated for the son. He offered my father therefore
 
 7O Solomon Maimon : 
 
 some barrels of spirits on credit, and the offer was 
 accepted with delight. 
 
 As the date of payment approached, Hersch Dukor 
 (this was the name of the arendant) came and reminded 
 my father. The latter assured him, that at the moment 
 he was not in a position to clear off the debt, and begged 
 him to have patience with him for some time yet. 
 " Herr Joshua," said the arendant, " I will speak with 
 you quite frankly on this matter. Your circumstances 
 are growing daily worse ; and if no fortunate accident 
 occurs, I do not see any possibility of your being able to 
 clear off your debt. The best thing for us both therefore 
 is this. You have a son, and I have a daughter who is 
 the sole heiress of all my property. Let us enter into 
 an alliance. By this means not only will your debt be 
 wiped out, but a sum to be fixed by yourself will be 
 paid in addition, and I shall take a general care to im- 
 prove your circumstances so far as lies in my power." 
 
 No one could be more joyous over this proposal than 
 my father. Immediately a contract was closed, in 
 which the bride's dowry, as well as the required presents, 
 was decided in accordance with my father's suggestion. 
 The bill for the debt, which amounted to fifty thalers in 
 Polish money, was returned to my father, and torn on 
 the spot, while fifty thalers in addition were paid to him. 
 
 Thereupon my new father-in-law went on to Nesvij to 
 collect some debts there. Unfortunately he had to 
 lodge at my former mother-in-law's. She, being a great
 
 An Autobiography. 71 
 
 prattler, told him of her own accord about the good 
 match which her daughter had made. " The father of 
 the bridegroom," said she, " is himself a great scholar, 
 and the bridegroom is a young man of eleven years, who 
 has scarcely his equal." 
 
 " I also," replied the arendant, " have, thank God, 
 made a good choice for my daughter. You have per- 
 haps heard of the celebrated scholar, Rabbi Joshua, in 
 Mohilna, and of his young son, Solomon : he is my 
 daughter's bridegroom." 
 
 Scarcely had these words been spoken, when she 
 cried out, " That is a confounded lie. Solomon is my 
 daughter's bridegroom ; and here, sir, is the marriage- 
 contract." 
 
 The arendant then showed her his contract too ; and 
 they fell into a dispute, the result of which was that 
 Madam Rissia had my father summoned before the 
 court to give a categorical explanation. My father, 
 however, did not put in an appearance, although she had 
 him summoned twice. 
 
 Meanwhile my mother died, and was brought to 
 Nesvij for burial. My mother-in-law obtained from the 
 court an attachment on the dead body, by which its 
 interment was interdicted till the termination of the suit. 
 My father therefore saw himself compelled to appear in 
 court, my mother-in-law of course gained the suit, and I 
 became again the bridegroom of my former bride. And 
 now to prevent any similar reversal of her plans in the
 
 72 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 future, and to take from my father all occasion for it, 
 my mother-in-law endeavoured to satisfy all his demands 
 in accordance with her promise, clothed me from top to 
 toe, and even paid my father for my board from the date 
 of the betrothal to the marriage. My mother" also was 
 now buried, and we returned home again. 
 
 My second father-in-law came too, and called upon 
 my father for the ratification of his contract. He how- 
 ever pointed out that it was null and void, as it contra- 
 vened a previous contract, and had been made by him 
 merely in the supposition that my mother-in-law had no 
 intention of fulfilling hers. The arendant seemed to give 
 an ear to these representations, to yield to necessity, and 
 reconcile himself to his loss; but in reality he was 
 thinking of some means to get me into his hands. 
 Accordingly he rose by night, yoked his horses, took me 
 in silence from the table on which I was sleeping, 
 packed me with all despatch into his carriage, and made 
 off with his booty out at the gate. But as this could not 
 be accomplished without some noise, the people in the 
 house awoke, discovered the theft, pursued the kidnap- 
 per, and snatched me out of his hand. To me the 
 whole incident appeared at the time like a dream. 
 
 In this way my father was released from his debt, and 
 got fifty thalers besides as a gratuity ; but I was 
 immediately afterwards carried off by my legal mother- 
 in-law, and made the husband of my legal bride. I must 
 of course confess that this transaction of my father's
 
 An Autobiography. 73 
 
 cannot be quite justified in a moral point of view. Only 
 his great need at the time can in some measure serve as 
 an excuse.
 
 74 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 My Marriage in my Eleventh Year makes me the Slave of my 
 Wife, and procures for me Cudgellings from my Mother-in- 
 law A Ghost of Flesh and Blood. 
 
 ON the first evening of my marriage my father was not 
 present. As he told me at my departure that he had 
 still to settle some articles on my account, and therefore 
 I was to wait for his arrival, I refused, in spite of all the 
 efforts that were made, to appear that evening. Never- 
 theless the marriage festivities went on. We waited the 
 next day for my father, but still he did not come. They 
 then threatened to bring a party of soldiers to drag me 
 to the marriage ceremony; but I gave them for an 
 answer, that, if this were done, it would help them little, 
 for the ceremony would not be lawful except as a 
 voluntary act. At last, to the joy of all interested, my 
 father arrived towards evening, the articles referred to 
 were amended, and the marriage ceremony was per- 
 formed. 
 
 Here I must mention a little anecdote. I had read 
 in a Hebrew book of an approved plan for a husband to 
 secure lordship over his better half for life. He was to
 
 An Autobiography. 75 
 
 tread on her foot at the marriage ceremony ; and if both 
 hit on the stratagem, the first to succeed would retain 
 the upper hand. Accordingly, when my bride and I 
 were placed side by side at the ceremony this trick 
 occurred to me, and I said to myself, Now you must not 
 let the opportunity pass of securing for your whole life- 
 time lordship over your wife. I was just going to tread 
 on her foot, but a certain Je ne sais quoi, whether fear, 
 shame, or love, held me back. While I was in this 
 irresolute state, all at once I felt the slipper of my wife 
 on my foot with such an impression that I should almost 
 have screamed aloud if I had not been checked by 
 shame. I took this for a bad omen and said to myself, 
 Providence has destined you to be the slave of your wife, 
 you must not try to slip out of her fetters. From my 
 faint-heart edness and the heroic mettle of my wife, the 
 reader may easily conceive why this prophecy had to be 
 actually realised. 
 
 I stood, however, not only under the slipper of my 
 wife, but what was very much worse under the lash 
 of my mother-in-law. Nothing of all that she had 
 promised was fulfilled. Her house, which she had 
 settled on her daughter as a dowry, was burdened with 
 debt. Of the six years' board which she had promised 
 me I enjoyed scarcely half a year's, and this amid 
 constant brawls and squabbles. She even, trusting to 
 my youth and want of spirit, ventured now and then to 
 lay hands on me, but this I repaid not infrequently with
 
 y 6 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 compound interest. Scarcely a meal passed during 
 which we did not fling at each other's head, bowls, 
 plates, spoons, and similar articles. 
 
 Once I came home from the academy extremely 
 hungry. As my mother-in-law and wife were occupied 
 with the business of the public house, I went myself into 
 the room where the milk was kept ; and as I found a dish 
 of curds and cream, I fell upon it, and began to eat. My 
 mother-in-law came as I was thus occupied, and screamed 
 in rage, " You are not going to devour the milk with the 
 cream ! " The more cream the better, thought I, and 
 went on eating, without disturbing myself by her cry. 
 She was going to wrest the dish forcibly from my hands, 
 beat me with her fists, and let me feel all her ill-will. 
 Exasperated by such treatment, I pushed her from me, 
 seized the dish, and smashed it on her head. That was 
 a sight ! The curds ran down all over her. She seized 
 in rage a piece of wood, and if I had not cleared out in 
 all haste, she would certainly have beat me to death. 
 
 Scenes like this occurred very often. At such 
 skirmishes of course my wife had to remain neutral, and 
 whichever party gained the upper hand, it came home to 
 her very closely. " Oh !" she often complained, " if only 
 the one or the other of you had a little more patience ! " 
 
 Tired of a ceaseless open war I once hit upon a strat- 
 agem, which had a good effect for a short time at least. 
 I rose about midnight, took a large vessel of earthenware, 
 crept with it under my mother-in-law's bed, and began to
 
 An Autobiography. 77 
 
 speak aloud into the vessel after the following fashion: 
 " O Rissia, Rissia, you ungodly woman, why do you treat 
 my beloved son so ill ? If you do not mend your ways, 
 your end is near, and you will be damned to all eternity." 
 Then I crept out again, and began to pinch her cruelly 
 and after a while I slipped silently back to bed. 
 
 The following ' morning she got up in consternation, 
 and told my wife, that my mother had appeared to her 
 in a dream, and had threatened and pinched her on my 
 account. In confirmation she showed the blue marks on 
 her arm. When I came from the synagogue, I did not 
 find my mother-in-law at home, but found my wife in 
 tears. I asked the reason, but she would tell me nothing. 
 My mother-in-law returned with dejected look, and eyes 
 red with weeping. She had gone, as I afterwards learned, 
 to the Jewish place of burial, thrown herself on my 
 mother's grave, and begged for forgiveness of her fault. 
 She then had the burial place measured, and ordered a 
 wax-light as long as its circumference, for burning in the 
 synagogue. She also fasted the whole day, and towards 
 me showed herself extremely amiable. 
 
 I knew of course what was the cause of all this, but 
 acted as if I did not observe it, and rejoiced in secret 
 over the success of my stratagem. In this manner I 
 had peace for some time, but unfortunately it did not 
 last long. The whole was soon forgotten again, and on 
 the slightest occasion the dance went on as before. In 
 short, I was soon afterwards obliged to leave the house
 
 78 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 altogether, and accept a position as a private tutor. Only 
 on the great feast-days I used to come home.
 
 An Autobiography. 79 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Secrets of the Marriage State Prince Radzivil,* or what is 
 not all allowed in Poland ? 
 
 IN my fourteenth year I had my eldest son, David. At 
 my marriage I was only eleven years old, and owing to 
 the retired life common among people of our nation in 
 those regions, as well as the want of mutual intercourse 
 between the two sexes, I had no idea of the essential 
 duties of marriage, but looked on a pretty girl as on any 
 other work of nature or art, somewhat as on the pretty 
 medicine-box that I stole. It was therefore natural that 
 for a considerable time after marriage I could not have 
 any thought about the fulfilment of its duties. I used to 
 approach my wife with trembling as a mysterious object. 
 It was therefore supposed that I had been bewitched at 
 the time of the wedding ; and under this supposition I 
 was brought to a witch to be cured. She took in hand 
 all sorts of operations, which of course had a good effect, 
 although indirectly through the help of the imagination. 
 
 * Maimon gives merely the initial " R " of this name ; but as he 
 has already (Chap. i. ) told us that his prince was Radzivil, there is 
 not much mystery in this artifice. Trans.
 
 8o Solomon Maimon : 
 
 My life in Poland from my marriage to my emigration, 
 which period embraces the springtime of my existence, 
 was a series of manifold miseries with a want of all 
 means for the promotion of culture, and, necessarily 
 connected with that, an aimless application of my powers, 
 in the description of which the pen drops from my hands, 
 and the painful memories of which I strive to stifle.* 
 
 The general constitution of Poland at the time ; the 
 condition of our people in it, who, like the poor ass with 
 the double burden, are oppressed by their own ignorance 
 and the religious prejudices connected therewith, as well 
 as by the ignorance and prejudices of the ruling classes ; 
 the misfortunes of my own family; all these causes 
 combined to hinder me in the course of my develop- 
 ment, and to check the effect of my natural disposition. 
 
 The Polish nation, under which I comprehend merely 
 
 * This horror of memory tormented Maimon to the end of his 
 days. " He dreamed often that he was in Poland again, deprived 
 of all his hooks ; and Lucius metamorphosed into an ass was not in 
 a more pitiable plight. 'From this agony,' said Maimon, 'I was 
 usually aroused by a loud cry, and my joy was indescribable on 
 finding that it was only a dream.'" (Maimoniana, p. 94). "He 
 once received a visit from his brother, for whom he was deeply 
 affected. Poor as he was himself, Maimon kept him a long while, 
 gave him clothing and everything else that he could, besides pro- 
 curing from some friends enough money to pay his travelling ex- 
 penses. Above all, he told me, he was affected at letting his 
 brother go back into the wilderness ; and if he had not had a wife 
 and children at home, he would have tried to keep him beside him- 
 self." (Ibid., p. 175). Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 81 
 
 the Polish nobility, is of a very mixed kind. Only the 
 very few have an opportunity of culture by means of 
 upbringing, instruction, and well-directed travels, by 
 which they can best promote at once their own welfare 
 and that of their tenantry. Most of them, on the other 
 hand, spend their lives in ignorance and immorality, and 
 become the sport of their extravagant passions, which 
 are ruinous to their tenants. They make a display with 
 titles and orders, which they disgrace by their actions ; 
 they own many estates which they do not understand 
 how to manage, and they are at perpetual feud with one 
 another, so that the kingdom must of necessity become 
 the prey of its neighbours, who are envious of its great- 
 ness. 
 
 Prince Radzivil was, as Hettmann in Poland and 
 Voivode in Lithuania, one of the greatest magnates, 
 and as occupant of three inheritances in his family 
 owned immense estates. He was not without a certain 
 kindness of heart and good sense ; but, through 
 neglected training and a want of instruction, he became 
 one of the most extravagant princes that ever lived. 
 From want of occupation, which was a necessary conse- 
 quence of neglect in cultivating his tastes and widening 
 his knowledge, he gave himself up to drinking, by which 
 he was tempted to the most ridiculous and insane actions. 
 Without any particular inclination for it he abandoned 
 himself to the most shameful sensuality; and without
 
 82 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 being cruel, he exercised towards his dependents the 
 greatest cruelties. 
 
 He supported at great cost an army of ten thousand 
 men, which was used for no purpose in the world except 
 display; and during the troubles in Poland he took, 
 without knowing why, the part of the Confederates. By 
 this means he got himself encumbered with the friend- 
 ship of the Russians, who plundered his estates, and 
 plunged his tenants into the greatest destitution and 
 misery. He himself was obliged several times to flee 
 from the country, and to leave as booty for his enemies 
 treasures which had been the gathering of many genera- 
 tions. 
 
 Who can describe all the excesses he perpetrated ? A 
 few examples will, I believe, be sufficient to give the 
 reader some idea of them. A certain respect for my 
 former prince does not allow me to consider his faults as 
 anything but faults of temperament and education, which 
 deserve rather our pity than our hatred and contempt. 
 
 When he passed through a street, which he commonly 
 did with the whole pomp of his court, his bands of music 
 and soldiers, no man, at the peril of his life, durst show 
 himself in the street ; and even in the houses people were 
 by no means safe. The poorest, dirtiest peasant-woman, 
 who came in his way, he would order up into his carriage 
 beside himself. 
 
 Once he sent for a respectable Jewish barber, who, 
 suspecting nothing but that he was wanted for some
 
 An Autobiography. 83 
 
 surgical operation, brought his instruments with him, and 
 appeared before the prince. 
 
 " Have you brought your instruments with you ? " he 
 was asked. 
 
 "Yes, Serene Highness," he replied. 
 
 " Then," said the prince, "give me a lancet, and I will 
 open one of your veins." 
 
 The poor barber had to submit. The prince seized 
 the lancet ; and as he did not know how to go about the 
 operation, and besides his hand trembled as a result of 
 his hard drinking, of course he wounded the barber in a 
 pitiable manner. But his courtiers smiled their applause, 
 and praised his great skill in surgery. 
 
 He went one day into a church, and being so drunk 
 that he did not know where he was, he stood against the 
 
 altar, and commenced to . All who were present 
 
 became horrified. Next morning when he was sober, the 
 clergy brought to his mind the misdeed he had committed 
 the day before. " Eh ! " said the prince, " we will soon 
 make that good." Thereupon he issued a command to 
 the Jews of the place, to provide at their own expense, 
 fifty stone of wax for burning in the church. The poor 
 Jews were therefore obliged to bring a sin-offering for 
 the desecration of a Christian Church by an orthodox 
 Catholic Christian. 
 
 He once took it into his head to drive on the wall 
 round the town. But as the wall was too narrow for a 
 coach with six horses, and he never drove in any other,
 
 84 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 his hussars were obliged, with much labour and peril 
 of their lives, to carry the coach with their hands till he 
 had driven round the town in this way. 
 
 Once he drove with the whole pomp of his court to a 
 Jewish synagogue, and, without any one to this day 
 knowing the reason, committed the greatest havoc, 
 smashed windows and stoves, broke all the vessels, threw 
 on the ground the copies of the Holy Scriptures kept in 
 the ark, and so forth. A learned, pious Jew, who was 
 present, ventured to lift one of these copies from the 
 ground, and had the honour of being struck with a 
 musket-ball by His Serene Highness' own hand. From 
 here the train went to a second synagogue, where the 
 same conduct was repeated, and from there they pro- 
 ceeded to the Jewish burial-place, where the buildings 
 were demolished, and the monuments cast into the fire. 
 
 Can it be conceived, that a prince could show himself 
 so malicious towards his own poor subjects, whom he 
 was in a position to punish legally whenever they really 
 did anything amiss ? Yet this is what happened here. 
 
 On one occasion he took it into his head to make a 
 trip to Mohilna, a hamlet belonging to him, which lay 
 four short miles from his Residence. This had to be 
 done with his usual suite and all the pomp of his court. 
 On the morning of the appointed day the train went forth. 
 First marched the army in order according to its usual 
 regimental divisions, infantry, artillery, cavalry, and so 
 on. Then followed his bodyguard, Strelitzi, consisting of
 
 An Autobiography. 85 
 
 volunteers from the poor nobility. After them came his 
 kitchen-waggons, in which Hungarian wine had not been 
 forgotten. These were followed by the music of his 
 janissaries, and other bands. Then came his coach, and 
 last of all his satraps. I give them this name, because I 
 can compare this train with no other than that of Darius 
 in the war against Alexander. Towards evening His 
 Serene Highness arrived at our public house in the 
 suburb of the town which was His Serene Highness' 
 Residence, Nesvij. I cannot say that he arrived in his 
 own high person, for the Hungarian wine had robbed 
 him of all consciousness, in which alone of course per- 
 sonality rests. He was carried into the house and thrown 
 with all his clothes, booted and spurred, on to my 
 mother-in-law's dirty bed, without giving it a supply of 
 clean linen. 
 
 As usual, I had to take to flight. My Amazons, how- 
 ever, I mean my mother-in-law and my wife, trusted to 
 their heroic mettle, and remained at home alone. Riot 
 went on the whole night. In the very room where His 
 Serene Highness slept, wood was chopped, cooking and 
 baking were done. It was well known that, when His 
 Serene Highness slept, nothing could waken his high 
 person except perhaps the trumpet of the Judgment-Day. 
 The next morning, when he wakened, and looked around, 
 he scarcely knew whether to trust his eyes, when he found 
 himself in a wretched public-house, thrown on to a dirty 
 bed swarming with bugs. His valets, pages, and negroes
 
 86 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 waited on his commands. He asked how he had come 
 there, and was answered, that His Serene Highness had 
 yesterday commenced a journey to Mohilna, but had 
 halted here to take rest, that his whole train had mean- 
 while gone on, and had undoubtedly arrived in Mohilna 
 by this time. 
 
 The journey to Mohilna was for the present given up, 
 and the whole train ordered back. They returned 
 accordingly to the Residence in the usual order and 
 pomp. But the prince was pleased to hold a great 
 banquet in our public-house. All the foreign gentlemen, 
 who happened to be in the place at the time, were 
 invited. The service used on the occasion was of gold, 
 and it is impossible adequately to realise the contrast 
 which reigned here in one house, between Asiatic splen- 
 dour and Lappish poverty. In a miserable public-house, 
 whose walls were black as coal with smoke and soot, 
 whose rafters were supported by undressed round stems 
 of trees, whose windows consisted of some fragments of 
 broken panes of bad glass, and small strips of pine 
 covered with paper, in this house sat princes on dirty 
 benches at a still dirtier table, and had the choicest 
 dishes and the finest wines served to them on gold plate. 
 
 Before the banquet the prince took a stroll with the 
 other gentlemen in front of the house, and by chance 
 observed my wife. She was then in the bloom of her 
 youth ; and although I am now separated from her, still 
 I must do her the justice to allow that leaving, of course,
 
 An Autobiography. 87 
 
 out of account all that taste and art contribute to the 
 heightening of a person's charms, inasmuch as these had 
 had no influence on her she was a beauty of the first 
 rank. It was therefore natural that she should please 
 the prince. He turned to his companions, and said, 
 " Really a pretty young woman ! Only she ought to get 
 a white chemise." This was a common signal with him, 
 and meant as much as the throwing of a handkerchief 
 by the Grand Sultan. When these gentlemen therefore 
 heard it, they became solicitous for the honour of my 
 wife, and gave her a hint to clear out as fast as possible. 
 She took the hint, slipped silently out, and was soon 
 over the hills and far away. 
 
 After the banquet His Serene Highness proceeded 
 again with the other gentlemen into town amid trumpets, 
 kettle-drums, and the music of his janissaries. Then the 
 usual order of the day was followed ; that is, a carousal 
 was carried on the whole afternoon and evening, and 
 then the party went to a pleasure-house at the entrance 
 to the prince's zoological garden, where fire-works were 
 set off at great expense, but usually with accidents. As 
 every goblet was drained, cannons were fired ; but the 
 poor cannoneers, who knew better how to handle the 
 plough than the cannon, were not seldom injured. 
 " Vivat Kschondsie Radzivil," that is, " Long live Prince 
 Radzivil," shouted the guests. The palm in this 
 Bacchanalian sport was of course awarded to the prince ; 
 and those who awarded it were loaded by him with
 
 88 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 presents, not in perishable coin or golden snuff-boxes or 
 anything of that sort, but in real estate with many hun- 
 dred peasants. At the close a concert was given, during 
 which His Serene Highness fell gently asleep, and was 
 carried to the castle. 
 
 The expenses of such extravagance were of course ex- 
 torted from the poor tenantry. If this was not sufficient, 
 debts were contracted, and estates sold to wipe them out. 
 Not even the twelve golden statues in life-size, whether 
 they represented the twelve apostles or the twelve giants, 
 I do not know, nor the golden table which had been 
 made for himself, were spared on such emergencies. And 
 thus the noble estates of this great prince were dimin- 
 ished, his treasures which had accumulated during many 
 
 generations were exhausted, and his tenants But I 
 
 must break off. 
 
 The prince died not long ago without heirs of his 
 body. His brother's son inherited the estates.
 
 An Autobiography. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Endeavour after mental Culture amid ceaseless Struggles with 
 Misery of every kind. 
 
 BY means of the instruction received from my father, but 
 still more by my own industry, I had got on so well, that 
 in my eleventh year I was able to pass as a full rabbi. 
 Besides I possessed some disconnected knowledge in 
 history, astronomy, and other mathematical sciences. I 
 burned with desire to acquire more knowledge, but how 
 was this to be accomplished in the want of guidance, of 
 scientific books, and of all other means for the purpose ? 
 I was obliged therefore to content myself with making 
 use of any help that I could by chance obtain, without 
 plan or method. 
 
 In order to gratify my desire of scientific knowledge, 
 there were no means available but that of learning foreign 
 languages. But how was I to begin ? To learn Polish 
 or Latin with a Catholic teacher was for me impossible, 
 on the one hand because the prejudices of my own 
 people prohibited to me all languages but Hebrew, and 
 all sciences but the Talmud and the vast array of its 
 commentators, on the other hand because the prejudices 
 
 G
 
 go Solomon Maimon: 
 
 of Catholics would not allow them to give instruction in 
 those matters to a Jew. Moreover I was in very low 
 temporal circumstances. I was obliged to support a 
 whole family by teaching, by correcting proofs of the 
 Holy Scriptures, and by other work of a similar kind. 
 For a long time therefore I had to sigh in vain for the 
 satisfaction of my natural inclination. 
 
 At last a fortunate accident came to my help. I 
 observed in some stout Hebrew volumes, that they 
 contained several alphabets, and that the number of their 
 sheets was indicated not merely by Hebrew letters, but 
 that for this purpose the characters of a second and a third 
 alphabet had also been employed, these being commonly 
 Latin and German letters. Now, I had not the slightest 
 idea of printing. I generally imagined that books were 
 printed like linen, and that each page was an impression 
 from a separate form. I presumed however that the 
 characters, which stood in similar places, must represent 
 one and the same letter, and as I had already heard 
 something of the order of the alphabet in these languages, 
 I supposed that, for example, #, standing in the same 
 place as aleph, must likewise be an aleph in sound. In 
 this way I gradually learnt the Latin and German 
 characters. 
 
 By a kind of deciphering I began to combine various 
 German letters into words ; but as the characters used 
 along with the Hebrew letters might be something quite 
 different from these, I remained always doubtful whether
 
 An Autobiography. 91 
 
 the whole of my labour in this operation would not be in 
 vain, till fortunately some leaves of an old German book 
 fell into my hand. I began to read. How great were 
 my joy and surprise, when I saw from the connection, 
 that the words completely corresponded with those which 
 I had learned. 'Tis true, in my Jewish language many 
 of the words were unintelligible ; but from the connec- 
 tion I was still able, with the omission of these words, to 
 comprehend the whole pretty well.* 
 
 This mode of learning by deciphering constitutes still 
 my peculiar method of comprehending and judging the 
 thoughts of others ; and I maintain that no one can say 
 he understands a book, as long as he finds himself com- 
 pelled to deliver the thoughts of the author in the order 
 and connection determined by him, and with the expres- 
 sions which he has used. This is a mere work of memory, 
 and no man can flatter himself with having comprehend- 
 ed an author till he is roused by his thoughts, which he 
 apprehends at first but dimly, to reflect on the subject 
 
 * It was probably a reminiscence of this labour of deciphering, 
 that led to the following outburst of sympathy : " One day Maimon 
 read in an English work, that the author had only commenced to 
 learn the ABC when he was eighteen years of age, and that the 
 first book which fell into his hands was one of Newton's works. 
 His master (for he was a servant) came upon him at this task, and 
 asked, ' What are you doing with that ? you can't read ?' ' O yes,' 
 he replied, ' I have learnt to read, and I began with the most diffi- 
 cult subjects.' Maimon read this in my presence with tears in his 
 eyes." (Maimoniana, pp. 230- 1 ). Trans.
 
 92 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 himself, and to work it out for himself, though it may be 
 under the impulse of another. This distinction between 
 different kinds of understanding must be evident to any 
 man of discernment. For the same reason also I can 
 understand a book only when the thoughts which it con- 
 tains harmonise after filling up the gaps between them. 
 
 I still always felt a want which I was not able to fill. 
 I could not completely satisfy my desire of scientific 
 knowledge. Up to this time the study of the Talmud 
 was still my chief occupation. With this however I 
 found pleasure merely in view of its form, for this calls 
 into action the higher powers of the mind ; but I took 
 no interest in its matter. It affords exercise in deducing 
 the remotest consequences from their principles, in dis- 
 covering the most hidden contradictions, in hunting out 
 the finest distinctions, and so forth. But as the princi- 
 ples themselves have merely an imaginary reality, they 
 cannot by any means satisfy a soul thirsting after know- 
 ledge. 
 
 I looked around therefore for something, by which I 
 could supply this want. Now, I knew that there is a 
 so-called science, which is somewhat in vogue among the 
 Jewish scholars of this district, namely the Cabbalah, 
 which professes to enable a man, not merely to satisfy 
 his desire of knowledge, but also to reach an uncommon 
 perfection and closeness of communion with God. Na- 
 turally therefore I burned with desire for this science. 
 As however it cannot, on account of its sacredness, be
 
 An Autobiography. 93 
 
 publicly taught, but must be taught in secret, I did not 
 know where to seek the initiated or their writings.
 
 94 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 I study the Cabbalah, and become at last a Physician. 
 
 CABBALAH, to treat of this divine science somewhat 
 more in detail, means, in the wider sense of the term, 
 tradition; and it comprehends, not only the occult 
 sciences which may not be publicly taught, but also the 
 method of deducing new laws from the laws that are 
 given in the Holy Scriptures, as also some fundamental 
 laws which are said to have been delivered orally to 
 Moses on Mount Sinai. In the narrower sense of the 
 term, however, Cabbalah means only the tradition of 
 occult sciences. This is divided into theoretical and 
 practical Cabbalah. The former comprehends the doc- 
 trines of God, of His attributes which are expressed by 
 means of His manifold names, of the origin of the world 
 through a gradual limitation of His infinite perfection, 
 and of the relation of all things to His supreme essence. 
 The latter is the doctrine which teaches how to work 
 upon nature at pleasure by means of those manifold 
 names of God, which represent various modes of working 
 upon, and relations to, natural objects. These sacred 
 names are regarded, not as merely arbitrary, but as
 
 An Autobiography. 95 
 
 natural signs, so that all that is done with these signs 
 must have an influence on the object which they repre- 
 sent. 
 
 Originally the Cabbalah was nothing but psychology, 
 physics, morals, politics, and such sciences, represented 
 by means of symbols and hieroglyphs in fables and 
 allegories, the occult meaning of which was disclosed 
 only to those who were competent to understand it. By 
 and by, however, perhaps as the result of many revolu- 
 tions, this occult meaning was lost, and the signs were 
 taken for the things signified. But as it was easy to 
 perceive that these signs necessarily had meant some- 
 thing, it was left to the imagination to invent an occult 
 meaning which had long been lost. The remotest ana- 
 logies between signs and things were seized, till at last 
 the Cabbalah degenerated into an art of madness accord- 
 ing to method, or a systematic science resting on conceits. 
 The big promise of its design, to work effects on nature 
 at pleasure, the lofty strain and the pomp with which it 
 announces itself, have naturally an extraordinary influ- 
 ence on minds of the visionary type, that are unen- 
 lightened by the sciences and especially by a thorough 
 philosophy. 
 
 The principal work for the study of the Cabbalah is 
 the Zohar, which is written in a very lofty style in the 
 Syrian language. All other Cabbalistic writings are to 
 be regarded as merely commentaries on this, or extracts 
 from it.
 
 96 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 There are two main systems of the Cabbalah, the 
 system of Rabbi Moses Kordovero, and that of Rabbi 
 Isaac Luria.* The former is more real, that is, it 
 approximates more closely to reason. The latter, on the 
 other hand, is more formal, that is, it is completer in the 
 structure of its system. The modern Cabbalists prefer 
 the latter, because they hold that only to be genuine 
 Cabbalah, in which there is no rational meaning. The 
 principal work of Rabbi Moses Kordovero is the Pardes 
 (Paradise). Of Rabbi Isaac Luria himself we have some 
 disconnected writings; but his pupil, Rabbi Chajim 
 Vitall, wrote a large work under the title, Ez Chajim 
 (The Tree of Life), in which the whole system of his 
 master is contained. This work is held by the Jews to 
 be so sacred, that they do not allow it to be committed 
 to print. Naturally, I had more taste for the Cabbalah 
 of Rabbi Moses than for that of Rabbi Isaac, but durst 
 not give utterance to my opinion on this point. 
 
 After this digression on the Cabbalah in general, I re- 
 turn to my story. I learned that the under-rabbi or 
 preacher of the place was an adept in the Cabbalah; and 
 therefore, to attain my object, I made his acquaintance. 
 I took my seat beside him in the synagogue, and as I 
 
 * Both of these Cabbalists belonged to the sixteenth century. 
 The former, as his name implies, belonged to Cordova in Spain ; 
 the latter, to the German community in Jerusalem (fos(s Geschichte 
 ies fudenthums, Vol. iii., pp. 137-140). Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 97 
 
 observed once that after prayer he always read from a 
 small book, and then put it past carefully in its place, I 
 became very curious to know what sort of book this was. 
 Accordingly, after the preacher had gone home, I went 
 and took the book from the place where he had put it ; 
 and when I found that it was a Cabbalistic work, I went 
 with it and hid myself in a corner of the synagogue, till 
 all the people had gone out and the door was locked. I 
 then crept from my hiding-place, and, without a thought 
 about eating or drinking the whole day long, read the 
 fascinating book till the doorkeeper came and opened 
 the synagogue again in the evening. 
 
 Shaarei Kedushah, or The Gates of Righteousness > was 
 the title of this book ; and, leaving out of account what 
 was visionary and exaggerated, it contained the principal 
 doctrines of psychology. I did with it therefore as the 
 Talmudists say Rabbi Me'ir acted, who had a heretic for 
 his teacher, " He found a pomegranate ; he ate the fruit 
 and threw the peel away." * 
 
 * Rabbi Meir's teacher was Elisha ben Abuyah, "the Faust of 
 the Talmud," as he has been strikingly styled by Mr. Deutsch. 
 The Talmud preserves a beautiful story illustrative of the devoted 
 affection which Mei'r continued to cherish for his apostate master. 
 Four men, so runs the legend, entered Paradise ; that is, according 
 to Talmudic symbolism, they entered upon the study of that secret 
 science with its bewildering labyrinth of speculative dreams, through 
 which it is given only to a few rare spirits to find their way. Of 
 these four, "one beheld and died, one beheld and lost his senses, 
 one destroyed the young plants, one only entered in peace and
 
 98 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 In two or three days I had in this way finished the 
 book ; but instead of satisfying my curiosity, it only ex- 
 cited it the more. I wished to read more books of the 
 same sort. But as I was too bashful to confess this to 
 the preacher, I resolved to write him a letter, in which I 
 expressed my irresistible longing for this sacred science, 
 and therefore entreated him earnestly to assist me with 
 books. I received from him a very favourable answer. 
 He praised my zeal for the sacred science, and assured 
 me that this zeal, amid so little encouragement, was an 
 obvious sign that my soul was derived from Olam Aziloth 
 (the world of the immediate divine influence), while the 
 souls of mere Talmudists take their origin from Olam 
 Jezirah (the world of the creation). He promised, there- 
 fore, to assist me with books as far as lay in his power. 
 But as he himself was occupied mainly with this science, 
 and required to have such books constantly at hand, he 
 
 came out in peace." The destroyer of the young plants was Elisha 
 ben Abuyah. Once he was passing the ruins of the temple on the 
 great day of atonement, and heard a voice within "moaning like a 
 dove," "All men shall be forgiven this day save Elisha ben 
 Abuyah who, knowing me, has betrayed me." After his death 
 flames hovered incessantly over his grave, until his loving disciple 
 threw himself upon it and swore an oath of devout self-sacrifice, 
 that he would not partake of the joys of heaven without his master, 
 nor move from the spot until his master's soul had found forgiveness 
 before the Throne of Grace. See Emanuel Deutsch's Literary 
 Remains, p. 15 ; and Jost's Geschidite dcs fudenthums, Vol. ii., 
 pp. 102-4.
 
 An Autobiography. 99 
 
 could not lend them to me, but gave me permission to 
 study them in his house at my pleasure. 
 
 Who was gladder than I ! I accepted the offer of the 
 preacher with gratitude, scarcely ever left his house, and 
 sat day and night over the Cabbalistic books. Two 
 representations especially gave me the greatest trouble. 
 One was the Tree, or the representation of the divine 
 emanations in their manifold and intricate complexities. 
 The other was God's Beard, in which the hairs are 
 divided into numerous classes with something peculiar 
 to each, and every hair is a separate channel of divine 
 grace. With all my efforts I could not find in these 
 representations any rational meaning. 
 
 My prolonged visits however were extremely incon- 
 venient to the preacher. He had, a short time before, 
 married a pretty young wife ; and as his modest little 
 house consisted of a single apartment, which was at once 
 parlour, study, and bedroom, and as I sat in it at times 
 reading the whole night, it happened not infrequently 
 that my elevation above the sphere of sense came into 
 collision with his sensibility. Consequently, he hit upon 
 a good plan for getting rid of the incipient Cabbalist. 
 He said to me one day, " I observe that it necessarily 
 puts you to a great deal of inconvenience to spend your 
 time constantly away from home for the sake of these 
 books. You may take them home with you one by one 
 if you please, and thus study them at your convenience." 
 
 To me nothing could be more welcome. I took home
 
 ioo Solomon Maimon: 
 
 one book after another, and studied them till I believed 
 that I had mastered the whole of the Cabbalah. I con- 
 tented myself not merely with the knowledge of its 
 principles and manifold systems, but sought also to make 
 a proper use of these. There was not a passage to be 
 met with in the Holy Scriptures or in the Talmud, the 
 occult meaning of which I could not have unfolded, 
 according to Cabbalistic principles, with the greatest 
 readiness. 
 
 The book entitled Shaarei Orah * came to be of very 
 good service here. In this book are enumerated the 
 manifold names of the ten Sephiroth, which form the 
 principal subject of the Talmud, so that a hundred or 
 more names are given to each. In every word of a verse 
 in the Bible, or of a passage in the Talmud, I found 
 therefore the name of some Sephirah. But as I knew 
 the attribute of every Sephirah, and its relation to the 
 rest, I could easily bring out of the combination of names 
 their conjoint effect. 
 
 To illustrate this by a brief example, I found in the book 
 just mentioned, that the name Jehovah represents the six 
 highest Sephiroth (not including the first three), or the 
 person of the Godhead generis masculini, while the word 
 Koh means the Shechinah or the person of the Godhead 
 generis feminini, and the word amar denotes sexual 
 
 * The Gates of Light. Tram,
 
 An Autobiography. 101 
 
 union. The words, "Koh amar Jehova,"* therefore, 
 I explained in the following way, " Jehovah unites with 
 the Shechinah," and this is high Cabbalism. Accord- 
 ingly, when I read this passage in the Bible, I thought 
 nothing else, but that, when I uttered these words, and 
 thought their occult meaning, an actual union of these 
 divine spouses took place, from which the whole world 
 had to expect a blessing. Who can restrain the excesses 
 of imagination, when it is not guided by reason ? 
 
 With the Cabbalah Maasith, or the practical Cabbalah, 
 I did not succeed so well as with the theoretical. The 
 preacher boasted, not publicly indeed, but to everybody 
 in private, that he was master of this also. Especially he 
 professed roeh veeno nireh (to see everything, but not to 
 be seen by others), that is, to be able to make himself 
 invisible. 
 
 About this trick I was specially anxious, in order that 
 I might practise some wanton jokes on my comrades. 
 More particularly I formed a plan for keeping my ill- 
 tempered mother-in-law in check by this means. I 
 pretended that my object was merely to do good, and 
 guard against evil. The preacher consented, but said at 
 the same time, that on my part certain preparations were 
 required. Three days in succession I was to feast, and 
 every day to say some Ichudim. These are Cabbalistic 
 forms of prayer, whose occult meaning aims at produc- 
 
 * "Thus saith the Lord" in the English version. Trans.
 
 IO2 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 ing in the intellectual world sexual unions, through 
 means of which certain results are to be brought about 
 in the physical. 
 
 I did everything with pleasure, made the conjuration 
 which he had taught me, and believed with all confidence 
 that I was now invisible. At once I hurried to the Beth 
 Hamidrash) the Jewish academy, went up to one of my 
 comrades, and gave him a vigorous box on the ear. He 
 however was no coward, and returned the blow with 
 interest. I started back in astonishment ; I could not 
 understand how he had been able to discover me, as I 
 had observed with the utmost accuracy the instructions 
 of the preacher. Still I thought I might, perhaps, un- 
 wittingly and unintentionally have neglected something. 
 I resolved, therefore, to undertake the operation anew. 
 This time, however, I was not going to venture on the 
 test of a box on the ear; I went into the academy merely 
 to watch my comrades as a spectator. As soon as I 
 entered, however, one of them came up to me, and 
 showed me a difficult passage in the Talmud, which he 
 wished me to explain. I stood utterly confounded, and 
 disconsolate over the failure of my hopes. 
 
 Thereupon I went to the preacher, and informed him 
 of my unsuccessful attempt. Without blushing, he re- 
 plied quite boldly, "If you have observed all my in- 
 structions, I cannot explain this otherwise than by sup- 
 posing that you are unfit for being thus divested of the 
 visibility of your body." With great grief, therefore, I
 
 An Autobiography. 103 
 
 was obliged to give up entirely the hope of making my- 
 self invisible. 
 
 This disappointed hope was followed by a new delu- 
 sion. In the preface to the Book of Raphael, which the 
 angel of that name is said to have delivered to our first 
 father Adam at his banishment from paradise, I found 
 the promise, that whoever keeps the book in his house 
 is thereby insured against fire. It was not long, how- 
 ever, before a conflagration broke out in the neighbour- 
 hood, when the fire seized my house too, and the angel 
 Raphael himself had to go up into heaven in this chariot 
 of fire. 
 
 Unsatisfied with the literary knowledge of this science, 
 I sought to penetrate into its spirit ; and as I perceived 
 that the whole science, if it is to deserve this name, can 
 contain nothing but the secrets of nature concealed in 
 fables and allegories, I laboured to find out these secrets, 
 and thereby to raise my merely literary knowledge to a 
 rational knowledge. This, however, I could accomplish 
 only in a very imperfect manner at the time, because I 
 had yet very few ideas of the sciences in general. Still, 
 by independent reflection I hit upon many applications 
 of this kind. Thus, for example, I explained at once 
 the first instance with which the Cabbalists commonly 
 begin their science. 
 
 It is this. Before the world was created, the divine 
 being occupied the whole of infinite space alone. But 
 God wished to create a world, in order that He might
 
 IO4 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 reveal those attributes of His nature which refer to other 
 beings besides Himself. For this purpose He contracted 
 Himself into the centre of His perfection, and issued into 
 the space thereby left void ten concentric circles of light, 
 out of which arose afterwards manifold figures (Parzo- 
 phini) and gradations down to the present world of sense. 
 
 I could not in any way conceive that all this was to 
 be taken in the common sense of the words, as nearly 
 all Cabbalists represent it. As little could I conceive 
 that, before the world had been created, a time had past, 
 as I knew from my Moreh Nebhochim, that time is a 
 modification of the world, and consequently cannot be 
 thought without it. Moreover, I could not conceive 
 that God occupies a space, even though it be infinite ; 
 or that He, an infinitely perfect being, should contract 
 Himself, like a thing of circular form, into a centre. 
 
 Accordingly I sought to explain all this in the follow- 
 ing way. God is prior to the world, not in time, but in 
 His necessary being as the condition of the world. All 
 things besides God must depend on Him as their cause, 
 in regard to their essence as well as their existence. The 
 creation of the world, therefore, could not be thought as 
 a bringing forth out of nothing, nor as a formation of 
 something independent on God, but only as a bringing 
 forth out of Himself. And as beings are of different 
 grades of perfection, we must assume for their explana- 
 tion different grades of limitation of the divine being. 
 But since this limitation must be thought as extending
 
 An Autobiography. 105 
 
 from the infinite being down to matter, we represent the 
 beginning of the limitation in a figure as a centre (the 
 lowest point) of the Infinite. 
 
 In fact, the Cabbalah is nothing but an expanded 
 Spinozism, in which not only is the origin of the world 
 explained by the limitation of the divine being, but also 
 the origin of every kind of being, and its relation to the 
 rest, are derived from a separate attribute of God. God, 
 as the ultimate subject and the ultimate cause of all 
 beings, is called Ensoph (the Infinite, of which, con- 
 sidered in itself, nothing can be predicated). But in re- 
 lation to the infinite number of beings, positive attributes 
 are ascribed to Him ; these are reduced by the Cabbalists 
 to ten, which are called the ten Sephiroth. 
 
 In the book, Pardes, by Rabbi Moses Kordovero, the 
 question is discussed, whether the Sephiroth are to be 
 taken for the Deity Himself or not. It is easy to be 
 seen, however, that this question has no more difficulty 
 in reference to the Deity, than in reference to any other 
 being. 
 
 Under the ten circles I conceived the ten categories 
 or predicaments of Aristotle, with which I had become 
 acquainted in the Moreh Nebhochim, the most universal 
 predicates of things, without which nothing can be 
 thought. The categories, in the strictest critical sense, 
 are the logical forms, which relate not merely to a logical 
 object, but to real objects in general, and without which 
 
 these cannot be thought. They have their source, there- 
 
 H
 
 106 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 fore, in the subject itself, but they become an object of 
 consciousness only by reference to a real object. Con- 
 sequently, they represent the ten Sephiroth, which be- 
 long, indeed, to the Ensoph in itself, but of which the 
 reality is revealed only by their special relation to, and 
 effect upon, objects in nature, and the number of which 
 can be variously determined in various points of view. 
 
 But by this method of explanation I brought upon 
 myself many an annoyance. For the Cabbalists main- 
 tain that the Cabbalah is not a human, but a divine, 
 science; and that, consequently, it would be degrada- 
 tion of it, to explain its mysteries in accordance with 
 nature and reason. The more reasonable, therefore, my 
 explanations proved, the more were the Cabbalists 
 irritated with me, inasmuch as they held that alone to 
 be divine, which had no reasonable meaning. Accord- 
 ingly I had to keep my explanations to myself. An 
 entire work, that I wrote on the subject, I brought with 
 me to Berlin, and preserve still as a monument of the 
 struggle of the human mind after perfection, in spite of 
 all the hindrances which are placed in its way. 
 
 Meanwhile this could not satisfy me. I wished to get 
 an insight into the sciences, not as they are veiled in 
 fables, but in their natural light. I had already, though 
 very imperfectly, learned to read German ; but where 
 was I to obtain German books in Lithuania ? Fortun- 
 ately for me I learned that the chief rabbi of a neighbour- 
 ing town, who in his youth had lived for a while in
 
 An Autobiography. 107 
 
 Germany, and learned the German language there, and 
 made himself in some measure acquainted with the 
 sciences, continued still, though in secret, to work at the 
 sciences, and had a fair library of German books. 
 
 I resolved therefore to make a pilgrimage to S , in 
 
 order to see the chief rabbi, and beg of him a few 
 scientific books. I was tolerably accustomed to such 
 journeys, and had gone once thirty miles* on foot to see 
 a Hebrew work of the tenth century on the Peripatetic 
 philosophy. Without therefore troubling myself in the 
 least about travelling expenses or means of conveyance, 
 and without saying a word to my family on the subject, 
 I set out upon the journey to this town in the middle of 
 winter. As soon as I arrived at the place, I went to the 
 chief rabbi, told him my desire, and begged him earnestly 
 for assistance. He was not a little astonished; for, during 
 the thirty one years which had passed since his return 
 from Germany, not a single individual had ever made 
 such a request. He promised to lend me some old 
 German books. The most important among these were 
 an old work on Optics, and Sturm's Physics. 
 
 I could not sufficiently express my gratitude to this 
 excellent chief rabbi; I pocketed the few books, and 
 returned home in rapture. After I had studied these 
 books thoroughly, my eyes were all at once opened. I 
 believed that I had found a key to all the secrets of 
 
 * About 150 English miles. Trans,
 
 io8 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 nature, as I now knew the origin of storms, of dew, of 
 rain, and such phenomena. I looked down with pride 
 on all others, who did not yet know these things, laughed 
 at their prejudices and superstitions, and proposed to 
 clear up their ideas on these subjects and to enlighten 
 their understanding. 
 
 But this did not always succeed. I laboured once to 
 ! teach a Talmudist, that the earth is round, and that we 
 have antipodes. He however made the objection, that 
 these antipodes would necessarily fall off. I endeavoured 
 to show that the falling of a body is not directed towards 
 any fixed point in empty space, but towards the centre 
 of the earth, and that the ideas of Over and Under re- 
 present merely the removal from and approach to this 
 centre. It was of no avail ; the Talmudist stood to his 
 ground, that such an assertion was absurd. 
 
 On another occasion I went to take a walk with some 
 of my friends. It chanced that a goat lay in the way. I 
 gave the goat some blows with my stick, and my friends 
 blamed me for my cruelty. " What is the cruelty ? " 
 I replied. " Do you believe that the goat feels a pain, 
 when I beat it ? You are greatly mistaken ; the goat is 
 a mere machine." This was the doctrine of Sturm as a 
 disciple of Descartes. 
 
 My friends laughed heartily at this, and said, " But 
 don't you hear that the goat cries, when you beat it ? " 
 " Yes," I replied, " of course it cries ; but if you beat a 
 drum, it cries too." They were amazed at my answer,
 
 An Autobiography. 109 
 
 and in a short time it went abroad over the whole town, 
 that I had become mad, as I held that a goat is a drum. 
 
 From my generous friend, the chief rabbi, I received 
 afterwards two medical works, Kulm's Anatomical Tables 
 and Voit's Gaziopilatium. The latter is a large medical 
 dictionary, containing, in a brief form, not only explana- 
 tions from all departments of medicine, but also their 
 manifold applications. In connection with every disease 
 is given an explanation of its cause, its symptoms, and 
 the method of its cure, along with even the ordinary 
 prescriptions. This was for me a real treasure. I 
 studied the book thoroughly, and believed myself to 
 be master of the science of medicine, and a complete 
 physician. 
 
 But I was not going to content myself with mere 
 theory in this matter ; I resolved to make regular applica- 
 tion of it. I visited patients, determined all diseases 
 according to their circumstances and symptoms, ex- 
 plained their causes, and gave also prescriptions for 
 their cure. But in this practice things turned out very 
 comically. If a patient told me some of the symptoms 
 of his disease, I guessed from them the nature of the 
 disease itself, and inferred the presence of the other 
 symptoms. If the patient said that he could trace none 
 of these, I stubbornly insisted on their being present all 
 the same. The conversation therefore sometimes came 
 to this : 
 
 / " You have headache also."
 
 no Solomon Maimon : 
 
 Patient " No." 
 
 /. " But you must have headache." 
 
 As many symptoms are common to several diseases, 
 I took not infrequently quid pro quo. Prescriptions I 
 could never keep in my head, so that, when I prescribed 
 anything, I was obliged to go home first and turn up my 
 Gaziopilatium. At length I began even to make up 
 drugs myself according to Voit's prescriptions. How 
 this succeeded, may be imagined. It had at least this 
 good result, that I saw something more was surely 
 required for a practical physician than I understood at 
 the time.
 
 An Autobiography. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A brief Exposition of the Jewish Religion, from its Origin down 
 to the most recent Times. 
 
 To render intelligible that part of the story of my life, 
 which refers to my sentiments regarding religion, I must 
 first give in advance a short practical history of the Jewish 
 religion, and at the outset say something of the idea of 
 religion in general, as well as of the difference between 
 natural and positive religion. 
 
 Religion in general is the expression of gratitude, 
 reverence and the other feelings, which arise from the 
 dependence of our weal and woe on one or more 
 powers to us unknown. If we look to the expression of 
 these feelings in general, without regard to the particular 
 mode of the expression, religion is certainly natural to man. 
 He observes many effects which are of interest to him, 
 but whose causes are to him unknown and he finds 
 himself compelled, by the universally recognised Principle 
 of Sufficient Reason, to suppose these causes, and to 
 express towards them the feelings mentioned. 
 
 This expression may be of two kinds, in conformity 
 either with the imagination or with reason. For either
 
 ii2 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 man imagines the causes to be analogous to the effects, 
 and ascribes to them in themselves such attributes as 
 are revealed through the effects, or he thinks them merely 
 as causes of certain effects, without seeking thereby to 
 determine their attributes in themselves. These two 
 modes are both natural to man, the former being in 
 accordance with his earlier condition, the latter with that 
 of his perfection. 
 
 The difference between these two modes of representa- 
 tion has as its consequence another difference of religions. 
 The first mode of representation, in accordance with which 
 the causes are supposed to be similar to the effects, is the 
 mother of polytheism or heathenism. But the second is 
 the basis of true religion. For as the kinds of effects 
 are different, the causes also, if held to be like them, 
 must be represented as different from one another. On 
 the other hand, if, in accordance with truth, we conceive 
 the idea of cause in general for these effects, without 
 seeking to determine this cause, either in itself (since it 
 is wholly unknown), or analogically by help of the 
 imagination, then we have no ground for supposing 
 several causes, but require to assume merely a single 
 subject, wholly unknown, as cause of all these effects. 
 
 The different philosophical systems of theology are 
 nothing but detailed developments of these different modes 
 of representation. The atheistic system of theology, if so 
 it may be called, rejects altogether this idea of a first 
 cause, (as, according to the critical system at least, it is
 
 An Autobiography. 113 
 
 merely of regulative use as a necessary idea of reason). 
 All effects are referred to particular known or unknown 
 causes. In this there cannot be assumed even a con- 
 nection between the various effects, else the reason of this 
 connection would require to be sought beyond the 
 connection itself. 
 
 The Spinozistic system, on the contrary, supposes one 
 and the same substance as immediate cause of all 
 various effects, which must be regarded as predicates of 
 one and the same subject. Matter and mind are, with 
 Spinoza, one and the same substance, which appears, 
 now under the former, now under the latter attribute. 
 This single substance is, according to him, not only the 
 sole being that can be self-dependent, that is, independent 
 of any external cause, but also the sole self-subsistent 
 being, all so-called beings besides it being merely its 
 modes, that is, particular limitations of its attributes. 
 Every particular effect in nature is referred by him, not 
 to its proximate cause (which is merely a mode), but 
 immediately to this first cause, which is the common 
 substance of all beings. 
 
 In this system unity is real, but multiplicity is merely 
 ideal. In the atheistic system it is the opposite. Mul- 
 tiplicity is real, being founded on the nature of things 
 themselves. On the other hand, the unity, which is 
 observed in the order and regularity of nature, is merely 
 an accident, by which we are accustomed to determine 
 our arbitrary system for the sake of knowledge. It is
 
 114 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 inconceivable therefore how any one can make out the 
 Spinozistic system to be atheistic, since the two systems 
 are diametrically opposed to one another. In the latter 
 the existence of God is denied, but in the former the 
 existence of the world. Spinoza's ought therefore to be 
 called rather the acosmic system. 
 
 The Leibnitzian system holds the mean between the 
 two preceding. In it all particular effects are referred 
 immediately to particular causes ; but these various 
 effects are thought as connected in a single system, and 
 the cause of this connection is sought in a being beyond 
 itself. 
 
 Positive religion is distinguished from natural in the 
 very same way as the positive laws of a state from 
 natural laws. The latter are those which rest on a 
 self-acquired, indistinct knowledge, and are not duly 
 defined in regard to their application, while the former 
 rest on a distinct knowledge received from others, and 
 are completely defined in regard to their application. 
 
 A positive religion however must be carefully distin- 
 guished from apolitical religion. The former has for its 
 end merely the correction and accurate definition of 
 knowledge, that is, instruction regarding the first cause : 
 and the knowledge is communicated to another, accord- 
 ing to the measure of his capacity, just as it has been 
 received. But the latter has for its end mainly the 
 welfare of the state. Knowledge is therefore communi- 
 cated, not just as it has been received, but only in so far
 
 An Autobiography. 115 
 
 as it is found serviceable to this end. Politics, merely 
 as politics, requires to concern itself about true religion 
 as little as about true morality. The injury, that might 
 arise from this, can be prevented by other means which 
 influence men at the same time, and thus all can be kept 
 in equilibrium. Every political religion is therefore at 
 the same time positive, but every positive religion is not 
 also political 
 
 Natural religion has no mysteries any more than merely 
 positive religion. For there is no mystery implied in 
 one man being unable to communicate his knowledge to 
 another of defective capacity with the same degree of 
 completeness which he himself has attained ; otherwise 
 mysteries might be attributed to all the sciences, and 
 there would then be mysteries of mathematics as well as 
 mysteries of religion. Only political religion can have 
 mysteries, in order to lead men in an indirect way to the 
 attainment of the political end, inasmuch as they are made 
 to believe that thereby they can best attain their private 
 ends, though this is not always in reality the case. 
 There are lesser and greater mysteries in the political 
 religions. The former consist in the material knowledge 
 of all particular operations and their connection with 
 one another. The latter, on the contrary, consist in the 
 knowledge of the form, that is, of the end by which the 
 former are determined. The former constitute the 
 totality of the laws of religion, but the latter contains the 
 spirit of the laws.
 
 n6 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 The Jewish religion, even at its earliest origin among 
 the nomadic patriarchs, is already distinguished from the 
 heathen as natural religion, inasmuch as, instead of the 
 many comprehensible gods of heathenism, the unity of an 
 incomprehensible God lies at its foundation. For as the 
 particular causes of the effects, which in general give 
 rise to a religion, are in themselves unknown, and we do 
 not feel justified in transferring to the causes the 
 attributes of the particular effects, in order thereby to 
 characterise them, there remains nothing but the idea of 
 cause in general, which must be related to all effects 
 without distinction. This cause cannot even be analogi- 
 cally determined by the effects. For the effects are 
 opposed to one another, and neutralise each other even 
 in the same object. If therefore we ascribed them all 
 to one and the same cause, the cause could not be 
 analogically determined by any. 
 
 The heathen religion, on the other hand, refers every 
 kind of effect to a special cause, which^can of course be 
 characterised by its effect. As a positive religion the 
 Jewish is distinguished from the heathen by the fact, 
 that it is not a merely political religion, that is, a religion 
 which has for its end the social interest (in opposition to 
 true knowledge and private interest) ; but in accordance 
 with the spirit of its founder, it is adapted to the 
 theocratic form of the national Government, which rests 
 on the principle, that only the true religion, based on 
 rational knowledge, can harmonise with the interest of
 
 An Autobiography. 117 
 
 the state as well as of the individual. Considered in its 
 purity, therefore, it has no mysteries in the proper sense 
 of the word ; that is to say, it has no doctrines which, 
 in order to reach their end, men will not disclose, but 
 merely such as can not be disclosed to all. 
 
 After the fall of the Jewish state the religion was 
 separated from the state which no longer existed. The 
 religious authorities were no longer, as they had been 
 before, concerned about adapting the particular institu- 
 tions of religion to the state ; but their care went merely 
 to preserve the religion, on which the existence of the 
 nation now depended. Moved by hatred towards those 
 nations who had annihilated the state, and from anxiety 
 lest with the fall of the state the religion also might fall, 
 they hit upon the following means for the preservation 
 and extension of their religion. 
 
 1. The fiction of a method, handed down from Moses, 
 of expanding the laws, and applying them to particular 
 cases. This method is not that which reason enjoins, of 
 modifying laws according to their intention, in adaptation 
 to time and circumstances, but that which rests upon 
 certain rules concerning their literary expression. 
 
 2. The legislative force ascribed to the new decisions 
 and opinions obtained by this method, giving to them an 
 equal rank with the ancient laws. The subtle dialectic, 
 with which this has been carried on down to our times, 
 and the vast number of laws, customs and useless
 
 n8 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 ceremonies of all sorts, which it has occasioned, may be 
 easily imagined. 
 
 The history of the Jewish religion can, in consequence 
 of this, be appropriately divided into five great epochs. 
 The first epoch embraces the natural religion, from the 
 times of the patriarchs down to Moses at the exodus 
 from Egypt. The second comprehends the positive or 
 revealed religion, from Moses to the time of the Great 
 Synagogue {Keneseth HaggedolaK). This council must 
 not be conceived as an assembly of theologians at a 
 definite time ; the name applies to the theologians of a 
 whole epoch from the destruction of the first temple to 
 the composition of the Mishnah. Of these the first were 
 the minor prophets (Haggai, Zachariah, Malachi, etc., 
 of whom 120 are counted altogether), and the last was 
 Simon the Just* These, as well as their forerunners 
 from the time of Joshua, took as their basis the Mosaic 
 laws, and added new laws according to time and 
 circumstances, but in conformity with the traditional 
 method, every dispute on the subject being decided by 
 the majority of voices. 
 
 The third epoch extends from the composition of the 
 Mishnah by Jehudah the Saint f to the composition of 
 
 * Highpriest about the time of Antiochus the Great, that is, the 
 first half of the third century before Christ. Trans. 
 
 t Also named below Jehudah Hanassi or Hakades, died probably 
 in 219 or 220 A.D. Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 119 
 
 the Talmud by Rabina and Rabassi. * Down to this 
 epoch it was forbidden to commit the laws to writing, 
 in order that they might not fall into the hands of those 
 who could make no use of them. But as Rabbi Jehudah 
 Hanassi, or, as he is otherwise called, Rabbenu Hakades 
 observed, that, in consequence of their great multiplicity, 
 the laws may easily fall into oblivion, he gave himself a 
 licence to transgress a single one of the laws in order to 
 preserve the whole. The law transgressed was that 
 against committing the laws to writing ; and in this 
 licence he defended himself by a passage in the Psalms, 
 "There are times, when a man shows himself well- 
 pleasing to God by transgressing the laws." f He lived 
 in the time of Antoninus Pius, was rich, and possessed 
 all the faculties for such an undertaking. He therefore 
 composed the Mishnah, in which he delivers the Mosaic 
 laws in accordance either with a traditional or with a 
 rational method of exposition. It contains also some 
 laws which form the subject of dispute. 
 
 This work is divided into six parts. The first contains 
 the laws relating to agriculture and horticulture ; the 
 
 * Rabbina is a contraction for Rabbi Abina and Rabassi for 
 Rabbi Ashe. Maimon puts Abina first, but he was the younger of 
 the two. They both belonged to the fifth century. Trans. 
 
 + This seems to be Psalm cxix., 126, rendered in our Authorised 
 Version: " It is time for thee, Lord, to work ; for they have 
 made void thy law." See Mendelssohn's Jerusalem, Vol. ii., p. 
 iii., (Samuels' translation). Trans.
 
 1 20 Solomon Maimon ; 
 
 second, those which refer to feasts and holidays. The 
 third part comprehends the laws which define the mutual 
 relations of the two sexes (marriage, divorce, and such 
 subjects). The fourth part is devoted to the laws which 
 deal with the teachers of the law ; the fifth, to those 
 which treat of the temple-service and sacrifices ; and the 
 sixth, to the laws of purification. 
 
 As the Mishnah is composed with the greatest precision, 
 and cannot be understood without a commentary, it was 
 natural, that in course of time doubts and disputes 
 should arise, regarding the exposition of the Mishnah 
 itself, as well as the mode of its application to cases 
 which it does not sufficiently determine. All these doubts 
 and their manifold solutions, controversies and decisions, 
 were finally collected in the Talmud by the above- 
 mentioned Rabina and Rabassi; and this forms the fourth 
 epoch of Jewish legislation. 
 
 The fifth epoch begins with the conclusion of the 
 Talmud, and extends down to our time, and so on for 
 ever (si diis placet) till the advent of the Messiah. Since 
 the conclusion of the Talmud the rabbis have been by 
 no means idle. 'Tis true, they dare not alter anything in 
 the Mishnah or the Talmud ; but they still have plenty 
 of work to do. Their business is to explain those two 
 works, so that they shall harmonise ; and this is no small 
 matter, for one rabbi, with a superfine dialectic, is always 
 finding contradictions in the explanations of another. 
 They must also disentangle, from the labyrinth of various
 
 An Autobiography. 121 
 
 opinions, expositions, controversies and decisions, the 
 laws which are applicable to every case ; and finally for 
 new cases, by inferences from those already known, they 
 must bring out new laws, hitherto left indeterminate in 
 spite of all previous labours, and thus prepare a complete 
 code of laws. 
 
 It is thus that a religion, in its origin natural and con- 
 formable to reason, has been abused. A Jew dare not eat 
 or drink, lie with his wife or attend to the wants of 
 nature, without observing an enormous number of laws. 
 With the books on the slaughter of animals alone (the 
 condition of the knife and the examination of the entrails) 
 a whole library could be filled, which certainly would 
 come near to the Alexandrian in extent. And what shall 
 I say of the enormous number of books treating of those 
 laws which are no longer in use, such as the laws of 
 sacrifice, of purification, etc. ? The pen falls from my 
 hand, when I remember that I and others like me were 
 obliged to spend in this soul-killing business the best 
 days of our lives when the powers are in their full vigour, 
 and to sit up many a night, to try and bring out some 
 sense where there was none, to exercise our wits in the 
 discovery of contradictions where none were to be found, 
 to display acuteness in removing them where they were 
 obviously to be met, to hunt after a shadow through a 
 long series of arguments, and to build castles in the air. 
 
 The abuse of Rabbinism has, as will be seen, a twofold 
 
 source. 
 
 i
 
 122 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 1. The first is an artificial method of expounding the 
 Holy Scriptures, which distinguishes itself from the 
 natural method by the fact, that, while the latter rests 
 on a thorough knowledge of the language and the true 
 spirit of the legislator in view of the circumstances of the 
 time, as these are known from history, the former has 
 been devised rather for the sake of the laws passed to meet 
 existing emergencies. The rabbis look upon the Holy 
 Scriptures, not only as the source of the fundamental 
 laws of Moses, and of those which are deducible from 
 these by a rational method, but also as a vehicle of the 
 laws to be drawn up by themselves according to the 
 wants of the time. The artificial method here, like every 
 other of the same kind, is merely a means of bringing 
 the new laws at least into an external connection with the 
 old, in order that they may thereby find a better introduc- 
 tion among the people, be reduced to principles, divided 
 into classes, and therefore more easily impressed on the 
 memory. No reasonable rabbi will hold, that the laws, 
 which are referred in this way to passages of the Holy 
 Scriptures, render the true sense of these passages ; but 
 if questioned on this point, he will reply, "These laws 
 are necessities of the time, and are referred to those 
 passages merely for this reason." 
 
 2. The second source of the abuse of Rabbinism is 
 to be found in the manners and customs of other nations, 
 in whose neighbourhood the Jews have lived, or among 
 whom they have been gradually scattered since the fall
 
 An Autobiography. 123 
 
 of the Jewish state. These manners and customs they 
 were obliged to adopt in order to avoid becoming objects 
 of abhorrence. Of this sort are the laws, not to uncover 
 the head (at least in holy places and at holy ceremonies), 
 to wash the hands (before meals and prayers), to fast the 
 whole day till sunset, to say a number of daily prayers, 
 to make pilgrimages, to walk round the altar, etc., all 
 manifestly of Arabian origin. 
 
 From hatred also towards those nations that destroyed 
 the Jewish state, and afterwards made the Jews undergo 
 manifold oppressions, they have adopted various customs, 
 and among others many religious usages which are 
 opposite to those of the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 In all this the rabbis had the Mosaic laws themselves 
 for a model, these being sometimes in agreement, some- 
 times in hostility, with the Egyptian laws which lie at 
 their root, as has been shown in the most thorough 
 manner by the celebrated Maimonides in his work, Moreh 
 Nebhochim. 
 
 It is remarkable, that, with all rabbinical extravagan- 
 cies in the practical department, namely the laws and 
 customs, the theoretical department of the Jewish theology 
 has still always preserved itself in its purity. Eisenmenger 
 may say what he will, it may be shown by unanswerable 
 arguments, that all the limited figurative representations 
 of God and His attributes have their source merely in an 
 endeavour to adapt the ideas of theology to the common 
 understanding. The rabbis followed in this the principle
 
 124 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 which they had established in reference to the Holy 
 Scriptures themselves, namely, that the Holy Scriptures 
 use the language of the common people, inasmuch as 
 religious and moral sentiments and actions, which form 
 the immediate aim of theology may in this manner be 
 most easily extended. They therefore represent God to 
 the common understanding as an earthly King, who 
 with His ministers and the advisers of His cabinet, the 
 angels, takes counsel concerning the government of the 
 world. But for the educated mind they seek to take 
 away all anthropomorphic representations of God, when 
 they say, " It was an act of high daring on the part of 
 the 'prophets, to re present the Creator as like His creature, 
 as when, for example, it is said in Ezekiel (L, 26), 'And 
 upon the throne was an appearance like man.' " 
 
 I have disclosed the abuses of the rabbis in regard to 
 religion without any partiality. At the same time however 
 I must not be silent about their good qualities, but do 
 them justice as impartially. Compare then Mahomed's 
 description of the reward of the pious with the rabbinical 
 representation. The former runs: " Here (in paradise) 
 there are as many dishes as there are stars in heaven. 
 Maidens and boys fill the cups, and wait on the table. 
 The beauty of the maidens surpasses all imagination. If 
 one of these maidens were to appear in the sky or in the 
 air by night, the world would become as bright as when 
 the sun is shining ; and if she were to spit into the sea, 
 its salt water would be turned into honey, and its bitter
 
 An Autobiography. 125 
 
 into sweet. Milk, honey, white wine will be the rivers 
 which water this delicious abode. The slime of these 
 rivers will be made of sweet-smelling nutmegs, and their 
 pebbles of pearls and hyacinths. The angel Gabriel will 
 open the gates of paradise to faithful Musselmans. The 
 first thing to meet their eyes will be a table of diamonds 
 of such enormous length, that it would require 70,000 
 days to run round it. The chairs, which stand around 
 the table, will be of gold and silver, the tablecloths of 
 silk and gold. When the guests have sat down, they 
 will eat the choicest dishes of paradise, and drink its 
 water. When they are satisfied, beautiful boys will bring 
 them green garments of costly stuff, and necklaces and 
 earrings of gold. To every one will then be given a 
 citron; and when he has brought it to his nose to 
 feel its odour, a maiden of enchanting beauty will come 
 out. Every one will embrace his own with rapture, and 
 this intoxication of love will last fifty years without 
 interruption. Each couple will obtain an enchanting 
 palace for a dwelling, where they will eat and drink and 
 enjoy all sorts of pleasure for ever and ever.*" This 
 description is beautiful ; but how sensuous ! The rabbis, 
 on the other hand, say, " Above (in the blessed abode of 
 the pious) there is neither eating nor drinking, but the 
 pious sit crowned, and delight themselves with the vision 
 of the Godhead." 
 
 * Charakteristik der Asiatischen Nationen, Theil ii., pp. 159-160.
 
 126 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 Eisenmenger seeks, in his Entdecktes Judenthum 
 (Theil i., Kap. 8), by a crass exposition to throw ridicule 
 on the Platonic doctrine of reminiscence, which the 
 rabbis maintain ; but what may not be made ridiculous in 
 the same way ? He also makes sport, with equal in- 
 justice, of other rabbinical teachings. With the Stoics, 
 for example, the rabbis call wise men Kings ; they say, 
 that God does nothing without previously taking counsel 
 with his angels, that is, Omnipotence works upon nature 
 not immediately, but by means of the natural forces ; 
 they teach, that everything is predestined by God, except 
 the practice of virtue. These are the subjects of Eisen- 
 menger's mockery ; but does any reasonable theologian 
 find in these anything ridiculous or impious ? I should 
 be obliged to write a whole book, if I were to answer all 
 the unjust charges and jeers which have been brought 
 against the Talmudists, not by Christian writers alone, 
 but even by Jews who wished to pass for illuminati. 
 
 To be just to the rabbis it is necessary to penetrate 
 into the true spirit of the Talmud, to become thoroughly 
 familiar with the manner in which the ancients generally, 
 but especially the Orientals, deliver theological, moral 
 and even physical truths in fables and allegories, to 
 become familiar also with the style of Oriental hyperbole 
 in reference to everything that can be of interest to man. 
 Moreover, the rabbis should be treated in the spirit in 
 which they themselves excused Rabbi Meir who had a 
 heretic for his teacher, the spirit expressed in a passage
 
 An Autobiography. 127 
 
 already quoted. If justice is thus dealt to the rabbis, 
 the Talmud will certainly not show all the absurdities 
 which its opponents are disposed too readily to find. 
 
 The rabbinical method of referring theoretical or 
 practical truths, even by the oddest exegesis, to 
 passages in the Holy Scriptures or any other book in 
 general esteem, as if they were truths brought out of such 
 passages by a rational exegesis, this method, besides 
 procuring an introduction for the truths among common 
 men, who are not capable of grasping them on their own 
 merits, and accept them merely on authority, is also to 
 be regarded as an excellent aid to the memory ; for since, 
 as presumed, these passages are in everybody's mouth, 
 the truths drawn from them are also retained by their 
 means. Consequently it very often occurs in the Talmud, 
 when the question concerns the deduction of a new law 
 from the Holy Scriptures, that one rabbi derives the law 
 from this or that passage, while another brings the 
 objection, that this cannot be the true meaning of the 
 passage, inasmuch as the true meaning is this or that. 
 To such an objection every one is wont to reply, that it 
 is a new law of the rabbis, who merely refer it to the 
 passage mentioned. 
 
 As it is therefore universally presupposed that this 
 method is familiar, the Talmudists regard it as unneces- 
 sary to inculcate it anew on every occasion. A single 
 example will suffice to illustrate this. One Talmudist 
 asked another the meaning of the following passage in
 
 128 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 the Book of Joshua (xv., 22), Kinah Vedimonah Vead- 
 adah* The latter replied, " Here are enumerated the 
 then familiar places of the Holy Land." " Of course ! " 
 rejoined the other. " I know very well that these are 
 
 names of places. But, Rabbi knows how to bring 
 
 out of these, besides the proper meaning, something use- 
 ful^ namely this : ' (Kinah) He to whom his neighbour 
 gives occasion for revenge, (Vedimonah) and who yet, 
 out of generosity, keeps silence, taking no revenge, 
 (Veadadah) to him will the Eternal execute justice.'" 
 What a fine opportunity this would be for laughing at 
 the poor Talmudist, who derives a moral sentence from 
 particular names of places, and besides makes in an 
 extraordinary manner a compound out of the last name, 
 Sansannah,\ if he had not himself explained that he is 
 seeking to know, not the true meaning of the passage, 
 but merely a doctrine which may be referred to it. 
 
 Again, the Talmudists have referred to a passage in 
 Isaiah the important doctrine, that in morals the princi- 
 pal object is, not theory, but practice, by which theory 
 receives its true value. The passage runs as follows : 
 " The expectation of thy happiness " that is, the happi- 
 
 *"And Kinah and Dimonah and Adadah" in the English 
 Authorised Version. Trans. 
 
 t Here apparently Maimon makes a slip. He seems to forget the 
 passage he had selected for illustration ; and his eye, if not his 
 memory, glances at the last word in verse 30, instead of verse 22. 
 Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 129 
 
 ness promised by the prophet " will have for its conse- 
 quence strength, help, wisdom, knowledge, and the fear 
 of God." * Here they refer the first six subjects to the 
 six Sedarim or divisions of the Mishnah, which are the 
 foundation of all Jewish learning. Emunath (Expecta- 
 tion) is Seder Seraim ; Etecho (Happiness) is Seder 
 Moad, and so on. That is to say, you may be ever so 
 well versed in all these six sedarim ; yet the main point 
 is the last, the fear of God. 
 
 As far as rabbinical morals in other respects are con- 
 cerned, I know in truth nothing that can be urged 
 against them, except perhaps their excessive strictness in 
 many cases. They form in fact genuine Stoicism, but 
 without excluding other serviceable principles, such as 
 perfection, universal benevolence, and the like. Holi- 
 ness with them extends even to the thoughts. This 
 principle is, in the usual fashion, referred to the follow- 
 ing passage in the Psalms, " Thou shalt have no strange 
 God in thee " ; t for in the human heart, it is argued, no 
 strange God can dwell, except evil desires. It is not 
 allowed to deceive even a heathen either by deeds or by 
 words not even in cases where he could lose nothing 
 by the deceit. For example, the common form of cour- 
 tesy, " I am glad to see you well," is not to be used, if it 
 does not express the real sentiments of the heart. The 
 
 * Probably Isaiah xxxiii., 6. Trans. 
 t Psalm, Ixxxi., 9. Trans.
 
 130 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 examples of Jews who cheat Christians and heathens, 
 which are commonly adduced against this statement, 
 prove nothing, inasmuch as these Jews do not act in 
 accordance with the principles of their own morals. 
 
 The commandment, " Thou shalt not covet anything 
 that is thy neighbour's," is so expounded by the Tal- 
 mudists, that we must guard against even the wish to 
 possess any such thing. In short, I should require to 
 write a whole book, if I were to adduce all the excellent 
 doctrines of rabbinical morals. 
 
 The influence of these doctrines in practical life also 
 is unmistakable. The Polish Jews, who have always 
 been allowed to adopt any means of gain, and have not, 
 like the Jews of other countries, been restricted to the 
 pitiful occupation of Schacher or usurer, seldom hear the 
 reproach of cheating. They remain loyal to the country 
 in which they live, and support themselves in an honour- 
 able way. 
 
 Their charity and care for the poor, their institutions 
 for nursing the sick, their special societies for burial of 
 the dead, are well enough known. It is not nurses and 
 grave-diggers hired for money, but the elders of the people, 
 who are eager to perform these acts. The Polish Jews 
 are indeed for the most part not yet enlightened by 
 science, their manners and way of life are still rude ; but 
 they are loyal to the religion of their fathers and the 
 laws of their country. They do not come before you 
 with courtesies, but their promise is sacred. They are
 
 An Autobiography. 131 
 
 not gallants, but your women are safe from any snares 
 with them. Woman, indeed, after the manner of the 
 Orientals in general, is by them not particularly es- 
 teemed ; but all the more on that account are they re- 
 solved on fulfilling their duties towards her. Their 
 children do not learn by heart any forms for expressing 
 love and respect for their parents for they do not keep 
 French demoiselles ; but they show that love and re- 
 spect all the more heartily. 
 
 The sacredness of their marriages, and the ever fresh 
 tenderness which arises from this, deserve especially to 
 be mentioned. Every month the husband is wholly 
 separated from his wife for a fortnight (the period of 
 monthly purification in accordance with the rabbinical 
 laws) ; they may not so much as touch one another, or 
 eat out of the same dish or drink out of the same cup. 
 By this means satiety is avoided ; the wife continues to 
 be in the eyes of her husband all that she was as maiden 
 in the eyes of her lover. 
 
 Finally, what innocence rules among unmarried per- 
 sons ! It often happens that a young man or woman of 
 sixteen or eighteen years is married without knowing 
 the least about the object of marriage. Among other 
 nations this is certainly very seldom the case.
 
 132 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Jewish Piety and Penances. 
 
 IN my youth I was of a somewhat strong religious dis- 
 position ; and as I observed in most of the rabbis a good 
 deal of pride, quarrelsomeness, and other evil qualities, 
 they became objects of dislike to me on that account. 
 I sought therefore as my model only those among them, 
 who are commonly known by the name of Chasidim, or 
 the Pious. These are they who devote the whole of 
 their lives to the strictest observances of the laws and 
 moral virtues. I had afterwards occasion to remark that 
 these on their part do harm, less indeed to others, but 
 all the more to themselves, inasmuch as they root out 
 the wheat with the tares ; * while they seek to suppress 
 their desires and passions, they suppress also their 
 powers and cramp their activity, so much so as in most 
 cases by their exercises to bring upon themselves an un- 
 timely death. 
 
 Two or three instances, of which I was myself an eye- 
 witness, will be sufficient to establish what has been said. 
 
 * In the original, " Das Kind mit dem Bade ausschiitten." Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 133 
 
 A Jewish scholar, at that time well known on account of 
 his piety, Simon of Lubtsch, had undergone the severest 
 exercises of penance. He had already carried out the 
 T'shubath Hakana the penance of Kana which con- 
 sists in fasting daily for six years, and avoiding for sup- 
 per anything that comes from a living being (flesh, milk, 
 honey, etc.). He had also practised Golath, that is, a 
 continuous wandering, in which the penitent is not 
 allowed to remain two days in the same place ; and, in 
 addition, he had worn a hair-shirt next his skin. But 
 he felt that he would not be doing enough for the satis- 
 faction of his conscience unless he further observed the 
 Tshubath Hamishkal the penance of weighing which 
 requires a particular form of penance proportioned to 
 every sin. But as he found by calculation, that the 
 number of his sins was too great to be atoned in this 
 way, he took it into his head to starve himself to death. 
 After he had spent some time in this process, he came 
 in his wanderings to the place where my father lived, 
 and, without anybody in the house knowing, went into 
 the barn, where he fell upon the ground in utter faint- 
 ness. My father came by chance into the barn, and 
 found the man, whom he had long known, lying half- 
 dead on the ground, with a Zohar (the principal book of 
 the Cabbalists) in his hand. As he knew well what sort 
 of man this was, he brought him at once all sorts of re- 
 freshments ; but the man would make no use of them in 
 any way. My father came several times, and repeated
 
 134 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 his urgent request, that Simon would take something ; 
 but it was of no avail. My father had to attend to 
 something in the house, whereupon Simon, to escape 
 from his importunity, exerted all his strength, raised 
 himself up, went out of the barn, and at last out of the 
 village. When my father came back into the barn 
 again, and found the man no longer there, he ran after 
 him, and found him lying dead not far from the village. 
 The affair was generally made known among the Jews, 
 and Simon became a saint. 
 
 Jossel of Klezk proposed nothing less than to hasten 
 the advent of the Messiah. To this end he performed 
 strict penance, fasted, rolled himself in snow, undertook 
 night-watches and similar severities. By all sorts of such 
 operations he believed that he was able to accomplish 
 the overthrow of a legion of evil spirits, who kept guard 
 on the Messiah, and threw obstacles in the way of his 
 coming.* To these exercises he added at last many 
 Cabbalistic fooleries fumigations, conjurations, and 
 similar practices till at length he lost his wits on the 
 subject, believed that he really saw spirits with his eyes 
 open, calling each of them by name. -He would then 
 
 * In the same way a fool, called Chosek, was going to starve the 
 city of Lemberg, against which he was enraged ; and for this pur- 
 pose he placed himself behind the wall, in order to blockade the 
 city with his body. The result of the blockade, however, was that 
 he nearly died of hunger, while the city knew nothing whatever of 
 a famine.
 
 An Autobiography. 135 
 
 beat about him, smash windows and stoves under the 
 idea that these were his foes, the evil spirits, somewhat 
 after the manner of his forerunner Don Quixote. At last 
 he lay down in complete exhaustion, from which he was 
 with great difficulty restored, by the physician of Prince 
 Radzivil. 
 
 Unfortunately I could never get further in pious exer- 
 cises of this sort, than to abstain for a considerable while 
 from everything that comes from a living being ; and 
 during the Days of Atonement I have sometimes fasted 
 three days together. I once resolved indeed on under- 
 taking the T'shubath Hakana ; but this project, like 
 others of the same sort, remained unfulfilled, after I had 
 adopted the opinions of Maimonides, who was no friend 
 of fanaticism or pietism. It is remarkable, that at the 
 time when- I still observed the rabbinical regulations 
 with the utmost strictness, I yet would not observe cer- 
 tain ceremonies which have something comical about 
 them. Of this kind, for example, was the Malketh 
 (Beating) before the Great Day of Atonement, in which 
 every Jew lays himself on his face in the synagogue, 
 while another with a narrow strip of leather gives him 
 thirty-nine lashes. Of the same sort is Haphorath 
 Nedarim, or the act of setting free from vows on New 
 Year's Eve. In this three men are seated, while another 
 appears before them, and addresses to them a certain 
 form, the general drift of which is as follows : " Sirs, I 
 know what a heinous sin it is, not to fulfil vows ; and in-
 
 136 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 asmuch as I have doubtless this year made some vows 
 which I have not fulfilled, and which I can no longer re- 
 collect, I beg of you .that you will set me free from the 
 same. I do not indeed repent of the good resolutions 
 to which I have bound myself by these vows ; I repent 
 merely of the fact, that in making such resolutions I did 
 not add, that they were not to have the force of a vow," 
 etc., etc. Thereupon he withdraws from the judgment- 
 seat, pulls off his shoes, and sits down on the bare 
 ground, by which he is supposed to banish himself till 
 his vows are dissolved. After he has sat for some time, 
 and said a prayer by himself, the judges begin to call 
 aloud, " Thou art our brother ! thou art our brother ! 
 thou art our brother ! There is no vow, no oath, no 
 banishment any longer, after thou hast submitted thyself 
 to the judgment. Rise from the ground and come to 
 us ! " This they repeat three times, and with that the 
 man is at once set free from all his vows. 
 
 At serio-comic scenes of this sort I could only with 
 the greatest difficulty refrain from laughing. A blush of 
 shame came over me, when I was to undertake such per- 
 formances. I sought therefore, if I was pressed on the 
 subject, to free myself by the pretext, that I had either 
 already attended to it, or was going to attend to it, in 
 another synagogue. A very remarkable psychological 
 phenomenon ! It might be thought impossible for any 
 one to be ashamed of actions which he saw others per- 
 forming without the slightest blush of shame. Yet this
 
 An Autobiography. 137 
 
 was the case here. This phenomenon can be explained 
 only by the fact, that in all my actions I had regard first 
 to the nature of the action in itself, (whether it was right 
 or wrong, proper or improper), then to its nature in rela- 
 tion to some end, and that I justified it as a means, only 
 when it was not in itself incapable of being justified. 
 This principle was developed afterwards in my whole 
 system of religion and morals. On the other hand, the 
 most of men act on the principle, that the end justifies 
 the means.
 
 138 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Friendship and Enthusiasm. 
 
 IN the place where I resided I had a bosom friend, 
 Moses Lapidoth by name. We were of the same age, 
 the same studies, and nearly the same external circum- 
 stances, the only difference being, that at an early period 
 I already showed an inclination to the sciences, while 
 Lapidoth had indeed a love of speculation, and also 
 great acuteness and power of judgment, but had no wish 
 to proceed further than he could reach by a mere sound 
 common sense. With this friend I used to hold many 
 a conversation on subjects of mutual interest, especially 
 the questions of religion and morals. 
 
 We were the only persons in the place, who ventured to 
 be not mere imitators, but to think independently about 
 everything. It was a natural result of this, that, as we 
 differed from all the rest of the community in our 
 opinions and conduct, we separated ourselves from them 
 by degrees ; but, as we had still to live by the community, 
 our circumstances on this account became every day 
 worse and worse. Tis true, we noted this fact, but 
 nevertheless we were unwilling to sacrifice our favourite
 
 An Autobiography. 139 
 
 inclinations for any interest in the world. We consoled 
 ourselves therefore, as best we might, over our loss, spoke 
 constantly of the vanity of all things, of the religious and 
 moral faults of the common herd, upon whom we looked 
 down with a sort of noble pride and contempt. 
 
 We used especially to open our minds, a la Mande- 
 ville, on the hollowness of human virtue. For example, 
 smallpox had been very prevalent in the place, and 
 thereby many children had been carried off. The elders 
 held a meeting to find out the secret sins, on account of 
 which they were suffering this punishment, as they 
 viewed it. After instituting an inquiry it was found, that 
 a young widow of the Jewish people was holding too 
 free intercourse with some servants of the manor. She 
 was sent for, but no sort of inquisition could elicit from 
 her anything beyond the fact, that these people were in 
 the habit of drinking mead at her house, and that, as 
 was reasonable, she received them in a pleasant and po- 
 lite manner, but that in other respects she was uncon- 
 scious of any sin in the matter. As no other evidence 
 was forthcoming, she was about to be acquitted, when 
 an elderly matron came flying like a fury and screamed, 
 " Scourge her ! scourge her ! till she has confessed her 
 sin ! If you do not do it, then may the guilt of the 
 death of so many innocent souls fall upon you ! " Lapi- 
 doth was present with me at this scene, and said, 
 "Friend, do you suppose that Madam is making so 
 fierce a complaint against this woman, merely because
 
 140 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 she is seized with a holy zeal and feeling for the general 
 welfare ? Oh no ! She is enraged, merely because the 
 widow still possesses attractions, while she herself can no 
 longer make claim to any." I assured him that his opin- 
 ion was thoroughly in accordance with my own. 
 
 Lapidoth had poor parents-in-law. His father-in-law 
 was Jewish sexton, and by his slender pay could support 
 his family only in a very sorry style. Every Friday the 
 poor man was therefore compelled to listen to all sorts 
 of reproach and abuse from his wife, because he could 
 not provide her with what was indispensable for the holy 
 Sabbath. Lapidoth told me about this with the addi- 
 tion: "My mother-in-law wants to make me to believe 
 that she is zealous merely for the honour of the holy 
 Sabbath. Nay, verily ; she is zealous merely for the 
 honour of her own holy paunch, which she cannot fill as 
 she would like ; the holy Sabbath serves her merely as 
 a pretext." 
 
 Once when we were taking a walk on the wall round 
 the town, and conversing about the tendency of men, 
 which is evinced in such expressions, to deceive them- 
 selves and others, I said to Lapidoth, " Friend, let us be 
 fair, and pass our censure on ourselves, as well as on 
 others. Is not the contemplative life which we lead, and 
 which is by no means adapted to our circumstances, to 
 be regarded as a result of our indolence and inclination 
 to idleness, which we seek to defend by reflections on 
 the vanity of all things ? We are content with our pre-
 
 An Autobiography. 141 
 
 sent circumstances; why? Because we cannot alter 
 them without first fighting against our inclination to idle- 
 ness. With all our pretence of contempt for everything 
 outside of us, we cannot avoid the secret wish to be able 
 to enjoy better food and clothing than at present. We 
 reproach our friends as vain men addicted to the plea- 
 sures of sense, because they have abandoned our mode 
 of life, and undertaken occupations adapted to their 
 powers. But wherein consists our superiority over them, 
 when we merely follow our inclination as they follow 
 theirs ? Let us seek to find this superiority merely in the 
 fact, that"we at least confess this truth to ourselves, while 
 they profess as the motive of their actions, not the satis- 
 faction of their own particular desires, but the impulse to 
 general utility." Lapidoth, on whom my words produced 
 a powerful impression, answered with some warmth, 
 "Friend, you are perfectly right. If we cannot now 
 mend our faults, we will not deceive ourselves about 
 them, but at least keep the way open for amendment." 
 
 In conversations of this kind we two cynics spent our 
 pleasantest hours, while we made ourselves merry some- 
 times at the expense of the world, sometimes at our own. 
 Lapidoth, for example, whose old dirty clothes had all 
 fallen into rags, and one of whose sleeves was wholly 
 parted from the rest of his coat, while he was not in a 
 position even to have it mended, used to fix the sleeve 
 on his back with a pin, and to ask me, " Don't I look 
 like a Schlachziz (a Polish noble) ? " I, again, could not
 
 142 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 sufficiently commend my rent shoes, which were quite 
 open at the toes, because, as I said, "They do not 
 squeeze the foot." 
 
 The harmony of our inclinations and manner of life, 
 along with some difference in our talents, made our con- 
 versation all the more agreeable. I had more talent 
 for the sciences, made more earnest endeavours after 
 thoroughness and accuracy of knowledge than Lapidoth. 
 He, on the other hand, had the advantage of a lively 
 imagination, and consequently more talent for eloquence 
 and poetry than I. If I produced a new thought, my 
 friend knew how to illustrate it, and, as it were, to give 
 it embodiment in a multitude of examples. Our affection 
 for one another went so far, that, whenever it was prac- 
 ticable, we spent day and night in each other's company, 
 and the first thing we did, on returning home from the 
 places where we severally acted as family-tutors, was to 
 visit each other, even before seeing our own families. At 
 last we began to neglect on this account the usual hours 
 of prayer. Lapidoth first undertook to prove, that the 
 Talmudists themselves offered up their prayers, not ex- 
 clusively in the synagogue, but sometimes in their study- 
 chambers. Afterwards he pointed out also, that the 
 prayers held to be necessary are not all equally so, but 
 that some may be dispensed with altogether : even those, 
 which are recognised as necessary, we curtailed by 
 degrees, till at last they were totally neglected. 
 
 Once, when we went for a walk on the wall during the
 
 An Autobiography. 143 
 
 hour of prayer, Lapidoth said to me, " Friend, what is 
 going to become of us ? We do not pray now at all." 
 
 " What do you mean by that ? " I inquired. 
 
 " I throw myself," said Lapidoth, " on the mercy of 
 God, who certainly will not punish his children severely 
 for a slight neglect" 
 
 " God is not merely merciful" I replied ; " He is also 
 just. Consequently this reason cannot help us much." 
 
 " What do you mean by that ? " asked Lapidoth. 
 
 I had by this time obtained from Maimonides more 
 accurate ideas of God and of our duties towards Him. 
 Accordingly I replied, " Our destination is merely the 
 attainment of perfection through the knowledge of God and 
 the imitation of His actions. Prayer is simply the ex- 
 pression of our knowledge of the divine perfections, and, 
 as a result of this knowledge, is intended merely for the 
 common man who cannot of himself attain to this know- 
 ledge ; and therefore it is adapted to his mode of con- 
 ception. But as we see into the end of prayer, and can 
 attain to this end directly, we can dispense altogether 
 with prayer as something superfluous." 
 
 This reasoning appeared to us both to be sound. We 
 resolved therefore, for the purpose of avoiding offence, 
 to go out of the house every morning with our Taleth 
 and Tephilim (Jewish instruments of prayer), not, how- 
 ever, to the synagogue, but to our favourite retreat, the 
 wall, and by this means we fortunately escaped the 
 Jewish Inquisition.
 
 144 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 But this enthusiastic companionship, like everything 
 else in the world, had to come to an end. As we were 
 both married, and our marriages were tolerably fruitful, 
 we were obliged, for the purpose of supporting our fami- 
 lies, to accept situations as family-tutors. By this means 
 we were not infrequently separated, and afterwards were 
 able to spend merely a few weeks in the year together.
 
 An Autobiography. 145 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 The Life of a Family-Tutor. 
 
 THE place, where I first occupied the position of family- 
 tutor, was at the distance of a league from my residence. 
 The family was that of a miserable farmer in a still more 
 miserable village ; and my salary was five thalers in 
 Polish money. The poverty, ignorance, and rudeness in 
 the manner of life, which prevailed in this house, were 
 indescribable. The farmer himself was a man of about 
 fifty years, the whole of whose face was overgrown with 
 hair, ending in a dirty, thick beard as black as pitch. His 
 language was a sort of muttering, intelligible only to the 
 boors, with whom he held intercourse daily. Not only 
 was he ignorant of Hebrew, but he could not speak a 
 word of Jewish ; his only language was Russian, the com- 
 mon patois of the peasantry. His wife and children 
 were of the same stamp. Moreover, the apartment, in 
 which they lived, was a hovel of smoke, black as coal 
 inside and out, without a chimney, but with merely a 
 small opening in the roof for the exit of the smoke, an 
 opening which was carefully closed as soon as the fire 
 was allowed to go out, so that the heat might not escape.
 
 146 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 The windows were narrow strips of pine laid crosswise 
 over each other, and covered with paper. This apart- 
 ment served at once for sitting, drinking, eating, study 
 and sleep. Think of this room intensely heated, and the 
 smoke, as is generally the case in winter, driven back by 
 wind and rain till the whole place is filled with it to 
 suffocation. Here hang a foul washing and other dirty 
 bits of clothing on poles laid across the room in order to 
 kill the vermin with the smoke. There hang sausages to 
 dry, while their fat keeps constantly trickling down on 
 the heads of people below. Yonder stand tubs with sour 
 cabbage and red beets, which form the principal food of 
 the Lithuanians. In a corner the water is kept for daily 
 use, with the dirty water alongside. In this room the 
 bread is kneaded, cooking and baking are done, the cow 
 is milked, and all sorts of operations are carried on. 
 
 In this magnificent dwelling the peasants sit on the 
 bare ground ; you dare not sit higher if you do not wish 
 to be suffocated with the smoke. Here they guzzle their 
 whiskey and make an uproar, while the people of the 
 house sit in a corner. I usually took my place behind 
 the stove with my dirty half-naked pupils, and expounded 
 to them out of an old tattered Bible, from Hebrew into 
 * Russian Jewish. All this together made such a splen- 
 did group as deserved to be sketched only by a Hogarth, 
 and to be sung only by a Butler. 
 
 It may be easily imagined, how pitiable my condition 
 here must have been. Whiskey had to form my sole com-
 
 An Autobiography. 147 
 
 fort ; it made me forget all my misery. This was in- 
 creased by the fact, that a regiment of Russians, who 
 were rioting at that time with every conceivable cruelty 
 on the estates of Prince Radzivil, was stationed in the 
 village and its neighbourhood. The house was constantly 
 full of drunken Russians, who committed all sorts of ex- 
 cesses, hewed to pieces tables and benches, threw glasses 
 and bottles into the faces of the people of the house, and 
 so on. To give merely one example, a Russian, who 
 was stationed in this house as guard, and whose charge it 
 was to secure the house against all violence, came home 
 once drunk, and demanded something to eat. A dish of 
 millet with butter was placed before him cooked. He 
 shoved the dish away, and shouted an order for more 
 butter. A whole small tub of butter was brought, when 
 he shouted again an order for another dish. This was 
 brought immediately, whereupon he threw all the butter 
 into it, and called for spirits. A whole bottle was 
 brought, and he poured it likewise into the dish. There- 
 after milk, pepper, salt, and tobacco, in large quantities 
 had to be brought to him, the whole being put in, and 
 the mixture devoured. After he had taken some spoon- 
 fuls, he began to strike about him, pulled the host by 
 the beard, struck him in the face with his fist, so that the 
 blood flowed out of his mouth, poured some of his glo- 
 rious broth down his throat, and went on in this riotous 
 manner till he became so drunk that he could no longer 
 support himself, and fell to the ground.
 
 148 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 Such scenes were at that time very common every- 
 where in Poland. If a Russian army passed a place, 
 they took with them a prowodnik, or guide, to the next 
 place. But instead of seeking to be supplied by the 
 mayor or the village magistrate, they used to seize the 
 first person whom they met on the road. He might be 
 young or old, male or female, healthy or sick, it mattered 
 nothing to them ; for they knew the road well enough 
 from special charts, and only sought an opportunity for 
 outrage. If it happened that the person seized did not 
 know the way at all, and did not show them the right 
 road, they did not allow themselves to be sent astray on 
 this account ; they selected the road all right, but they 
 cudgelled the poor prowodnik till he was half-dead, for 
 not knowing the way ! 
 
 I was once seized as a prowodnik myself. I did not 
 indeed know the way, but luckily I hit upon it by 
 chance. Fortunately, therefore, I reached the proper 
 place, and the only violence I suffered, besides a good 
 many blows and kicks from the Russian soldiers, was the 
 threat, that, if ever I led them astray, I should certainly 
 be flayed alive a threat which they might be trusted 
 with carrying into execution. 
 
 The other places which I filled as tutor were more or 
 less similar to this. In one of these a remarkable 
 psychological incident occurred in which I took the 
 principal part and which is to be described in the sequel. 
 An incident of the same kind, however, which happened
 
 An Autobiography. 149 
 
 to another person and of which I was simply eye-witness, 
 must be mentioned here. 
 
 A tutor in the next village, who was a somnambulist, 
 rose one night from his bed and went to the village 
 churchyard with a volume of the Jewish ceremonial laws 
 in his hand. After remaining some time there he 
 returned to his bed. In the morning he rose up, with- 
 out remembering the least of what had happened dur- 
 ing the night, and went to the chest where his copy of 
 the ceremonial laws was usually kept, in order to take 
 out the first part, Orach Chajim or the Way of Life, 
 which he was accustomed to read every morning. The 
 code consists of four parts, each of which was bound 
 separately, and all the four had certainly been locked up 
 in the chest. He was therefore astonished to find only 
 three of the parts, Joreh Deah or the Teacher of Wisdom, 
 being awanting. As he knew about his disease he 
 searched everywhere, till at last he came to the church- 
 yard where he found the Joreh Deah lying open at the 
 chapter, Hilchoth Abheloth or the Laws of Mourning. 
 He took this for a bad omen and came home much 
 disquieted. On being asked the cause of his disquietude 
 he related the incident which had occurred, with the 
 addition, "Ah! God knows how my poor mother is !" 
 He begged of his master the loan of a horse and per- 
 mission to ride to the nearest town, where his mother 
 lived, in order to enquire after her welfare. As he had 
 to pass the place where I was tutor, and I saw him riding
 
 150 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 in great excitement without being willing to dismount 
 even for a little while, I asked him the cause of his 
 excitement when he related to me the above-mentioned 
 incident. 
 
 I was astonished, not so much about the particular 
 circumstances of this incident, as about somnambulism 
 in general, of which till then I had known nothing. My 
 friend, on the other hand, assured me that somnambul- 
 ism was a common occurrence with him, and that it 
 meant nothing, but that the circumstance of the Hilchoth 
 Abheloth made him forebode some misfortune. There- 
 upon he rode off, arrived at his mother's house, and 
 found her seated at her frame for needlework. She asked 
 him the reason of his coming, when he replied that he 
 had come merely to pay her a visit, as he had not seen 
 her for a long time. After he had rested for a good 
 while, he rode back ; but his disquietude was by no 
 means wholly removed, and the thought of the Hilchoth 
 Abheloth he could not get out of his head. The third 
 day after, a fire broke out in the town where his mother 
 lived, and the poor woman perished in the flames. 
 Scarcely had the son heard of the conflagration, when he 
 began to lament that his mother had so miserably perished. 
 He rode off in all haste to the town, and found what he 
 had foreboded.
 
 An Autobiography, 151 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Also on a Secret Society, and therefore a Long Chapter. 
 
 ABOUT this time I became acquainted with a sect of my 
 nation, called the New Chasidim, which was then coming 
 into prominence. Chasidim is the name generally given 
 by the Hebrews to the pious, that is, to those who dis- 
 tinguish themselves by exercising the strictest piety. 
 These were, from time immemorial, men who had freed 
 themselves from worldly occupations and pleasures, and 
 devoted their lives to the strictest exercise of the laws of 
 religion and penance for their sins. As already men- 
 tioned, they sought to accomplish this object by prayers 
 and other exercises of devotion, by chastisement of the 
 body and similar means. 
 
 But about this time some among them set themselves 
 up for founders of a new sect. They maintained that 
 true piety does not by any means consist in chastisement 
 of the body, by which the spiritual quiet and cheerfulness, 
 necessary to the knowledge and love of God, are dis- 
 turbed. On the contrary, they maintained that man must 
 satisfy all his bodily wants, and seek to enjoy the plea- 
 sures of sense, so far as may be necessary for the deve-
 
 152 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 lopment of our feelings, inasmuch as God has created all 
 for his glory. The true service of God, according to 
 them, consists in exercises of devotion with exertion of 
 all our powers, and annihilation of self before God ; for 
 they maintain that man, in accordance with his destina- 
 tion, can reach the highest perfection only when he re- 
 gards himself, not as a being that exists and works for 
 himself, but merely as an organ of the Godhead. Instead 
 therefore of spending their lives in separation from the 
 world, in suppression of their natural feelings, and in 
 deadening their powers, they believed that they acted 
 much more to the purpose, when they sought to develop 
 their natural feelings as much as possible, to bring their 
 powers into exercise, and constantly to widen their sphere 
 of work. 
 
 It must be acknowledged, that both of these opposite 
 methods have something true for a foundation. Of the 
 former the foundation is obviously Stoicism, that is, an 
 endeavour to determine actions by free will in accordance 
 with a higher principle than passion ; the latter is founded 
 on the system of perfection. Only both, like everything 
 else in the world, may be abused, and are abused in 
 actual life. Those of the first sect drive their penitential 
 disposition to extravagance; instead of merely regulating 
 their desires and passions by rules of moderation, they 
 seek to annihilate them ; and, instead of endeavouring, 
 like the Stoics, to find the principle of their actions in 
 pure reason, they seek it rather in religion. This is a
 
 An Autobiography. 153 
 
 pure source, it is true ; but as these people have false 
 ideas of religion itself, and their virtue has for its foun- 
 dation merely the future rewards and punishments of an 
 arbitrary tyrannical being who governs by mere caprice, 
 in point of fact their actions flow from an impure source, 
 namely the principle of interest. Moreover, in their case 
 this interest rests merely on fancies, so that, in this 
 respect, they are far below the grossest Epicureans, who 
 have, it is true, a low, but still a real interest as the end 
 of their actions. Only then can religion yield a principle 
 of virtue, when it is itself founded on the idea of virtue. 
 
 The adherents of the second sect have indeed more 
 correct ideas of religion and morals ; but since in this 
 respect they regulate themselves for the most part in 
 accordance with obscure feelings, and not in accordance 
 with distinct knowledge, they likewise necessarily fall 
 into all sorts of extravagances. Self-annihilation of 
 necessity cramps their activity, or gives it a false direction. 
 They have no natural science, no acquaintance with 
 psychology ; and they are vain enough to consider them- 
 selves organs of the Godhead, which of course they are, 
 to an extent limited by the degree of perfection they 
 attain. The result is, that on the credit of the Godhead 
 they perpetrate the greatest excesses ; every extraordinary 
 suggestion is to thsm a divine inspiration, and every 
 lively impulse a divine call. 
 
 These sects were not in fact different sects of religion; 
 their difference consisted merely in the mode of their 
 
 L
 
 154 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 religious exercises. But still their animosity went so far, 
 that they decried each other as heretics, and indulged in 
 mutual persecution. At first the new sect held the upper 
 hand, and extended itself nearly over the whole of Poland, 
 and even beyond. The heads of the sect ordinarily sent 
 emissaries everywhere, whose duty it was to preach the 
 new doctrine and procure adherents. Now, the majority 
 of the Polish Jews consist of scholars, that is, men 
 devoted to- an inactive and contemplative life ; for every 
 Polish Jew is destined from his birth to be a rabbi, and 
 only the greatest incapacity can exclude him from the 
 office. Moreover, this new doctrine was to make the 
 way to blessedness easier, inasmuch as it declared that 
 fasts and vigils and the constant study of the Talmud 
 are not only useless, but even prejudicial to that cheer- 
 fulness of spirit which is essential to genuine piety. It 
 was therefore natural that the adherents of the doctrine 
 spread far and wide in a short time. 
 
 Pilgrimages were made to K. M. and other holy places, 
 where the enlightened superiors of this sect abode. Young 
 people forsook parents, wives and children, and went in 
 troops to visit these superiors, and hear from their lips 
 the new doctrine. The occasion, which led to the rise 
 of this sect was the following.* 
 
 * In our times, when so much is said both pro and contra about 
 secret societies, I believe that the history of a particular secret 
 society, in which I was entangled, though but a short time, should 
 not be passed over in this sketch of my life.
 
 An Autobiography. 155 
 
 I have already remarked that, since the time when the 
 Jews lost their national position and were dispersed 
 among other nations where they are more or less 
 tolerated, they have had no internal form of government 
 but their religious constitution, by which they are held 
 together and still form, in spite of their political 
 dispersion, an organic whole. Their leaders, therefore, 
 have allowed themselves to be occupied with nothing so 
 much as with imparting additional strength to this, the 
 only bond of union by which the Jews still constitute a 
 nation. But the doctrines of their faith and the laws of 
 their religion take their origin in the Holy Scriptures, 
 while these leave much that is indefinite in regard to 
 their exposition and application to particular cases. 
 Consequently the aid of tradition is of necessity called 
 in, and by this means the method of expounding the 
 Holy Scriptures, as well as the deduction of cases left 
 undetermined by them, is made to appear as if specified 
 in determinate laws. This tradition could not of course 
 be entrusted to the whole nation, but merely to a 
 particular body a sort of legislative commission. 
 
 By this means, however, the evil was not avoided. 
 Tradition itself left much that was still indeterminate. 
 The deduction of particular cases from the general, and 
 the new laws demanded by the circumstances of different 
 times, gave occasion for many controversies ; but through 
 these very controversies and the mode of their settlement, 
 this body became always more numerous, and its
 
 156 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 influence on the nation more powerful. The Jewish 
 constitution is therefore in its form aristocratic, and is 
 accordingly exposed to all the abuses of an aristocracy. 
 The unlearned classes of the people, being burdened 
 with the care of supporting not only themselves but also 
 the indispensable learned class, were unable to give their 
 attention to abuses of the kind. But from time to time 
 men have arisen out of the legislative body itself, who 
 have not only denounced its abuses, but have even 
 called in question its authority. 
 
 Of this sort was the founder of the Christian religion, 
 who at the very outset placed himself in opposition to 
 the tyranny of this aristocracy, and brought back the 
 whole ceremonial law to its origin, namely, a pure moral 
 system, to which the ceremonial law stands related as 
 means to end. In this way the reformation at least of a 
 part of the nation was accomplished. Of the same sort 
 also was the notorious Shabbethai Zebi, who, at the close 
 of last century* set himself up as Messiah, and was 
 going to abolish the whole ceremonial law, especially 
 the rabbinical institutions. A moral system founded 
 upon reason would, owing to the deeply rooted 
 prejudices of the nation at that time, have been power- 
 less to work out a wholesome reformation. To their 
 prejudices and fanaticism therefore it was necessary to 
 
 That is, of course, the I7th century. Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 157 
 
 oppose prejudices and fanaticism. This was done in 
 the following way. 
 
 A secret society, whose founders belonged to the dis- 
 affected spirits of the nation, had already taken root in 
 it for a long time. A certain French rabbi, named Moses 
 de Leon, is said, according to Rabbi Joseph Candia, to 
 have composed the Zohar, and to have foisted it upon 
 the nation as an old book having for its author the cele- 
 brated Talmudist, Rabbi ben Jochai. This book con- 
 tains, as stated above, an exposition of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures in accordance with the principles of the Cabbalah ; 
 or rather, it contains these principles themselves delivered 
 in the form of an exposition of the Holy Scriptures, and 
 drawn, as it were, from these. It has, like Janus, a 
 double face, and admits, therefore, of a double interpre- 
 tation. 
 
 The one is that which is given with great diffuseness 
 in Cabbalistic writings, and has been brought into a sys- 
 tem. Here is a wide field for the imagination, where it 
 can revel at will without being in the end better instructed 
 on the matter than before. Here are delivered, in figu- 
 rative language, many moral and physical truths, which 
 lose themselves at last in the labyrinth of the hyperphysi- 
 cal. This method of treating the Cabbalah is peculiar 
 to Cabbalistic scholars, and constitutes the lesser mys- 
 teries of this secret society. 
 
 The second method, on the other hand, concerns the 
 secret political meaning of the Cabbalah, and is known
 
 158 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 only to the superiors of the secret society. These supe- 
 riors themselves, as well as their operations, remain ever 
 unknown; the rest of the society you may become 
 acquainted with, if you choose. But the latter cannot 
 betray political secrets which are unknown to themselves, 
 while the former will not do it, because it is against their 
 interest. Only the lesser (purely literary) mysteries are 
 entrusted to the people, and urged upon them as matters 
 of the highest importance. The greater (political) mys- 
 teries are not taught, but, as a matter of course, are 
 brought into practice. 
 
 A certain Cabbalist, Rabbi Joel Baalshem * by name, 
 became very celebrated at this time on account of some 
 lucky cures which he effected by means of his medical 
 acquirements and his conjuring tricks, as he gave out 
 that all this was done, not by natural means, but solely 
 by help of the Cabbalah Maasith (the practical Cabbalah), 
 and the use of sacred names. In this way he played a 
 very successful game in Poland. He also took care to 
 have followers in his art. Among his disciples were 
 some, who took hold of his profession, and made them- 
 selves a name by successful cures and the detection of 
 robberies. With their cures the process was quite natu- 
 
 * Baalshem is one who occupies himself with the practical Cab- 
 balah, that is, with the conjuration of spirits and the writing of 
 amulets, in which the names of God and of many sorts of spirits are 
 employed.
 
 An Autobiography, 159 
 
 ral. They employed the common means of medicine, 
 but after the usual method of the conjurer they sought 
 to turn the attention of the spectator from these, and 
 direct it to their Cabbalistic hocus-pocus. The robberies 
 they either brought about themselves, or they discovered 
 them by means of their detectives, who were spread all 
 over the country. 
 
 Others of greater genius and a nobler mode of think- 
 ing, formed 'far grander plans. They saw that their 
 private interest, as well as the general interest, could be 
 best promoted by gaining the people's confidence, and 
 this they sought to command by enlightenment. Their 
 plan was therefore moral and political at the same time.* 
 At first it appeared as if they would merely do away with 
 the abuses which had crept into the Jewish system of 
 religion and morals ; but this drew after it of necessity a 
 complete abrogation of the whole system. The principal 
 points which they attacked were these : 
 
 i. The abuse of rabbinical learning. Instead of sim- 
 plifying the laws and rendering them capable of being 
 known by all, the learning of the rabbis leaves them still 
 more confused and indefinite. Moreover, being occu- 
 pied only with the study of the laws, it gives as much 
 
 * As I never attained the rank of a superior in this society, the 
 exposition of their plan cannot be regarded as a fact verified by ex- 
 perience, but merely as an inference arrived at by reflection. How 
 far this inference is well founded, can be determined merely by 
 analogy according to the rules of probability.
 
 160 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 attention to those which are no longer of any application, 
 such as the laws of sacrifice, of purification, etc., as to 
 those which are still in use. Besides, it is not the study, 
 but the observance of the laws, that forms the chief con- 
 cern, since the study of them is not an end in itself, but 
 merely a means to their observance. And, finally, in the 
 observance of the laws the rabbis have regard merely to 
 the external ceremony, not to the moral end. 
 
 2. The abuse of piety on the part of the so-called 
 penitents. These become very zealous, it is true, about 
 the practice of virtue. Their motive to virtue, however, 
 is not that knowledge of God and His perfection, which 
 is based on reason ; it consists rather in false representa- 
 tions of God and His attributes. They failed therefore 
 of necessity to find true virtue, and hit upon a spurious 
 imitation. Instead of aspiring after likeness to God, and 
 striving to escape from the bondage of sensual passions 
 into the dominion of a free will that finds its motive in 
 reason, they sought to annihilate their passions by anni- 
 hilating their powers of activity, as I have already shown 
 by some deplorable examples. 
 
 On the other hand, those who sought to enlighten the 
 people required, as an indispensable condition of true 
 virtue, a cheerful state of mind disposed to every form of 
 active exertion ; and they not only allowed, but even re- 
 commended, a moderate enjoyment of all kinds of 
 pleasure as necessary for the attainment of this cheerful 
 disposition. Their worship consisted in a voluntary
 
 An Autobiography. 161 
 
 elevation above the body, that is, in an abstraction of 
 the thoughts from all created things, even from the 
 individual self, and in union with God. By this means 
 a kind of self-denial arose among them, which led them 
 to ascribe, not to themselves, but to God alone, all the 
 actions undertaken in this state. Their worship therefore 
 consisted in a sort of speculative adoration, for which 
 they held no special time or formula to be necessary, 
 but they left each one to determine it according to the 
 degree of his knowledge. Still they chose for it most 
 commonly the hours set apart for the public worship of 
 God. In their public worship they endeavoured mainly 
 to attain that elevation above the body, which has been 
 described ; they became so absorbed in the idea of the 
 divine perfection, that they lost the idea of everything 
 else, even of their own body, and, as they gave out, the 
 body became in this state wholly devoid of feeling. 
 
 Such abstraction, however, was a very difficult matter ; 
 and accordingly, whenever they came out of this state by 
 new suggestions taking possession of their minds, they 
 laboured, by all sorts of mechanical operations, such as 
 movements and cries, to bring themselves back into the 
 state once more, and to keep themselves in it without 
 interruption during the whole time of their worship. It 
 was amusing to observe haw they often interrupted their 
 prayers by all sorts of extraordinary tones and comical 
 gestures, which were meant as threats and reproaches 
 against their adversary, the Evil Spirit, who tried to dis-
 
 162 Solomon Maitnon : 
 
 turb their devotion ; and how by this means they wore 
 themselves out to such an extent, that, on finishing their 
 prayers, they commonly fell down in complete exhaus- 
 tion. 
 
 It is not to be denied that, however sound may be the 
 basis of such a worship, it is subject to abuse just as 
 much as the other. The internal activity following upon 
 cheerfulness of mind, must depend on the degree of 
 knowledge acquired. Self-annihilation before God is 
 only then well-founded, when a man's faculty of know- 
 ledge, owing to the grandeur of its object, is so entirely 
 occupied with that object, that he exists, as it were, out 
 of himself, in the object alone. If, on the contrary, the 
 faculty of knowledge is limited in respect of its object, so 
 that it is incapable of any steady progress, then the 
 activity mentioned, by being concentrated on this single 
 object, is repressed rather than stimulated. Some simple 
 men of this sect, who sauntered about idly the whole day 
 with pipe in mouth, when asked, what they were thinking 
 about all the time, replied, " We are thinking about 
 God." This answer would have been satisfactory, if they 
 had constantly sought, by an adequate knowledge of 
 nature, to extend their knowledge of the divine perfections. 
 But this was impossible in their case, as their knowledge 
 of nature was extremely limited ; and consequently the 
 condition, in which they concentrated their activity upon 
 an object which, in respect of their capacity, was unfruit- 
 ful, became of necessity unnatural. Moreover, their
 
 An Autobiography. 163 
 
 actions could be ascribed to God, only when they were 
 the results of an accurate knowledge of God ; but when 
 they resulted from a very limited degree of this knowledge, 
 it was inevitable that all sorts of excesses should be com- 
 mitted on the credit of God, as unfortunately the issue 
 has shown. 
 
 But the fact, that this sect spread so rapidly, and that 
 the new doctrine met with so much applause among the 
 majority of the nation, may be very easily explained. 
 The natural inclination to idleness and a life of specula- 
 tion on the part of the majority, who from birth are des- 
 tined to study, the dryness and unfruitfulness of rabbini- 
 cal studies, and the great burden of the ceremonial law, 
 which the new doctrine promised to lighten, finally the 
 tendency to fanaticism and the love of the marvellous, 
 which are nourished by this doctrine, these are suffici- 
 ent to make this phenomenon intelligible. 
 
 At first the rabbis and the pietists opposed the spread 
 of this sect in the old fashion ; but in spite of this, for 
 the reasons just mentioned, it maintained the upper 
 hand. Hostilities were practised on both sides. Each 
 party sought to gain adherents. A ferment arose in the 
 nation, and opinions were divided. 
 
 I could not form any accurate idea of the new sect, 
 and did not know what to think of it, till I met with a 
 young man, who had already been initiated into the 
 society, and had enjoyed the good fortune of conversing 
 with its superiors. This man happened to be travelling
 
 164 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 through the place of my abode, and I seized the oppor- 
 tunity of asking for some information about the internal 
 constitution of the society, the mode of admission, and 
 so forth. The stranger was still in the lowest grade of 
 membership, and consequently knew nothing about the 
 internal constitution of the society. He was therefore 
 unable to give me any information on the subject ; but, 
 as far as the mode of admission was concerned, he 
 assured me that that was the simplest thing in the world. 
 Any man, who felt a desire of perfection, but did not 
 know how to satisfy it, or wished to remove the hin- 
 drances to its satisfaction, had nothing to do but apply 
 to the superiors of the society, and eo ipso he became a 
 member. He did not even require, as you must do on 
 applying to a medical doctor, to say anything to these 
 superiors about his moral weakness, his previous life, and 
 matters of that sort, inasmuch as nothing was unknown 
 to the superiors, they could see into the human heart, 
 and discern everything that is concealed in its secret 
 recesses, they could foretell the future, and bring near at 
 hand things that are remote. Their sermons and moral 
 teachings were not, as these things commonly are, thought 
 over and arranged in an orderly manner beforehand. 
 This method is proper only to the man, who regards 
 - himself as a being existing and working for himself apart 
 from God. But the superiors of this sect hold that their 
 teachings are divine and therefore infallible, only when 
 they are the result of self-annihilation before God, that
 
 An Autobiography. 165 
 
 is, when they are suggested to them ex tempore, by the 
 exigence of circumstances, without their contributing 
 anything themselves. 
 
 As I was quite captivated by this description I begged 
 the stranger to communicate to me some of these divine 
 teachings. He clapped his hand on his brow as if he 
 were waiting for inspiration from the Holy Ghost, and 
 turned to me with a solemn mien and his arms half- 
 bared, which he brought into action somewhat like 
 Corporal Trim, when he was reading the sermon. Then 
 he began as follows : 
 
 " 'Sing unto God a new song ; His praise is in the 
 congregation of saints' (Psalm cxlix., i). Our 
 superiors explain this verse in the following way. The 
 attributes of God as the most perfect being must surpass 
 by far the attributes of every finite being and conse- 
 quently His praise, as the expression of His attributes, 
 must likewise surpass the praise of any such being. Till 
 the present time the praise of God consisted in ascribing 
 to Him supernatural operations, such as the discovery of 
 what is concealed, the foreseeing of the future, and the 
 production of effects immediately by His mere will. 
 Now, however, the saints, that is, the superiors, are able 
 to perform such supernatural actions themselves. 
 Accordingly in this respect God has no longer pre- 
 eminence over them ; and it is therefore necessary to 
 find some new praise, which is proper to God alone." 
 Quite charmed with this ingenious method of inter-
 
 1 66 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 preting the Holy Scriptures, I begged the stranger for 
 some more expositions of the same kind. He proceeded 
 therefore in his inspired manner: " 'When the minstrel 
 played, the spirit of God came upon him' (2 Kings iii. 
 15). This is explained in the following way. As long as 
 a man is self-active, he is incapable of receiving the in- 
 fluence of the Holy Ghost ; for this purpose he must 
 hold himself like an instrument in a purely passive state. 
 The meaning of the passage is therefore this. When the 
 minstrel (fen, the servant of God), becomes like his 
 instrument (fa), then the spirit of God comes upon 
 him."* 
 
 " Now," said the stranger again, " hear the interpreta- 
 tion of a passage from the Mishnah, where it is said, 
 ' The honour of thy neighbour shall be as dear to thee 
 as thine own.' Our teachers explain this in the following 
 way. It is certain that no man will find pleasure in doing 
 honour to himself : this would be altogether ridiculous. 
 But it would be just'as ridiculous to make too much of 
 the marks of honour received from another, as these 
 confer on us no more intrinsic worth than we have al- 
 
 * The ingenuity of this interpretation consists in the fact, that in 
 Hebrew MJ may stand for the infinitive of play, as well as for a 
 musical instrument, and that the prefix 5 may be translated either 
 as, in the sense of when, or as, in the sense of like. The superiors 
 of this sect, who -wrenched passages of the Holy Scriptures from their 
 context, regarding themselves as merely vehicles of their teachings, 
 selected accordingly that interpretation of this passage, which fitted 
 best their principle of self-annihilation before God.
 
 An Autobiography. 167 
 
 ready. This passage therefore means merely, that the 
 honour of thy neighbour (the honour which thy neigh- 
 bour shows to thee) must be of as little value in thine 
 eyes, as thine own (the honour which thou showest to 
 thyself)." 
 
 I could not help being astonished at the exquisite re- 
 finement of these thoughts ; and charmed with the inge- 
 nious exegesis, by which they were supported.* My 
 imagination was strained to the highest pitch by these 
 descriptions, and consequently I wished nothing so much 
 as the pleasure of becoming a member of this honourable 
 society. I resolved therefore to undertake a journey to 
 
 M , where the superior B - resided. I waited 
 
 with the greatest impatience for the close of my period 
 of service, which lasted still for some weeks. As soon 
 as this came to an end, instead of going home (though 
 I was only two miles away), I started at once on my pil- 
 grimage. The journey extended over some weeks. 
 
 At last I arrived at M , and after having rested 
 
 from my journey I went to the house of the superior 
 under the idea that I could be introduced to him at 
 once. I was told, however, that he could not speak to 
 me at the time, but that I was invited to his table on 
 
 * Maimon in a footnote here refers, by way of a parallel, to the 
 interpretation by a Catholic theologian of a passage in Ezekiel 
 (xliv., 1-2) as an allegorical prophecy of the Virgin Mary ; but most 
 readers will probably prefer to leave the exposition of the allegory 
 to the imagination of those who choose to follow it out. Trans.
 
 1 68 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 Sabbath along with the other strangers who had come to 
 visit him ; that I should then have the happiness of 
 seeing the saintly man face to face, and of hearing the 
 sublimest teachings out of his own mouth ; that although 
 this was a public audience, yet, on account of the 
 individual references which I should find made to my- 
 self, I might regard it as a special interview. 
 
 Accordingly on Sabbath I went to this solemn meal, 
 and found there a large number of respectable men who 
 had met here from various quarters. At length the 
 great man appeared in his awe-inspiring form, clothed in 
 white satin. Even his shoes and snuffbox were white, 
 this being among the Cabbalists the colour of grace. 
 He gave to every new comer his salaam, that is, his 
 greeting. We sat down to table and during the meal a 
 solemn silence reigned. After the meal was over, the 
 superior struck up a solemn inspiriting melody, held his 
 hand for some time upon his brow, and then began to 
 
 call out, "Z of H , M of R ," and so 
 
 on. Every new comer was thus called by his own name 
 and the name of his residence, which excited no little 
 astonishment. Each recited, as he was called, some 
 verse of the Holy Scriptures. Thereupon the superior 
 began to deliver a sermon for which the verses recited 
 served as a text, so that although they were disconnected 
 verses taken from different parts of the Holy Scriptures 
 they were combined with as much skill as if they had 
 formed a single whole. What was still more extra-
 
 An Autobiography. 169 
 
 ordinary, every one of the new comers believed that he 
 discovered, in that part of the sermon which was founded 
 on his verse, something that had special reference to the 
 facts of his own spiritual life. At this we were of course 
 greatly astonished. 
 
 It was not long, however, before I began to qualify 
 the high opinion I had formed of this superior and the 
 whole society. I observed that their ingenious exegesis 
 was at bottom false, and, in addition to that, was limited 
 strictly to their own extravagant principles, such as the 
 doctrine of self-annihilation. When a man had once 
 learned these, there was nothing new for him to hear. 
 The so-called miracles could be very naturally explained. 
 By means of correspondence and spies and a certain 
 knowledge of men, by physiognomy and skilful questions, 
 the superiors were able to elicit indirectly the secrets of 
 the heart, so that they succeeded with these simple men 
 in obtaining the reputation of being inspired prophets. 
 
 The whole society also displeased me not a little by 
 their cynical spirit and the excess of their merriment. A 
 single example of this may suffice. We had met once at 
 the hour of prayer in the house of the superior. One of 
 the company arrived somewhat late, when the others 
 asked him the reason. He replied that he had been 
 detained by his wife having been that evening confined 
 with a daughter. As soon as they heard this, they began 
 to congratulate him in a somewhat uproarious fashion. 
 The superior thereupon came out of his study and asked 
 
 M
 
 170 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 the cause of the noise. He was told that we were con- 
 gratulating our friend, because his wife had brought a 
 girl into the world. "A girl!" he answered with the 
 greatest indignation, "he ought to be whipped."* The 
 poor fellow protested. He could not comprehend why 
 he should be made to suffer for his wife having brought 
 a girl into the world. But this was of no avail : he was 
 seized, thrown down on the floor, and whipped unmerci- 
 fully. All except the victim fell into an hilarious mood 
 over the affair, upon which the superior called them to 
 prayer in the following words, " Now, brethren, serve the 
 Lord with gladness ! " 
 
 I would not stay in the place any longer. I sought 
 the superior's blessing, took my departure from the 
 society with the resolution to abandon it for ever, and 
 returned home. 
 
 Now I shall say something of the internal constitution 
 of the society. The superiors may, according to my 
 experience, be brought under four heads : (i) the 
 prudent, (2) the crafty, (3) the powerful,! (4) the good. 
 
 * A trait of these, as of all uncultivated men, is their contempt 
 of the other sex. 
 
 t Of this class I became acquainted with one. He was a young 
 man of twenty-two, of very weak bodily constitution, lean and pale. 
 He travelled in Poland as a missionary. In his look there was 
 something so terrible, so commanding, that he ruled men by means 
 of it quite despotically. Wherever he came he inquired about the 
 constitution of the congregation, rejected whatever displeased him, 
 and made new regulations which were punctually followed. The
 
 An Autobiography. 171 
 
 The highest class, which rules all the others, is of 
 course the first. These are men of enlightenment, who 
 have attained a deep knowledge of the weaknesses of 
 men and the motives of their actions, and have early 
 learned the truth that prudence is better than power, 
 inasmuch as power is in part dependent on prudence, 
 while prudence is independent of power. A man may 
 have as many powers and in as high a degree as he will, 
 still his influence is always limited. By prudence, how- 
 ever, and a sort of psychological mechanics, that is, an 
 insight into the best possible use of these powers and 
 their direction, they may be infinitely strengthened. 
 These prudent leaders, therefore, have devoted them- 
 selves to the art of ruling free men, that is, of using the 
 will and powers of other men, so that while these believe 
 themselves to be advancing merely their own ends, they 
 are in reality advancing the ends of their leaders. This 
 can be maintained by a judicious combination and 
 regulation of the powers, so that by the slightest touch 
 upon this instrument it may produce the greatest effect. 
 There is here no deceit, for, as presupposed, the others 
 themselves reach their own ends by this means best. 
 
 elders of the congregation, for the most part old respectable men, who 
 far excelled him in learning, trembled before his face. A great 
 scholar, who would not believe the infallibility of this superior, was 
 seized with such terror by his threatening look, that he fell into a 
 violent fever of which he died. Such extraordinary courage and 
 determination had this man attained merely through early exercises 
 in Stoicism.
 
 172 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 The second class, the crafty, also use the will and the 
 powers of others for the attainment of their ends ; but in 
 regard to these ends they are more short-sighted or more 
 impetuous than the former class. It often happens, 
 therefore, that they seek to attain their ends at the 
 expense of others ; and their skill consists not merely in 
 attaining their own ends, like the first class, but in care- 
 fully concealing from others the fact that they have not 
 reached theirs. 
 
 The powerful are men who, by their inborn or 
 acquired moral force, rule over the weakness of others, 
 especially when their force is such as is seldom found in 
 others, as, for example, the control of all the passions but 
 one, which is made the end of their actions. 
 
 The good are weak men who are merely passive in 
 respect of their knowledge and power of will, and whose 
 ends are reached, not by controlling, but by allowing 
 themselves to be controlled. 
 
 The highest class, that of the prudent, supervising all 
 the others without being under their supervision, as a 
 matter of course rules them all. It makes use of the 
 crafty on their good side, and seeks to make them harm- 
 less on their other side by outwitting them, so that when 
 they believe they are deceiving, they themselves are 
 deceived. It makes use, moreover, of the powerful for 
 the attainment of more important ends, but seeks, when 
 necessary, to keep them in check by the opposition of 
 several, it may be weaker, powers. Finally it makes use
 
 An Autobiography, 173 
 
 of the good for the attainment of its ends, not merely 
 with them but also with others, inasmuch as it 
 commends these weak brethren to the others as an 
 example of submission that is worthy of imitation, and 
 by this means clears out of the way those hindrances 
 that arise from the independent activity of the others. 
 
 This highest class begins usually with Stoicism, and 
 ends with Epicureanism. Its members consist of pious 
 men of the first sort, that is, such as have for a consider- 
 able time devoted themselves to the strictest exercise of 
 religious and moral laws, to the control of their desires 
 and passions. But they do not, like the Stoic, look upon 
 Stoicism as an end in itself; they regard it merely as a 
 means to the highest end of man, namely, happiness. 
 They do not therefore remain at the Stoical stage, but, 
 after having obtained from it all that is necessary to the 
 highest end, they hasten to that end itself, the enjoyment 
 of happiness. By their exercise in the strictest Stoicism 
 their sensibility for all sorts of pleasure is heightened and 
 ennobled, instead of becoming duller, as it is with gross 
 Epicureans. By means of this exercise also they are 
 placed in a position to defer every pleasure that presents 
 itself till they have determined its real worth, which a 
 gross Epicurean will not do. 
 
 The first impulse to Stoicism, however, must lie in the 
 temperament, and it is only by a kind of self-deception 
 that it is shifted to the account of voluntary activity. 
 But this vanity imparts courage for actual undertakings
 
 174 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 of a voluntary nature, and this courage is continually 
 fired by their successful issue. As the superiors of this 
 sect are not men of science, it is not to be supposed that 
 they have hit upon their system by the guidance of reason 
 alone. Rather, as already said, the motive was, in the 
 first instance, temperament, in the second, religious 
 ideas ; and it was only after that, that they could attain 
 to a clear knowledge and practice of their system in its 
 purity. 
 
 This sect was therefore, in regard to its end and its 
 means, a sort of secret society, which had nearly acquired 
 dominion over the whole nation ; and consequently one 
 of the greatest revolutions was to have been expected, if 
 the excesses of some of its members had not laid bare 
 many weak spots, and thus put weapons into the hands 
 of its enemies. Some among them, who wished to pass 
 for genuine Cynics, violated all the laws of decency, wan- 
 dered about naked in the public streets, attended to the 
 wants of nature in the presence of others, and so on. By 
 their practice of extemporising, as a consequence of their 
 principle of self-annihilation, they introduced into their 
 sermons all sorts of foolish, unintelligible, confused stuff. 
 By this means some of them became insane, and believed 
 that in fact they were no longer in existence. To all 
 this must be added their pride and contempt of others 
 who did not belong to their sect, especially of the rabbis, 
 who, though they had their faults, were still far more ac- 
 tive and useful than these ignorant idlers. Men began
 
 An Autobiography. 175 
 
 to find out their weaknesses, to disturb their meetings, 
 and to persecute them everywhere. This was brought 
 about especially by the authority of a celebrated rabbi, 
 Elias of Wilna,* who stood in great esteem among the 
 Jews, so that now scarcely any traces of the society can 
 be found scattered here and there. 
 
 * Born 1720 ; died 1797. See Jost's Geschichtt des Judenthums, 
 Vol. iii., pp. 248-250. Trans.
 
 176 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Continuation of the Former, and also something about Religious 
 Mysteries. 
 
 AFTER the account of the secret society in the last chap- 
 ter, this seems the most appropriate place to state, for the 
 examination of the thoughtful reader, my opinion about 
 mysteries in general, and about the mysteries of religion 
 in particular. 
 
 Mysteries in general are modes of the causal relation 
 between objects in nature, modes which are real or held 
 to be real, but which cannot be disclosed to every man 
 by the natural use of his powers of knowledge. Eternal 
 truths, that is, those necessary relations of objects which 
 are founded on the nature of our powers of knowledge, 
 however few may be familiar with them, are not, accord- 
 ing to this definition, mysteries, because any one can 
 discover them by the use of his powers of knowledge. 
 
 On the other hand, the results of sympathy and anti- 
 pathy, the medical specifics, and similar effects, which 
 some men fall upon by mere accident, and which they 
 afterwards find confirmed by means of observations and 
 experiments, are genuine mysteries of nature, which can 
 be made known to another person, not by the use of his
 
 An Autobiography, 177 
 
 powers of knowledge, but only either by an accident of 
 the same kind, or by communication from the first dis- 
 coverer. If mysteries of this sort are not confirmed by 
 observation and experiment, the belief in their reality is 
 called superstition. 
 
 Religion is a covenant formed between man and an- 
 other moral being of a higher genus. It presupposes a 
 natural relation between man and this higher moral 
 being, so that, by the mutual fulfilment of their covenant, 
 they advance the interest of each other. If this natural 
 relation (not being merely arbitrary and conventional) is 
 real, and the mutual obligation of the contracting persons 
 is founded on this relation, then it forms a true, but 
 otherwise & false, natural religion. If the mutual obliga- 
 tion between man and the higher being or his represen- 
 tatives is drawn up in a formal code, there arises a posi- 
 tive or revealed religion. 
 
 The true religion, natural as well as revealed, which, 
 as already observed, constitutes Judaism, consists in a 
 contract, at first merely understood, but afterwards ex- 
 pressed, between man and the Supreme Being, who re- 
 vealed Himself to the patriarchs in person (in dreams 
 and prophetic appearances), and made known by them 
 His will, the reward of obeying it and the punishment of 
 disobedience, regarding which a covenant was then with 
 mutual consent concluded. Subsequently, through his 
 representative Moses, He renewed His covenant with the 
 Israelites in Egypt, determining more precisely their
 
 178 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 mutual obligations ; and this was afterwards on both sides 
 formally confirmed on Mount Sinai. 
 
 To the thoughtful reader I do not need to say, that 
 the representation of a covenant between God and man 
 is to be taken merely analogically, and not in its strict 
 sense. The absolutely Perfect Being can reveal Himself 
 merely as idea to the reason. What revealed itself to the 
 patriarchs and prophets, suitably to their power of com- 
 prehension, in figure, in an anthropomorphic manner, 
 was not the absolutely Perfect Being Himself, but a re- 
 presentative of Him, His sensible image. The covenant, 
 which this Being concludes with man, has not for its end 
 the mutual satisfaction of wants ; for the Supreme Being 
 has no wants, and the wants of man are satisfied, not 
 by means of this covenant, but only by observation of 
 those relations between himself and other natural ob- 
 jects, which are founded on the laws of nature. This 
 covenant, therefore, can have its foundation nowhere 
 but in the nature of reason, without reference to any 
 end. 
 
 Heathenism, in my opinion, is distinguished from 
 Judaism mainly by the fact, that the latter rests upon the 
 formal, absolutely necessary laws of reason, while the 
 former (even if it be founded on the nature of things 
 and therefore real) rests upon the material laws of nature 
 which are merely hypothetically necessary. From this 
 the inevitable result is polytheism ; every particular 
 cause is personified by imagination, that is, represented
 
 An Autobiography. 179 
 
 as a moral being, and made a particular deity. At first 
 this result was a matter of mere Empiricism ; but by and 
 by men had occasion to observe that these causes, which 
 were represented as particular deities, were dependent on 
 each other in their effects, and in a certain aspect 
 subordinate to each other. There thus arose gradually 
 a whole system of heathen theology, in which every deity 
 maintains his rank, and his relation to the rest is 
 determined. 
 
 Judaism, on the other hand, in its very origin 
 contemplated a system, that is, a unity among the forces 
 of nature ; and thereby it received at last this pure 
 formal unity. This unity is merely of regulative use, that 
 is, for the complete systematic connection of all the 
 phenomena of nature ; and it presupposes a knowledge 
 of the multiplicity of the various forces in nature. But 
 owing to their excessive love of system, and their anxiety 
 for the preservation of the principle in its purity, the 
 Israelites seem to have wholly neglected its application. 
 The result was that they preserved a religion which was 
 pure indeed, but at the same time very unfruitful, both 
 for the extension of knowledge and for its application in 
 practical life. By this cause may be explained their 
 constant murmuring against the leaders of their religion, 
 and their repeated relapse into idolatry. They could 
 not, like enlightened nations at the present day, direct 
 their attention to purity of principle and useful applica- 
 tion of their religion at the same time, and therefore of
 
 180 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 necessity they failed either in the one or in the other. 
 Finally the Talmudists introduced a merely formal 
 application of religion which aimed at no real end j and 
 by this means they made matters worse and worse. 
 
 This religion, therefore, which, by the intention of its 
 founder, should have formed the Jews into the wisest 
 and most intelligent of nations, made them by its 
 injudicious application the most ignorant and unreason- 
 able of all. Instead of the knowledge of nature being 
 combined with the knowledge of religion, and the former 
 subordinated to the latter merely as the material to the 
 formal, the former was altogether neglected ; and the 
 principle, maintained in its mere abstractness, continued 
 without any application. 
 
 Mysteries of religion are objects and acts, which are 
 adapted to ideas and principles, and the inner meaning 
 of which is of great importance, but which have in their 
 outward form something unseemly or ridiculous or other- 
 wise objectionable. They must therefore, even in regard 
 to their outward form, be kept concealed from the vul- 
 gar eye, which cannot penetrate into the inner meaning 
 of anything ; and accordingly for it they must be a double 
 mystery. That is to say, the objects or acts themselves 
 constitute the lesser mysteries, and their inner meaning 
 the greater mysteries. 
 
 Of this sort, for example, among the Jews, in the taber- 
 nacle, and afterwards in the Holy of Holies in the temple, 
 was the ark of the covenant, which, according to the tes-
 
 An Autobiography. 181 
 
 timony of renowned authors, showed much resemblance 
 to the sacred chest in the innermost shrine of some 
 heathen temples. Thus we find among the Egyptians 
 the casket of Apis, that concealed from the vulgar eye 
 this dead animal, which as a symbol indeed had an im- 
 portant meaning, but in itself presented a repulsive as- 
 pect. The ark of the covenant in the first temple con- 
 tained, it is true, according to the testimony of Holy 
 Scripture, nothing besides the two tables of the law ; but 
 of the ark in the second temple, built after the Babylo- 
 nian captivity, I find in the Talmud a passage which is 
 too remarkable not to be adduced. According to this 
 passage the enemies, who seized the temple, found in the 
 Holy of Holies the likeness of two persons of different 
 sex embracing, and profaned the sacred object by a crass 
 exposition of its inner meaning. This likeness was said 
 to be a vivid sensible representation of the union between 
 the nation and God, and, in order to guard against abuse, 
 had to be withdrawn from the eye of the common 
 people, who cling to the symbol, but do not penetrate to 
 its inner meaning. For the same reason the cherubim 
 also were concealed behind the veil. 
 
 Of the same sort were the mysteries of the ancients in 
 general. But the greatest of all mysteries in the Jewish 
 religion consists in the name, Jehovah, expressing bare 
 existence, in abstraction from all particular kinds of exist- 
 ence, which cannot of course be conceived without exist- 
 ence in general. The doctrine of the unity of God, and
 
 1 82 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 the dependence of all beings on Him, in regard to their 
 possibility as well as their actuality, can be p^ifectly 
 comprehended only in conformity with a single system. 
 When Josephus, in his apology against Apion, says, 
 " The first instruction of our religion relates to the God- 
 head, and teaches that God comprehends all things, is 
 an absolutely Perfect and Blessed Being, and is the sole 
 cause of all existence" I believe that these words contain 
 the best explanation of the otherwise difficult passage, 
 where Moses says to God, " Behold, when I come unto 
 the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God 
 of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall 
 ask, What is his name ? what shall I answer unto them ? " 
 and God replies, " Thus shall thou say unto the children 
 of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob hath sent me unto you, for 
 this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto 
 all generations."* For, in my opinion, this passage 
 means nothing more than that the Jewish religion lays 
 at its foundation the unity of God as the immediate cause 
 of all existence ; and it says therefore precisely the same 
 as the remarkable inscription on the pyramid at Sais, " I 
 am all that is and was and shall be ; my veil has no mor- 
 tal removed," and that other inscription under the column 
 of Isis, "I am that which is." The name, Jehovah, is 
 called by the Talmudists Shem haezam (nomen proprium), 
 
 * Exodus, iii., 13, 14.
 
 An Autobiography. 183 
 
 the name of the essence, which belongs to God in Him- 
 self, without reference to His operations. The other 
 names of God, however, are appellative, and express at- 
 tributes which he has in common with all His creatures, 
 only that they belong to Him in the most eminent de- 
 gree. For example, Elohim is a lord, a judge. El is a 
 mighty one, Adonai, a lord ; and the same is the case 
 with all the rest. The Talmudists drive this point so far 
 as to maintain, that the Holy Scriptures consist merely 
 of the manifold names of God. 
 
 The Cabbalists made use of this principle. Having 
 enumerated the chief attributes of God, arranged them 
 in order and brought them into a system which they 
 call Olam Eziloth or Sephiroth, they not only picked 
 out an appropriate name for each in the Holy Scriptures, 
 but they made in addition all sorts of combinations of 
 these attributes in various relations, which they expressed 
 by similar combinations of the corresponding names. 
 They could therefore easily expound the Holy Scriptures 
 according to their method, inasmuch as they found 
 therein nothing but what they had before put in them- 
 selves. 
 
 Besides these there may also be mysteries in a religion 
 which consist in the knowledge that the religion, as 
 understood by enlightened people, has no mysteries at 
 all. This knowledge may be connected either with an 
 endeavour to destroy gradually among the people the 
 belief in mysteries, and to banish the so-called lesser
 
 184 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 mysteries by publishing the greater, or, on the contrary, 
 with an endeavour to preserve among the people the 
 belief in mysteries, and to make the preservation of the 
 lesser mysteries part of the subject of the greater. 
 
 The Jewish religion, according to the spirit of its 
 founder, is of the first kind. Moses, as well as the 
 prophets who followed him, sought constantly to incul- 
 cate that the end of religion is not external ceremonies, 
 but the knowledge of the true God as the sole incom- 
 prehensible cause of all things, and the practice of virtue 
 in accordance with the prescriptions of reason. 
 
 The heathen religions, on the other hand, show 
 evident traces of the second kind. Still I am not, like 
 some, inclined to believe that everything in these was 
 planned for intentional deception, but I believe that the 
 founders ot these religions were for the most part 
 deceived deceivers ; and this mode of representing the 
 matter is far more in accordance with human nature. I 
 am also unable to imagine that such secret designs could 
 be propagated, by means of a formal tradition, from 
 generation to generation. And, moreover, what would 
 have been the use of this ? Have not later generations 
 the same faculty as the earlier of contriving schemes to 
 reach their ends? There are princes who have never 
 read Macchiavelli, and yet have admirably carried his 
 principles into practice. 
 
 With regard to the society of pietists described above 
 I am persuaded that it had as little connection with the
 
 An Autobiography. 185 
 
 free-masons as with any other secret society. But 
 conjectures are allowed, and here we have to do merely 
 with the degree of probability. In my opinion there are 
 in every state societies which are essentially secret, but 
 which externally have no appearance of being such. 
 Every body of men with a common interest is to me a 
 secret society. Its aim and principal operations may be 
 ever so well known, still the most important of these 
 remain concealed to the uninitiated. Of such a secret 
 society, as of others, much good as well as evil may 
 therefore be said ; and so long as they do not carry their 
 mischief too far, they are always tolerated. 
 
 The Society of Pietists had a similar end in view to 
 that of the Order of Illuminati in Bavaria, and employed 
 nearly the same means. Its aim was to spread itself 
 among people wandering in the dark ; and it made use 
 of superstition in a remarkable manner, as means to this 
 end. It sought chiefly to attract the youth to itself, and 
 by a sort of empirical knowledge of men, to educate 
 every member to that, for which he seemed to be des- 
 tined by nature, and to assign him his proper place. 
 Every member of the society was allowed to acquire as 
 much knowledge of its aim and internal constitution, as 
 enabled him to look merely backwards on his subordi- 
 nates, but not forwards on his superiors. These supe- 
 riors understood the art of communicating truths of 
 reason by means of sublime figures, and of translating 
 these figurative representations into truths of reason. It
 
 1 86 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 might almost be said of them, that they understood the 
 language of animals a very important art, which is in- 
 dispensable to every teacher of the people. By doing 
 away with a gloomy piety, their doctrines met with ac- 
 ceptance among the lively youth. The principle of self- 
 annihilation, taught by them, is, when well understood, 
 nothing else than the foundation of self-activity. By its 
 means all the modes of thought and action, which have 
 become rooted by education, habit and communication 
 with others, and by which human activity is wont to re- 
 ceive a wrong direction, are to be destroyed, and one's 
 own free mode of action introduced. Moral and sesthe- 
 tic feeling can in fact be preserved and perfected by this 
 principle alone. It is only when ill understood, that it 
 can be injurious, as I have shown by the example of this 
 society itself.
 
 An Autobiography. 187 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 Journeys to Kb'nigsberg, Stettin and Berlin, for the purpose of 
 extending my knowledge of men. 
 
 MY external circumstances were becoming worse and 
 worse. I was unwilling any longer to adapt myself to 
 my ordinary occupations, and found myself therefore 
 everywhere out of my sphere. On the other hand, I 
 was also unable in the place of my abode to satisfy suf- 
 ficiently my favourite inclination to the study of the 
 sciences. So I determined to betake myself to Germany, 
 there to study medicine and, as opportunity offered, other 
 sciences also. But the question was, how such a long 
 journey was to be made. I knew indeed, that some 
 merchants in the place of my abode were soon to make 
 a journey to Konigsberg in Prussia ; but I had only a 
 slight acquaintance with them, and could not therefore 
 expect that they would take me with them for nothing. 
 After much deliberation I fell at last upon a capital 
 expedient. 
 
 I had among my friends a very learned and pious 
 man, who stood in great esteem among all the Jews of 
 the town. To him I revealed my purpose, and took 
 him into counsel on the subject. I laid before him my
 
 1 88 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 miserable circumstances, pointed out to him, that, as my 
 inclinations had been once directed to the knowledge of 
 God and His works, I was no longer fit for any ordinary 
 occupation ; and I represented to him especially, that I 
 was now obliged to support myself by my scholarship 
 alone, as an instructor in the Bible and the Talmud, 
 which, according to the judgment of some rabbis, was 
 not altogether allowable. I explained to him, that on 
 this account I wished to study medicine as a profane 
 art, by which means I might be of service, not only to 
 myself, but to the whole of the Jews in this neighbour- 
 hood, as there was no regular physician here, and those, 
 who gave themselves out for such, were the most 
 ignorant shavers, who packed men out of the world by 
 their cures. 
 
 These reasons produced an extraordinary effect on so 
 devout a man. He went to a merchant of his acquain- 
 tance, represented to him the importance of my under- 
 taking, and persuaded him to take me with him to 
 Konigsberg on his own vessel. The merchant could 
 refuse nothing to so godly a man, and therefore gave 
 his consent. 
 
 Accordingly I set out with this Jewish merchant for 
 Konigsberg in Prussia. When I arrived there, I went 
 to the Jewish medical doctor of the place, opened to him 
 my proposal to study medicine, and begged him for 
 advice and support. As his professional occupations 
 prevented him from conveniently speaking with me on
 
 An Autobiography. 189 
 
 the subject, and as he could not understand me well at 
 any rate, he referred me to some students who lodged in 
 his house. As soon as I showed myself to these young 
 gentlemen, and opened to them my proposal, they burst 
 into loud laughter. And certainly for this they were not 
 to be blamed. Imagine a man from Polish Lithuania of 
 about five and twenty years, with a tolerably stiff beard, 
 in tattered dirty clothes, whose language is a mixture of 
 Hebrew, Jewish German, Polish and Russian, with their 
 several grammatical inaccuracies, who gives out that he 
 understands the German language, and that he has 
 attained some knowledge of the sciences. What were 
 the young gentlemen to think ? 
 
 They began to poke fun at me, and gave me to read 
 Mendelssohn's Phaedo, which by chance lay on the table. 
 I read in the most pitiful style, both on account of the 
 peculiar manner in which I had learned the German 
 language, and on account of my bad pronunciation. 
 Again they burst into loud laughter ; but they said, I 
 must explain to them what I had read. This I did in 
 my own fashion ; but as they did not understand me, 
 they demanded that I should translate what I had read 
 into Hebrew. This I did on the spot. The students, 
 who understood Hebrew well, fell into no slight astonish- 
 ment, when they saw that I had not only grasped 
 correctly the meaning of this celebrated author, but also 
 expressed it happily in Hebrew. They began therefore 
 to interest themselves on my account, procured for me
 
 190 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 some cast-off clothing, and board during my stay in 
 Konigsberg. At the same time they advised me to go 
 to Berlin, where I should best attain my object. To 
 make the journey suit my circumstances, however, they 
 advised me to go by ship from Konigsberg to Stettin, 
 and thence to Frankfurt on the Oder, from which place 
 I should easily find means of getting to Berlin. 
 
 I went therefore by ship, and had nothing for food 
 but some toast, some herring, and a flask of spirits. I 
 was told in Konigsberg, that the journey might take ten 
 or, at the most, fourteen days. This prophecy, however, 
 was not fulfilled. In consequence of contrary winds, the 
 voyage lasted five weeks. In what circumstances, there- 
 fore, I found myself, may be easily imagined. There 
 were in the vessel besides me no other passengers, but 
 an old woman, who sang hymns all the time for her 
 comfort. The Pomeranian German of the crew I could 
 understand as little as they could my medley of Jewish, 
 Polish and Lithuanian. I got nothing warm to eat the 
 whole time, and was obliged to sleep on hard stuffed 
 bags. The vessel came also sometimes into danger. Of 
 course the most of the time I was seasick. 
 
 At last I arrived at Stettin, where I was told that I 
 could make the journey to Frankfurt quite pleasantly on 
 foot. But how was a Polish Jew in the most wretched 
 circumstances, without a pfennig to buy food, and with- 
 out knowing the language of the country, to make a 
 journey even of a few miles ? Yet it had to be done.
 
 An Autobiography. 191 
 
 Accordingly I set out from Stettin, and as I thought over 
 my miserable situation, I sat down under a lime-tree, and 
 began to weep bitterly. I soon became somewhat lighter 
 in heart ; I took courage, and went on. After I had 
 gone two or three miles, towards evening I arrived at an 
 inn thoroughly worn out. It was the eve of the Jewish 
 fast, which falls in August. Already I was nearly starv- 
 ing with hunger and thirst, and I was to fast still the 
 whole of the next day. I had not a pfennig to spend 
 and nothing of any value to sell. 
 
 After long reflection it occurred to me, that I must 
 still have in my coat-pocket an iron spoon, which I had 
 taken with me on board ship. I brought it, and begged 
 the landlady of the inn to give me a little bread and 
 beer for it. She refused at first to take the spoon, but 
 after much importunity she was at last induced to grant 
 a glass of sour beer in exchange. I was obliged there- 
 fore to content myself with this, drank my glass of beer, 
 and went off to the stable to sleep on straw. 
 
 In the morning I proceeded on my journey, having 
 previously inquired for a place, where there were Jews, 
 in order that I might be able to go into the synagogue, 
 and sing with my brethren the lamentations over the 
 destruction of Jerusalem. This was done, and after the 
 prayers and singing, about midday, I went to the 
 Jewish schoolmaster of the place, and held some conver- 
 sation with him. He soon discovered that I was a full 
 rabbi, began to interest himself about me, and procured
 
 192 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 me a supper at the house of a Jew. He also gave me a 
 letter of introduction to another schoolmaster in the 
 neighbouring town, recommending me as a great Tal- 
 mudist and an honourable rabbi. Here also I met with 
 a fair reception. I was invited to the Sabbath dinner 
 by the most respectable and richest Jew of the place, 
 and went into the synagogue, where I was shown to the 
 highest seat, and received every mark of honour usually 
 bestowed on a rabbi. 
 
 After the close of the service the rich Jew referred to 
 took me to his house, and put me in the place of honour 
 at his table, that is between himself and his daughter. 
 She was a young girl of about twelve years, dressed in 
 the most beautiful style. I began, as rabbi, to hold 
 a very learned and edifying discourse ; and the less the 
 gentleman and lady understood it, the more divine it 
 seemed to them. All at once I observed, to my chagrin, 
 that the young lady began to put on a sour look, and to 
 make wry faces. At first I did not know how to explain 
 this ; but, after a while, when I turned my eyes upon 
 myself and my miserable dirty suit of rags, the whole 
 mystery was at once unriddled. The uneasiness of the 
 young lady had a very good cause. And how could it 
 be otherwise? Since I left Konigsberg, about seven 
 weeks before, I had never had a clean shirt to put on ; 
 and I had been obliged to lie in the stables of inns on 
 bare straw, on which who knows how many poor 
 travellers had lain before? Now all at once my eyes
 
 An Autobiography. 193 
 
 were opened to see my misery in its appalling mag- 
 nitude. But what was I to do? How was I to help 
 myself out of this unfortunate situation ? Gloomy and 
 sad I soon bade farewell to these good people, and pro- 
 ceeded on my journey to Berlin under a continued 
 struggle with want and misery of every kind. 
 
 At last I reached this city. Here I believed that 
 I should put an end to my misery, and accomplish all 
 my wishes. But alas I was sadly deceived. In this 
 capital, as is well known, no Jewish beggars were al- 
 lowed. Accordingly the Jewish community of the place, 
 in order to make provision for their poor, have built at 
 the Rosenthaler gate a house, in which the poor are 
 received, and questioned by the Jewish elders about 
 what they want in Berlin. According to the results of 
 such inquiry, they are either taken into the city, if they 
 are sick or want employment, or they are sent forward 
 on their journey. I was therefore conducted to this 
 house, which was filled partly with sick people, partly 
 with a lewd rabble. For a long while I looked round 
 in vain for a man, with whom I might talk about my 
 affairs. 
 
 At last I observed a man, who, to judge by his dress, 
 was surely a rabbi. I went to him, and how great was 
 my joy to learn from him, that he was really a rabbi, 
 and pretty well known in Berlin ! I conversed with him 
 on all sorts of subjects connected with rabbinical learn- 
 ing ; and as I was very open-hearted, I related to him
 
 1 94 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 the course of my life in Poland, revealed to him my 
 purpose of studying medicine in Berlin, showed him my 
 commentary on the Moreh Nebhochim, and so forth. He 
 listened to all, and seemed to interest himself very much 
 in my behalf. But all at once he disappeared out of 
 sight. 
 
 At length towards evening came the Jewish elders. 
 Each of the persons in the house was called, and 
 questioned about his wants. When my turn came, I 
 said quite frankly, that I wished to remain in Berlin, in 
 order to study medicine. The elders refused my request 
 point-blank, gave me a pittance in charity, and went 
 away. The reason of this conduct towards me in 
 particular was nothing else than the following. 
 
 The rabbi, of whom I spoke, was a zealot in his ortho- 
 doxy. Accordingly when he had discovered my senti- 
 ments and purposes, he went into town, and informed 
 the elders about my heretical mode of thinking. He 
 told them, that I was going to issue a new edition of the 
 Moreh Nebhochim with a commentary, and that my 
 intention was not so much to study medicine, but mainly 
 to devote myself to the sciences in general, and to extend 
 my knowledge. This the orthodox Jews look upon as 
 something dangerous to religion and good morals. They 
 believe this to be specially true of the Polish rabbis, who, 
 having by some lucky accident been delivered from the 
 bondage of superstition, suddenly catch a gleam of the 
 light of reason, and set themselves free from their chains.
 
 An Autobiography. 195 
 
 And this belief is to some extent well-founded. Persons 
 in such a position may be compared to a man, who, after 
 being famished for a long time, suddenly comes upon a 
 well spread table, who will attack the food with violent 
 greed, and fill himself even to surfeiting. 
 
 The refusal of permission to stay in Berlin came upon 
 me like a thunderclap. The ultimate object of all my 
 hopes and wishes was all at once removed beyond my 
 reach, just when I had seen it so near. I found myself 
 in the situation of Tantalus, and did not know where to 
 turn for help. I was especially pained by the treatment 
 I received from the overseer of this poorhouse, who, by 
 command of his superiors, urged my speedy departure, 
 and never left off till he saw me outside of the gate. 
 There I threw myself on the ground and began to weep 
 bitterly. It was a Sunday, and many people went, as 
 usual, to walk outside of the city. Most of them never 
 turned aside to a whining worm like me, but some com- 
 passionate souls were very much struck with the sight, 
 and asked the cause of my wailing. I answered them ; 
 but, partly on account of my unintelligible language, 
 partly because my speech was broken by frequent weep- 
 ing and sobbing, they could not understand what I said. 
 
 I was so deeply affected by this vexation, that I fell 
 into a violent fever. The soldiers, who kept guard at 
 the gate, reported this at the poorhouse. The overseer 
 came, and carried me in. I stayed there over the day, 
 and made myself glad with the hope of becoming
 
 196 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 thoroughly sick, so as to enforce a longer sojourn in the 
 place, during which I thought I might form some 
 acquaintances, by whose influence I hoped to receive 
 protection and permission to remain in Berlin. But 
 alas ! in this hope I was deceived. The following day I 
 rose quite lively again without a trace of fever. I was 
 therefore obliged to go. But whither ? That I did not 
 know myself. Accordingly I took the first road that I 
 came upon, and surrendered myself to fate.
 
 An Autobiography, 197 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Deepest Stage of Misery, and Deliverance. 
 
 IN the evening I came to an inn, where I met a poor 
 tramp who was a Jewish beggar by profession. I was 
 uncommonly pleased to meet one of my brethren, with 
 whom I could talk, and to whom this neighbourhood was 
 pretty well known. I resolved therefore to wander about 
 the country with this companion, and to preserve my life 
 in this way, though two such heterogeneous persons were 
 nowhere to be met with in the world. I was an educated 
 rabbi; he was an idiot. I had hitherto maintained my- 
 self in an honourable way ; he was a beggar by profession. 
 I had ideas of morality, propriety, and decency ; he 
 knew nothing of these. Finally, I was in sound health, 
 it is true, but still of weakly constitution ; he, on the 
 other hand, was a sturdy, able-bodied fellow, who would 
 have made the best of soldiers. 
 
 Notwithstanding these differences, I stuck close to the 
 man, as, in order to prolong life, I was compelled to be- 
 come a vagrant in a strange land. In our wanderings I 
 laboured to communicate to my companion ideas of re- 
 ligion and of true morality, while he in return instructed
 
 igS Solomon Maimon: 
 
 me in the art of begging. He taught me the usual for- 
 mulas of the art, and recommended me especially to 
 curse and swear, whenever I was sent away without any- 
 thing. But with all the trouble, which he gave himself 
 in the matter, his teachings would not take any hold on 
 me. The formulas of begging appeared to me absurd 
 I thought, if a man was once compelled to beg help of 
 others, he should express his feelings in the most simple 
 form. As far as cursing was concerned, I could not un- 
 derstand why a man, who refused another's request, 
 should draw a curse upon himself; and then it seemed 
 to me, that the man thus treated would be thereby em- 
 bittered, and the beggar be all the less likely to attain 
 his object. When therefore I went to beg with my com- 
 rade, I conducted myself always as if I were begging and 
 cursing at the same time, but in fact I never spoke a 
 single intelligible word. If, on the other hand, I went 
 alone, I had absolutely nothing to say ; but from my 
 appearance and conduct could easily be seen what was 
 wanted. My comrade sometimes scolded me on account 
 of my slowness in learning his art, and this I bore with 
 the greatest patience. 
 
 In this way we wandered about in a district of a few 
 miles for nearly half a year. At last we resolved to turn 
 our steps towards Poland. When we arrived at Posen 
 we took up our quarters in the Jewish poorhouse, the 
 master of which was a poor jobbing tailor. Here I 
 formed the resolve, at whatever cost, to bring my
 
 An Autobiography. 199 
 
 wandering to a close. It was harvest-time, and already 
 began to be pretty cold. I was almost naked and bare- 
 foot. By this vagrant life, in which I never got any 
 regular meals, for the most part had to content myself 
 with bits of mouldy bread and water, and at night was 
 obliged to lie on old straw, sometimes even on the bare 
 earth, my health had seriously suffered. Besides, the 
 sacred seasons and fast-days in the Jewish calendar were 
 coming on; and as at that time I was of a somewhat 
 strong religious disposition, I could not endure the 
 thought of passing in complete idleness this period 
 which others employed for the welfare of their souls. 
 
 I resolved, therefore, for the present at least, to go no 
 farther, and, at all events if it should come to the worst, 
 to throw myself before the synagogue, and either die 
 there or excite the compassion of my brethren, and by 
 that means bring my sufferings to an end. Consequently 
 as soon as my comrade awoke in the morning, began to 
 make arrangements for a begging tour, and summoned 
 me to the same, I told him that I would not go with 
 him at present ; and when he asked how I intended to 
 sustain life in any other way, I was able to answer 
 nothing but " God will surely help." 
 
 I then went off to the Jewish school. Here I found 
 a number of scholars, some of whom were reading, 
 while others took advantage of the master's absence to 
 pass the time in play. I also took a book to read. 
 The scholars, who were struck by my strange dress,
 
 2oo Solomon Maimon : 
 
 approached and asked me whence I came and what I 
 wanted. Their questions I answered in my Lithuanian 
 dialect, at which they began to laugh, and make merry 
 at my expense. For this I cared little. But I 
 recollected that, some years before, a chief rabbi from 
 my neighbourhood had been appointed to the same 
 office in Posen, and that he had taken with him an 
 acquaintance and a good friend of mine as his secretary. 
 Accordingly I asked the boys about this friend. To my 
 extreme grief I learned that he was no longer in Posen, 
 as the chief rabbi had been afterwards promoted to the 
 same office in Hamburg, and his secretary had gone 
 with him to that place. They told me, however, that his 
 son, a boy about twelve years old, had been left behind 
 in Posen with the present chief rabbi, who was a son-in- 
 law of his predecessor. 
 
 This information saddened me not a little. Still the 
 last circumstance gave me some hope. I inquired after 
 the dwelling of the new chief rabbi, and went to it ; but, 
 as I was almost naked, I shrank from entering, and 
 waited until I saw some one going into the house, whom 
 I begged to be so good as to call my friend's son out. 
 The boy recognised me at once, and manifested his 
 astonishment at seeing me here in such a pitiable plight. 
 I replied, that this was not the time to relate all the mis- 
 fortunes which had brought me into this state, and that 
 at present he should consider merely how he might some- 
 what relieve my distress.
 
 An Autobiography. 201 
 
 This he promised to do. He went to the chief rabbi, 
 and announced me as a great scholar and a pious man, 
 who by extraordinary accidents had fallen into a very 
 miserable condition. The chief rabbi, who was an ex- 
 cellent man, an acute Talmudist, and of very gentle 
 character, was touched by my distress, and sent for me 
 to come in. He conversed with me a while, discussing 
 some of the most important subjects in the Talmud, and 
 found me well versed in all branches of Jewish learning. 
 Then he inquired about my intentions, and I told him 
 that I wished to be introduced as a tutor into some 
 family, but that meanwhile my only desire was to be able 
 to celebrate the sacred season here, and for this short 
 period at least to interrupt my travels. 
 
 The good-hearted rabbi bade me, so far as this was 
 concerned, to lay aside all anxiety, spoke of my desire as 
 a small matter, which it was nothing more than reason- 
 able to want. He then gave me what money he had by 
 him, invited me to dine with him every Sabbath, as long 
 as I remained here, and bade his boy procure a respect- 
 able lodging for me. The boy came back soon, and 
 conducted me to my lodging. I expected this to be only 
 a small chamber in the house of some poor man. I was 
 therefore not a little astonished, when I found myself in 
 the house of one of the oldest Jews of the town, and 
 that here had been prepared for me a neat little room, 
 which was the study of the master, he and his son being 
 both scholars. 
 
 o
 
 202 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 As soon as I had looked round a little, I went to the 
 housewife, and, thrusting some coppers into her hand, I 
 asked her to get me some gruel for supper. She began 
 to smile at my simplicity, and said, " No, no, sir, that is 
 not our agreement. The chief rabbi has not given you 
 such a recommendation, that you are obliged to have us 
 making you gruel for money." She then went on to ex- 
 plain, that I was not only to lodge in her house, but also 
 to eat and drink with them, as long as I stayed in the 
 town. I was astonished at this unexpected good fortune; 
 but my delight was still greater, when after supper I was 
 shown to a clean bed. I could not believe my eyes, and 
 asked several times, " Is this really for me ? " I can say 
 with truth, that never, before or since this incident, have 
 I felt such a degree of happiness, as when I lay down 
 that night, and felt my limbs, which for half a year had 
 been overwearied and almost broken, recovering their 
 former strength in a soft bed. 
 
 I slept till late in the day. I had scarcely risen when 
 the chief rabbi sent for me to come and see him. When 
 I made my appearance he asked me how I was pleased 
 with my lodging. I could not find words to express my 
 feelings on the subject, and exclaimed in ecstasy, "I 
 have slept in a bed ! " At this the chief rabbi was 
 uncommonly pleased. He then sent for the school 
 precentor, and as soon as this man appeared he said to 
 
 hkn, " Go to the shop of , and get cloth for a suit 
 
 to this gentleman." Thereupon he turned to me and
 
 An Autobiography. 203 
 
 asked what sort of stuff I liked. Overpowered by the 
 feeling of gratitude and esteem for this excellent man I 
 could answer nothing. The tears streaming down my 
 cheeks served for my only answer. 
 
 The chief rabbi also ordered for me some new linen. 
 In two days everything was ready. Dressed in my new 
 linen and new suit I went to the chief rabbi. I was 
 going to express my gratitude to him, but could scarcely 
 get out a few broken words. For the chief rabbi this 
 was a charming sight. He waived my thanks, and said 
 that I was not to think too highly of him for this, 
 inasmuch as what he had done for me was a mere trifle 
 not worth mentioning. 
 
 Now the reader may perhaps suppose that this chief 
 rabbi was a wealthy man, for whom the expense to 
 which he put himself on my account was really a trifle ; 
 but I can give the assurance that this was far from being 
 the case. He had merely a moderate income ; and as 
 he occupied himself wholly with study, his wife had the 
 management of his affairs, and especially the charge of 
 housekeeping. Actions of this sort, therefore, had to be 
 done without the knowledge of his wife, and under the 
 pretext that he received from other people the money 
 for the purpose. Moreover, he lived a very temperate 
 life, fasted every day except Sabbath, and never ate 
 flesh the whole week through. Nevertheless, to satisfy 
 his benevolent inclinations he could not avoid making 
 debts. His severe manner of life, his many studies and
 
 204 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 vigils, weakened his strength to such a degree that he 
 died about the thirty-sixth year of his life. His death 
 took place after he had been appointed chief rabbi in 
 Fordet, to which place he was followed by a large number 
 of disciples. I can never think of this godly man with- 
 out being deeply affected. 
 
 In my former lodging at the poor tailor's I had left 
 some trifles which I now went to fetch. The tailor, his 
 wife, and my former comrade in beggary, who had 
 already heard of the happy change in my affairs, expected 
 me with the greatest impatience. It was a touching 
 scene. The man, who three days before arrived in this 
 poor hut, quite debilitated, half naked, and barefoot, 
 whom the poor inmates of the house regarded as an 
 outcast of nature, and whose comrade in linen blouse 
 had looked down upon him with mockery and contempt, 
 this man (his fame before him) now comes into the 
 same hut with a cheerful face, and in reverend garb 
 dressed as a chief rabbi. 
 
 They all testified their joy and surprise at the trans- 
 formation. The poor woman took her babe in her arms 
 and, with tears in her eyes, begged a blessing for him. 
 My comrade begged me very affectingly for forgiveness 
 on account of his rough treatment. He said that he 
 deemed himself fortunate in having had such a fellow- 
 traveller, but would hold himself unfortunate if I would 
 not forgive the faults he had committed in ignorance. I 
 spoke to them all very kindly, gave the little one my
 
 An Autobiography. 205 
 
 blessing, handed to my old comrade all the cash I had 
 in my pocket, and went back deeply affected. 
 
 Meanwhile my fame was spread through the whole 
 town by the conduct towards me of the chief rabbi, as 
 well as that of my new host, who was himself a scholar, 
 and had formed a high opinion of my talents and learn- 
 ing from frequent conversations and discussions which 
 we had held together. All the scholars of the town, 
 therefore, came to see me and discuss with me as a 
 famous travelling rabbi ; and the more intimately they 
 came to know me, so much the higher rose their esteem. 
 
 This period was undoubtedly the happiest and most 
 honourable in my life. The young scholars of the town 
 passed a resolution at their meeting to make up for me a 
 salary, for which I was to deliver lectures to them on the 
 celebrated and profound work of Maimonides, Moreh 
 Nebhochim. This proposal, however, was never carried 
 out, because the parents of these young people were 
 anxious lest their children should be thereby led astray, 
 and by independent thinking on religion be made to 
 waver in their faith. They acknowledged indeed that, 
 with all my fondness for religious speculation, I was still 
 a pious man and an orthodox rabbi. But they could not 
 rely upon their children having sufficient judgment, to be 
 able to enter upon this course without passing from one 
 extreme to the other, from superstition to unbelief ; and 
 therein perhaps they were right. 
 
 After I had spent about four weeks in this way, the
 
 206 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 man, with whom I lodged, came to me, and said, "Herr 
 Solomon, allow me to make a proposal to you. If you 
 are inclined merely to solitary study, you may remain 
 here as long as you like. If, however, you do not wish 
 to withdraw into such complete retirement, but are 
 inclined to be of service to the world with your talents, 
 there is a wealthy man here one of the most prominent 
 people of the town who has an only son, and wishes 
 nothing so much as to have you for his tutor. This man 
 is my brother-in-law. If you will not do it for his sake, 
 please do it for mine, and to gratify the chief rabbi, as 
 he has deeply at heart the education of my nephew, who 
 is connected by marriage with his family." This offer I 
 accepted with delight. I came therefore into this family 
 under advantageous conditions as tutor, and remained 
 with them two years in the greatest honour. Nothing 
 was done in the house without my knowledge. I was 
 always met with the greatest respect. I was held in fact 
 to be almost something more than human. 
 
 Thus the two years flowed on imperceptibly and 
 happily for me. But during the time some little 
 incidents took place, which I believe should not be 
 altogether omitted in this history. 
 
 In the first place the esteem entertained for me in this 
 house went so far, that malgre mot they were going to 
 make me a prophet. My pupil was betrothed to the 
 daughter of a chief rabbi, who was a brother-in-law of 
 the chief rabbi in Posen. The bride, a girl of about
 
 An Autobiography. 207 
 
 twelve years, was brought to Posen by her parents-in-law 
 at the feast of Pentecost. On the occasion of this visit 
 I observed that the girl was of a very phlegmatic 
 temperament and somewhat consumptive. I mentioned 
 this to the brother of my host, and added with a signifi- 
 cant look, that I was very anxious for the girl, as I did 
 not believe that her health would last long. After the 
 feast was over the girl was sent home, and a fortnight 
 afterwards a letter was received announcing her death. 
 On this account, not only in the house where I lived, 
 but in the whole town, I was taken for a prophet, who 
 had been able to foretell the death of this girl. As I 
 wished nothing less than to deceive, I endeavoured to 
 bring these superstitious people to a different train of 
 thought. I told them that anybody, who had made 
 observations in the world, would have been able to fore- 
 tell the same thing. But it was of no use. Once for all 
 I was a prophet, and had to remain one. 
 
 Another incident occurred in a Jewish house one 
 Friday when they were preparing fish for the Sabbath. 
 The fish was a carp, and it seemed to the cook who was 
 cutting it up as if it uttered a sound. This threw every- 
 body into a panic. The rabbi was asked what should 
 be done with this dumb fish that had ventured to speak. 
 Under the superstitious idea that the carp was possessed 
 with a spirit, the rabbi enjoined that it should be wrapped 
 in a linen cloth, and buried with pomp. 
 
 Now, in the house where I lived, this awe-inspiring
 
 208 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 event became the subject of conversation. Having by 
 this time emancipated myself pretty thoroughly from 
 superstitions of this sort by diligent study of the Moreh 
 Nebhochim, I laughed heartily over the story, and said, 
 that, if instead of burying the carp, they had sent it to 
 me, I should have tried how such an inspired carp would 
 taste. 
 
 This ban mot became known. The learned men fell 
 into a passion about it, denounced me as a heretic, and 
 sought to persecute me in every way. But the respect, 
 entertained for me in the house where I was tutor, made 
 all their efforts fruitless. As I found myself in this way 
 safe, and the spirit of fanaticism, instead of deterring me, 
 rather spurred me on to further reflection, I began to 
 push matters a little farther, frequently slept through the 
 time of prayer, went seldom to the synagogue, and so on. 
 At last the measure of my sins became so full, that 
 nothing could secure me any longer from persecution. 
 
 At the entrance to the Common Hall in Posen there 
 has been, no one knows for how long, a stag-horn fixed 
 into the wall. The Jews are unanimously of the convic- 
 tion, that any one who touches this horn is sure to die 
 on the spot; and they relate a multitude of instances in 
 proof. This would not go down with me at all, and I 
 made fun of it. So one day when I was passing the stag- 
 hern with some other Jews, I said to them, " You Posen 
 fools, do you think that any one who touches this horn 
 must die on the spot? See, I dare to touch it!"
 
 An Autobiography. 209 
 
 Horror-struck, they expected my death on the spot ; but 
 as nothing happened, their anxiety for me was con- 
 verted into hatred. They looked on me as one who had 
 profaned the sanctuary. 
 
 This fanaticism stirred up in me the desire to go to 
 Berlin, and destroy by enlightenment the remnant of 
 superstition which still clung to me. I therefore begged 
 leave of my employer. He expressed the wish indeed, 
 that I should remain longer in his house, and assured me 
 of his protection against all persecution. But as I had 
 once for all taken my resolution, I was determined not 
 to alter it. I therefore bade goodbye to my employer 
 and his whole family, took a seat on the Frankfurt post, 
 and set out for Berlin.
 
 2io Solomon Maimon: 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Arrival in Berlin Acquaintances Mendelssohn Desperate Study 
 of Metaphysics Doubts Lectures on Locke and Adelung. 
 
 As I came to Berlin this time by post, I did not require 
 to remain outside the Rosenthaler Gate to be examined 
 by the Jewish elders ; I proceeded without any difficulty 
 into the city, and was allowed to take up my quarters 
 where I chose. To remain in the city, however, was a 
 different thing. The Jewish police-officers L. M. of 
 those days was a terrible fellow, went every day round 
 all the hotels and other houses designed for the reception 
 of strangers, made inquiry into the quality and occupa- 
 tion of newcomers, as well as the probable length of their 
 stay, and allowed them no rest till they had either found 
 some occupation in the city, or were out of it again, or 
 the alternative goes without saying. I had taken a 
 lodging on the New Market with a Jew, who was accus- 
 tomed to receive in his house poor travellers that had 
 not much to spend, and who the following day received 
 a visit of this sort. 
 
 The Jewish police-officer, L. M., came and examined 
 me in the strictest manner. I told him that I wished to
 
 An Autobiography. 211 
 
 enter into service as a family-tutor in Berlin, and that 
 therefore the length of my stay could not be exactly 
 determined. I appeared to him suspicious ; he believed 
 he had seen me here before, and evidently looked on me 
 as a comet, which comes nearer to the earth the second 
 time than the first, and so makes the danger more threat- 
 ing. But when he saw by me a Milloth Higgayon or 
 Hebrew Logic, drawn up by Maimonides, and annotated 
 by Mendelssohn, he went into a perfect rage. " Yes ! yes ! " 
 he exclaimed, " that's the sort of books for me ! " and as 
 he turned to me with a threatening look, " Pack," he said, 
 " out of Berlin as quick as you can, if you don't wish to 
 be led out with all the honours ! " I trembled, and knew 
 not what to do ; but as I had learnt that there was a 
 Polish Jew, a man of talent, residing in Berlin for the 
 sake of study, and received with esteem in the best 
 families, I paid him a visit. 
 
 He received me as a countryman in a very friendly 
 manner, asked about my home in Poland, and what had 
 brought me to Berlin. When I told him in reply, that 
 from my childhood I had discovered an inclination to 
 the sciences, had already made myself acquainted with 
 this and that Hebrew work which touches upon these, 
 and now had come to Berlin in order to be Maamik 
 Bechochmah (to become absorbed in the sciences), he 
 smiled at this quaint rabbinical phrase, but gave me his 
 full approval ; and after conversing with me for some 
 time, he begged me to visit him often, which I very
 
 212 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 willingly promised to do, and went away rejoicing in 
 spirit. 
 
 The very next day I visited my Polish friend again, 
 and found with him some young people belonging to a 
 prominent Jewish family, who visited him often, and 
 conversed with him on scientific subjects. They entered 
 into conversation with me, found much amusement in 
 my jargon, as well as in my simplicity and open-hearted- 
 ness ; in particular they laughed heartily at the phrase, 
 Maamik Bechochmah^ of which they had heard already. 
 All this gave me courage, and they assured me that I 
 should not find myself mistaken in the expectation of 
 being able to be Maamik Bechochmah in Berlin. And 
 when I made known my fear about the above-mentioned 
 police-officer, they made me pluck up courage by promis- 
 ing to obtain protection for me from their family, so that 
 I might remain in Berlin as long as I chose. 
 
 They kept their word, and Herr D P , a well- 
 to-do man of excellent character, of many attainments 
 and fine taste, who was an uncle of these young men, 
 not only paid me much attention, but also procured for 
 me a respectable lodging, and invited me to the Sabbath 
 dinner. Others of the family also sent me meals at my 
 room on fixed days. Among these was a brother of 
 these young men, in other respects an honourable man, 
 who was not without attainments. But as he was a 
 zealous Talmudist, he inquired earnestly whether with 
 my inclination towards the sciences I had not quite
 
 An Autobiography. 213 
 
 neglected the Talmud ; and as soon as he learnt, that I 
 was so Maamik Bechochmah as to neglect the study of 
 the Talmud, he gave up sending me my meals. 
 
 As I now had permission to remain in Berlin, I thought 
 of nothing but how to carry my purpose into effect. 
 Accidentally one day I went into a butter-shop, and found 
 the dealer in the act of anatomising a somewhat old book 
 for use in his trade. I looked at it, and found, to my no 
 small astonishment, that it was Wolff's Metaphysics, or 
 the Doctrine of God, of the World, and of Afan's Soul. I 
 could not understand, how in a city so enlightened as 
 Berlin such important works could be treated in this 
 barbarous fashion. I turned therefore to the dealer, and 
 asked him, if he would not sell the book. He was ready 
 to part with it for two groschen. Without thinking long 
 about it I gave the price at once, and went home 
 delighted with my treasure. 
 
 At the very first reading I was in raptures with the 
 book. Not only this sublime science in itself, but also 
 the order and mathematical method of the celebrated 
 author, the precision of his explanations, the exactness 
 of his reasoning, and the scientific arrangement of his 
 exposition, all this struck a new light in my mind. 
 
 With the Ontology, the Cosmology, and the Psycho- 
 logy all went well ; but the Theology created many diffi- 
 culties, inasmuch as I found its dogmas, not only not in 
 harmony, but even in contradiction, with the preceding 
 propositions. At the very beginning I could not assent
 
 214 Solomon Matmon: 
 
 to Wolff's argument a posteriori for the existence of God 
 in accordance with the Principle of Sufficient Reason ; 
 and I raised the objection to it, that, inasmuch as, ac- 
 cording to Wolff's own confession, the Principle of 
 Sufficient Reason is abstracted from particular cases of 
 experience, the only point which can be proved by it is, 
 that every object of experience must have its sufficient 
 reason in some other object of experience, but not in an 
 object beyond all experience. I also compared these 
 new metaphysical doctrines with those of Maimonides, 
 or rather of Aristotle, which were already known to me ; 
 and I could not bring them into harmony at all. 
 
 I resolved therefore to set forth these doubts in the 
 Hebrew language, and to send what I wrote to Herr 
 Mendelssohn, of whom I had already heard so much. 
 When he received my communication, he was not a little 
 astonished at it, and replied to me at once, that in fact 
 my doubts were well founded, that I should not however 
 allow myself to be discouraged on their account, but 
 should continue to study with the zeal with which I had 
 begun. 
 
 Encouraged by this, I wrote in Hebrew a dissertation 
 in which I brought into doubt the foundations of Revealed 
 as well as of Natural Theology. All the thirteen articles 
 of faith, laid down by Maimonides, I attacked with philo- 
 sophical arguments, with the exception of one, namely 
 the article on reward and punishment, which I conceded 
 merely in its philosophical interpretation, as referring to
 
 An Autobiography. 215 
 
 the natural consequences of voluntary actions. I sent 
 this dissertation to Mendelssohn, who was not a little 
 amazed, that a Polish Jew, who had scarcely got the 
 length of seeing the Metaphysics of Wolff, was already 
 able to penetrate into their depths so far, that he was in 
 a position to shake their results by means of a correct 
 Ontology. He invited me to visit him, and I accepted 
 his invitation. But I was so shy, the manners and 
 customs of the Berliners were so new to me, it was not 
 without fear and embarrassment, that I ventured to enter 
 a fashionable house. When therefore I opened Mendels- 
 sohn's door, and saw him and other gentlefolks who were 
 there, as well as the beautiful rooms and elegant furniture, 
 I shrank back, closed the door again, and had a mind 
 not to go in. Mendelssohn however had observed me. 
 He came out and spoke to me very kindly, led me into 
 his room, placed himself beside me at the window, and 
 paid me many compliments about my writing. He 
 assured me, that, if I went on in this way, I should in a 
 short time make great progress in Metaphysics ; and he 
 promised also to resolve my doubts. Not satisfied with 
 this, the worthy man looked after my maintenance also, 
 recommended me to the most eminent, enlightened and 
 wealthy Jews, who made provision for my board and 
 other wants. Their tables I was at liberty to enjoy 
 when I chose, and their libraries were open to my use. 
 
 Especially worthy of mention among these gentlemen 
 was H , a man of many attainments and excellent
 
 2i6 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 disposition, who was a particular friend and disciple of 
 Mendelssohn. He took great pleasure in my conversa- 
 tion, off en discussed with me the most important subjects 
 in Natural Theology and Morals, on which I expressed 
 my thoughts to him quite frankly and without disguise. 
 I went over with him in a conversational way all the 
 systems known to me that are generally denounced, and 
 defended them with the greatest pertinacity. He met 
 me with objections ; I answered them, and brought in 
 my turn objections against the opposite systems. At first 
 this friend regarded me as a speaking animal, and enter- 
 tained himself with me, as one is apt to do with a dog or 
 a starling that has been taught to speak a few words. 
 The odd mixture of the animal in my manners, my ex- 
 pressions, and my whole outward behaviour, with the 
 rational in my thoughts, excited his imagination more 
 than the subject of our conversation roused his under- 
 standing. By degrees the fun was turned to earnest. He 
 began to give his attention to the subjects themselves ; 
 and as, notwithstanding his other capabilities and attain- 
 ments, he had no philosophical head, and the liveliness 
 of his imagination generally interfered with the ripeness 
 of his judgment, the results of our conversations may be 
 readily imagined. 
 
 A few examples will be sufficient to give an idea of the 
 manner in which I conducted a discussion at the time, 
 of the ellipses in my diction arising from my deficiency 
 in expressions, and of the way in which I illustrated
 
 An Autobiography. 217 
 
 everything by examples. I endeavoured once to make 
 Spinoza's system intelligible, to show that all things are 
 merely accidents of a single substance. My friend inter- 
 rupted me and said, " But, good heavens ! are not you 
 and I different men, and do we not each possess an 
 existence of our own ? " " Close the shutters," I called 
 in reply to his objection. This strange expression threw 
 him into astonishment ; he did not know what I meant. 
 At last I explained myself. " See," said I, " the sun 
 shines through the windows. This square window gives 
 you a square reflection, and the round window a round 
 reflection. Are they on that account different things, 
 and not rather one and the same sunshine ? " 
 
 On another occasion I defended Helvetius' system of 
 self-love. He brought against it the objection, that we 
 surely love other persons as well as ourselves. " For 
 instance," said he, "I love my wife;" and to confirm this 
 he gave her a kiss. " That proves nothing against me," 
 I replied. " For, why do you kiss your wife ? Because 
 you find pleasure in doing it." 
 
 Herr A M also, a good honest fellow, and at 
 
 that time a wealthy man, allowed me free access to his 
 house. Here I found Locke in the German translation, 
 and I was pleased with him at the first hasty glance, for 
 I recognised him as the best of the modern philosophers, 
 as a man who had no interest but the truth. Accordingly 
 
 I proposed to the tutor of Herr A M , that he 
 
 should take lessons from me on this admirable work. At 
 
 p
 
 2i8 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 first he smiled at my simplicity in proposing, that I, who 
 had scarcely got the length of seeing Locke, should give 
 lessons to him whose native tongue was German, and 
 who had been brought up in the sciences. He acted, 
 however, as if he found nothing offensive in the matter, 
 accepted my proposal, and fixed an hour for the lessons. 
 I presented myself at the time appointed, and began the 
 lessons ; but as I could not read a word of German cor- 
 rectly, I told my pupil to read aloud paragraph by para- 
 graph in the text, and that then I should give him an ex- 
 position of each. My pupil, who pretended to be in 
 earnest, consented to this also, to carry on the joke ; but 
 how great was his astonishment when he found, that no 
 joke was to be played in the matter, that in fact my ex- 
 positions and remarks, though delivered in my own 
 peculiar language, evinced a genuine philosophical spirit. 
 It was still more amusing, when I became acquainted 
 with the family of Widow Levi, and made the proposal 
 to her son, the young Herr Samuel Levi,* who is still my 
 Maecenas, that he should take lessons from me in the 
 German language. The studious youth, incited by my 
 reputation, was resolved to make a trial, and wished me 
 to explain Adelung's German Grammar. I, who had 
 never seen Adelung's Grammar, did not allow myself to 
 be at all disconcerted on this account, f My pupil was 
 
 * These names are taken from Maimoniana, p. 108. Trans. 
 t The method, in which, as before explained, I had learnt to
 
 An Autobiography. 219 
 
 obliged to read Adelung bit by bit, while I not only ex- 
 pounded it, but added glosses of my own. In particular 
 I found a good deal to take exception to in Adelung's 
 philosophical explanation of the parts of speech ; and I 
 drew up an explanation of my own, which I communi- 
 cated to my intelligent pupil, by whom it is still 
 preserved. 
 
 As a man altogether without experience I carried my 
 frankness at times a little too far, and brought upon my- 
 self many vexations in consequence. I was reading 
 Spinoza. His profound thought and his love of truth 
 pleased me uncommonly ; and as his system had already 
 been suggested to me by the Cabbalistic writings, I began 
 to reflect upon it anew, and became so convinced of its 
 truth, that all the efforts of Mendelssohn to change my 
 opinion were unavailing. I answered all the objections 
 brought against it by the Wolfians, brought objections 
 against their system myself, and showed, that, if the nom- 
 inal definitions of the Wolfian Ontology are converted 
 into real definitions, conclusions the very opposite of 
 theirs are the result. Moreover, I could not explain the 
 persistency of Mendelssohn and the Wolfians generally 
 in adhering to their system, except as a political dodge 
 
 read and to understand books without any preparatory studies, and 
 to which I had been driven in Poland by the want of books, grew 
 to such an expertness, that I felt certain beforehand of being able 
 to understand anything.
 
 220 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 and a piece of hypocrisy, by which they studiously en- 
 deavoured to descend to the mode of thinking common 
 in the popular mind ; and this conviction I expressed 
 openly and without reserve. My friends and well-wishers, 
 who for the most part had never themselves speculated 
 on philosophical subjects, but blindly adopted the results 
 of the systems prevailing at the time as if they were 
 established truths, did not understand me, and therefore 
 also were unable to follow me in my opinions. 
 
 Mendelssohn, whose usual course was to tack, did not 
 wish to oppose my love of inquiry, secretly even took 
 pleasure in it, and said, that at present indeed I was not 
 on the right road, but that the course of my thoughts 
 must not be checked, because, as Descartes rightly re- 
 marked, doubt is the beginning of thorough philosophical 
 speculation.
 
 An Autobiography. 221 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Mendelssohn A chapter devoted to the memory of a worthy friend. 
 
 Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus tarn caricapitis ? 
 
 THE name of Mendelssohn is too well known to the 
 world, to make it necessary for me here to dwell long on 
 the portraiture of the great intellectual and moral qualities 
 of this celebrated man of our nation. I shall sketch 
 merely those prominent features of his portrait, which 
 have made the strongest impression upon me. He was 
 a good Talmudist, and a pupil of the celebrated Rabbi 
 Israel, or, as he is otherwise named after the title of a 
 Talmudic work which he wrote, Nezach Israel (the 
 strength of Israel), a Polish rabbi who was denounced 
 for heresy by his countrymen. This rabbi had, besides 
 his great Talmudic capabilities and acquirements, a good 
 deal of scientific talent, especially in mathematics, with 
 which he had attained a thorough acquaintance, even in 
 Poland, from the few Hebrew writings on this science, 
 as may be seen in the above-mentioned work. In this 
 work there are introduced solutions of many important 
 mathematical problems, which are applied either to the
 
 222 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 explanation of some obscure passages in the Talmud, or 
 to the determination of a law. Rabbi Israel of course 
 was more interested in the extension of useful knowledge 
 among his countrymen than in the determination of a 
 law, which he used merely as a vehicle for the other. 
 He showed, for example, that it is not right for the Jews 
 in our part of the world to turn exactly to the East at 
 prayer ; for the Talmudic law requires them to turn to 
 Jerusalem, and, as our part of the world lies north-west 
 from Jerusalem, they ought to turn to the south-east. 
 He shows also how, by means of spherical trigonometry, 
 the required direction may be determined with the utmost 
 exactness in all parts of the world, and many other truths 
 of a similar kind. Along with the celebrated Chief 
 Rabbi Frankel, he contributed much to develop the great 
 abilities of Mendelssohn. 
 
 Mendelssohn possessed a thorough acquaintance with 
 mathematics ; and this science he valued, not only for its 
 self-evidence, but also as the best exercise in profound 
 reasoning. That he was a great philosopher, is well 
 enough known. He was not indeed an originator of new 
 systems; he had however amended the old systems, 
 especially the Leibnitio-Wolfian, and had applied it with 
 success to many subjects in philosophy. 
 
 It is hard to say whether Mendelssohn was endowed 
 with more acuteness or with depth of intellect. Both 
 faculties were found united in him in a very high degree. 
 His exactness in definition and classification, and his fine
 
 An Autobiography. 223 
 
 distinctions, are evidences of the former talent, while his 
 profound philosophical treatises afford proofs of the latter. 
 
 In his character, as he himself confessed, he was by 
 nature a man of strong passions, but by long exercise in 
 Stoical morality he had learnt to keep them under 
 control. A young man, under the impression that 
 Mendelssohn had done him a wrong, came one day to 
 upbraid him, and indulged in one impertinence after 
 another. Mendelssohn stood leaning on a chair, never 
 turned his eye from his visitor, and listened to all his 
 impertinences with the utmost Stoical patience. After 
 the young man had vented all his passion, Mendelssohn 
 went to him and said, " Go ! You see that you fail to 
 reach your object here; you can't make me angry." 
 Still on such occasions Mendelssohn could not conceal 
 his sorrow at the weakness of human nature. Not infre- 
 quently I was myself overheated in my disputes with him, 
 and violated the respect due to such a man, a fact on 
 which I still reflect with remorse. 
 
 Mendelssohn possessed deep knowledge of human 
 nature, a knowledge which consists not so much in 
 seizing some unconnected features of a character, and 
 representing them in theatrical fashion, as in discovering 
 those essential features of a character, from which all the 
 others may be explained, and in some measure predicted. 
 He was able to describe accurately all the springs of 
 action and the entire moral wheelwork of a man, and 
 understood thoroughly the mechanism of the soul. This
 
 224 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 gave a character, not only to his intercourse and other 
 dealings with men, but also to his literary labours. 
 
 Mendelssohn understood the useful and agreeable art 
 of throwing himself into another person's mode of 
 thought. He could thus supply whatever was deficient, 
 and fill up the gaps in the thoughts of another. Jews 
 newly arrived from Poland, whose thoughts are for the 
 most part confused, and whose language is an unin- 
 telligible jargon, Mendelssohn could understand perfectly. 
 In his conversations with them he adopted their 
 expressions and forms of speech, sought to bring down 
 his mode of thinking to theirs, and thus to raise theirs to 
 his own. 
 
 He understood also the art of finding out the good 
 side of every man and of every event. Not infrequently, 
 therefore, he found entertainment in people whose 
 intercourse, owing to the eccentric use of their powers, 
 is by others avoided ; and only downright stupidity and 
 dullness were offensive to him, though they were so in 
 the highest degree. I was once an eye-witness of the 
 manner in which he entertained himself with a man ot 
 the most eccentric style of thinking and the most extra- 
 vagant behaviour. I lost all patience on the occasion, 
 and after the man was gone I asked Mendelssohn in 
 wonder, " How could you have anything to do with this 
 fellow?" "We examine attentively," he said, "a 
 machine whose construction is unknown to us, and we 
 seek to make intelligible its mode of working. Should
 
 An Autobiography. 225 
 
 not this man claim a like attention ? should we not seek 
 in the same way to render intelligible his odd utterances, 
 since he certainly has his springs of action and his 
 wheel-work as well as any machine ? " 
 
 In discussion with a reasoner who held stubbornly to 
 a system once adopted Mendelssohn was stubborn him- 
 self, and took advantage of the slightest inaccuracy in 
 his opponent's way of thinking. On the other hand, 
 with a more accommodating thinker he was accommo- 
 dating also, and used commonly to close the discussion 
 with the words, "We must hold fast, not to mere words, 
 but to the things they signify." 
 
 Nothing was so offensive to him as an esprit de 
 bagatelle or affectation ; with anything of this sort he 
 
 could not conceal his displeasure. H once invited 
 
 a party, in which Mendelssohn was the principal guest, 
 and he entertained them the whole time with talk about 
 some hobby of his, which was not exactly of the choicest 
 kind. Mendelssohn showed his displeasure by never 
 deigning to give the slightest attention to the worthless 
 
 creature. Madam was a lady who affected an 
 
 excess of sensibility, and as is customary with such 
 characters, used to reproach herself in order to extort 
 praise from others. Mendelssohn sought to bring her to 
 reason by showing her impressively how exceptionable 
 her conduct was and how she ought to think seriously 
 about improvement. 
 
 In a disconnected conversation he took little part him-
 
 226 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 self ; he acted rather as observer then, and took pleasure 
 in watching the conduct of the rest of the company. If, 
 on the other hand, the conversation was coherent, he 
 took the warmest interest in it himself, and, by a skilful 
 turn, he could, without interrupting the conversation, 
 give it a useful direction. 
 
 Mendelssohn could never take up his mind with trifles; 
 matters of the greatest moment kept him in restless 
 activity, such as the principles of Morals and of Natural 
 Theology, the immortality of the soul, etc. In all these 
 branches of inquiry, in which humanity is so deeply 
 interested, he has also, as I hold, done as much as can 
 be done on the principles of the Leibnitio-Wolfian philo- 
 sophy. Perfection was the compass which he had con- 
 stantly before his eyes, and which directed his course, in 
 all these investigations. His God is the Ideal of the 
 highest perfection, and the idea of the highest perfection 
 lies at the basis of his Ethics. The principle of his 
 ^Esthetics is sensuous perfection. 
 
 My discussion with him on our first acquaintance 
 referred mainly to the following points. I was a faithful 
 adherent of Maimonides before I became acquainted 
 with modern philosophy ; and, as such, I insisted on the 
 negation * of all positive attributes to God, inasmuch as 
 these can be represented by us only as finite. Accord- 
 
 * Here there seems in the original an evident misprint of Vereini- 
 gung for Verneinung. Trans,
 
 An Autobiography. 227 
 
 ingly I proposed the following dilemma : Either God is 
 not the absolutely perfect being, in which case his attri- 
 butes may by us be not only conceived^ but also known, 
 that is, represented as realities belonging to an object ; 
 or He is the absolutely perfect being, and then the idea 
 of God is conceived by us, but its reality is merely 
 assumed as problematic. Mendelssohn, on the other 
 hand, insisted on the affirmation, with regard to God, of 
 all realities, a position which goes very well with the 
 Leibnitio-Wolfian philosophy, because it requires, in order 
 to prove the reality of an idea, nothing more than that it 
 is thinkable, that is, fulfils the law of Non-Contradic- 
 tion. 
 
 My moral theory was then genuine Stoicism. It aimed 
 at the attainment of free will and the ascendency of 
 reason over the feelings and passions. It made the 
 highest destination of man to be the maintenance of his 
 differentia specifica, the knowledge of the truth ; and all 
 other impulses, common to us with the irrational animals, 
 were to be put in operation merely as means to this chief 
 end. The knowledge of the good was not distinguished 
 by me from the knowledge of the true ; for, following 
 Maimonides, I held the knowledge of the truth to be the 
 highest good of man. Mendelssohn, on the other hand, 
 maintained that the idea of perfection, which lies at the 
 basis of Ethics, is of much wider extent than the mere 
 knowledge of the truth. All natural impulses, capacities 
 and powers, as something good in themselves (not merely
 
 228 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 as means to something good), were to be brought into 
 exercise as realities. The highest perfection was the idea 
 of the maximum, or the greatest sum, of these realities. 
 
 The immortality of the soul, for me, following 
 Maimonides, consisted in the union with the Universal 
 Spirit of that part of the faculty of knowledge which has 
 been brought into exercise, in proportion to the degree 
 of that exercise ; and in accordance with this doctrine I 
 held those only to be partakers of this immortality, who 
 occupy themselves with the knowledge of eternal truths, 
 and in the degree in which they do so. The soul, there- 
 fore, must, with the attainment of this high immortality, 
 lose its individuality. That Mendelssohn, in accordance 
 with modern philosophy, thought differently on this sub- 
 ject, every one will readily believe. 
 
 His sentiments in reference to revealed or positive 
 religion I can give here, not as something made known 
 to me by himself, but merely in so far as I have been 
 able to infer them from his utterances on the subject in 
 his writings with the assistance of my own reflections. 
 For at that time, as an incipient freethinker, I explained 
 all revealed religion as in itself false, and its use, so far 
 as the writings of Mendelssohn had enabled me to 
 understand it, as merely temporary. Moreover, being a 
 man without experience, I thought it an easy matter to 
 convince others in opposition to their firmly rooted 
 habits and long-cherished prejudices, while I assumed 
 the usefulness of such a reformation to be undoubted.
 
 An Autobiography. 229 
 
 Mendelssohn therefore was unable to hold any conversa- 
 tion with me on the subject, since he could not but fear 
 lest, as has happened, and happens still, in the case of 
 several others, I should pronounce his arguments in 
 reply to be mere pieces of sophistry, and should attribute 
 motives to him on that account. From his utterances, 
 however, in the preface to his Manasseh ben Israel as well 
 as in his Jerusalem, it is clear that, though he did not 
 consider any revealed doctrines to be eternal truths, yet 
 he accepted revealed laws of religion as such, and that 
 he held the laws of the Jewish religion, as the funda- 
 mental laws of a theocratic constitution, to be immutable 
 as far as circumstances allow. 
 
 So far as I am concerned, I am led to assent entirely 
 to Mendelssohn's reasoning by my own reflections on the 
 fundamental laws of the religion of my fathers. The 
 fundamental laws of the Jewish religion are at the same 
 time the fundamental laws of the Jewish state. They 
 must therefore be obeyed by all who acknowledge them- 
 selves to be members of this state, and who wish to 
 enjoy the rights granted to them under condition of their 
 obedience. But, on the other hand, any man who 
 separates himself from this state, who desires to be 
 considered no longer a member of it, and to renounce 
 all his rights as such, whether he enters another state or 
 betakes himself to solitude, is also in his conscience no 
 longer bound to obey those laws. I assent moreover to 
 Mendelssohn's remark, that a Jew cannot, by simply
 
 230 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 passing over to the Christian religion, free himself from 
 the laws of his own religion, because Jesus of Nazareth 
 observed these laws himself and commanded his 
 followers to observe them. But how, if a Jew wishes to 
 be no longer a member of this theocratic state, and goes 
 over to the heathen religion, or to the philosophical, 
 which is nothing more than pure natural religion ? How, 
 if, merely as a member of a political state, he submits to 
 its laws, and demands from it his rights in return, with- 
 out making any declaration whatever about his religion, 
 since the state is reasonable enough not to require from 
 him a declaration with which it has nothing to do ? I 
 do not believe Mendelssohn would maintain that even in 
 this case a Jew is bound in conscience to observe the 
 laws of his fathers' religion merely because it is the 
 religion of his fathers. As far as is known, Mendelssohn 
 lived in accordance with the laws of his religion. 
 Presumably, therefore, he always regarded himself as still 
 a member of the theocratic state of his fathers, and 
 consequently acted up to his duty in this respect. But 
 any man who abandons this state is acting just as little 
 in violation of his duty. 
 
 On the other hand I consider it wrong in Jews, who 
 from family attachments and interests profess the Jewish 
 religion, to transgress its laws, where, according to their 
 own opinion, these do not stand in the way of those 
 motives. I cannot therefore understand the conduct of 
 Mendelssohn in reference to a Jew of Hamburg who
 
 An Autobiography. 231 
 
 openly transgressed the laws of his religion, and who was 
 on that account excommunicated by the chief rabbi. 
 Mendelssohn wanted to cancel the excommunication on 
 the ground that the church has no rights in civil matters. 
 But how can he then maintain the perpetuity of the 
 Jewish ecclesiastical state ? For what is a state without 
 rights, and wherein consists, according to Mendelssohn, 
 the rights of this ecclesiastical state? "How," says 
 Mendelssohn, (in the preface to Manasseh ben Israel, p. 
 48), " can a state allow one of its useful and respected 
 citizens to suffer misfortune through its laws ? " Surely 
 not, I reply ; but the Hamburg Jew suffers no mis- 
 fortune by virtue of the excommunication. He required 
 only to say or do nothing which legally leads to this 
 result, and he would then have avoided the sentence. 
 For excommunication is merely tantamount to saying : 
 " So long as you put yourself in opposition to the laws 
 of our communion, you are excluded from it ; and you 
 must therefore make up your mind whether this open 
 disobedience or the privileges of our communion can 
 most advance your blessedness." This surely cannot 
 have escaped a mind like Mendelssohn's, and I leave it 
 to others to decide how far a man may be inconsistent 
 for the sake of human welfare. 
 
 Mendelssohn had to endure many an injustice at the 
 hands of otherwise estimable men, from whom such 
 treatment might least have been expected. Lavater's 
 officiousness is well enough known, and disapproved by
 
 232 Solomon Maitnon: 
 
 all right-thinking men.* The profound Jacobi had a 
 predilection for Spinozism, with which surely no inde- 
 pendent thinker can find fault, and wanted to make out 
 Mendelssohn, as well as his friend Lessing, to be 
 Spinozists, in spite of themselves. With this view he 
 published a correspondence on the subject, which was 
 never intended to appear in print, and be subjected to 
 public inspection. What was the use of this ? If 
 Spinozism is true, it is so without Mendelssohn's assent. 
 Eternal truths have nothing to do with the majority of 
 votes, and least of all where, as I hold, the truth is of 
 such a nature, that it leaves all expression behind. 
 
 Such an injustice must have given Mendelssohn much 
 annoyance. A celebrated physician maintained even, 
 
 * The incident referred to was the following. Lavater had 
 translated into German a work, which had a great reputation in its 
 day, by the eminent Swiss scientific writer, Bonnet, on the evidences 
 of Christianity. Out of respect for Mendelssohn, Lavater dedicated 
 the translation to him, requiring him, however, either to refute the 
 work, or to do " what policy, love of truth, and probity demand, 
 what Socrates would doubtless have done, had he read the work, 
 and found it unanswerable." Mendelssohn was thus placed in an 
 awkward dilemma. He could not well let the challenge pass un- 
 acknowledged ; and yet, owing to the disabilities under which the 
 Jews laboured all over the world, he would have seriously imperilled 
 their interests by appearing even to impugn the evidences of 
 Christianity. He had, moreover, resolved never to enter into 
 religious controversy. Under the circumstances his reply was 
 masterly as it was dignified and candid. Lavater saw his mistake ; 
 and it is but due to him to say, that he publicly apologised for it in 
 the fullest and frankest manner. Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 233 
 
 that it caused his death ; but, though I am not a 
 physician, I venture to gainsay the assertion. Mendels- 
 sohn's conduct in relation to Jacobi, as well as to Lavater, 
 was that of a hero. No, no ! this hero died in the fifth 
 act. 
 
 The acute preacher, Jacob, in Halle published, after 
 Mendelssohn's death, a book entitled, Examination of 
 Mendelssohn's Morgenstunden, in which he shows that, 
 according to the Critique of Pure Reason, all meta- 
 physical doctrines are to be rejected as baseless. But 
 why does this concern Mendelssohn more than any other 
 metaphysician ? Mendelssohn did nothing but develop 
 to greater completeness the Leibnitio-Wolfian philosophy, 
 apply it to many important subjects of human inquiry, 
 and clothe it in an attractive garb. It is just as if any one 
 were to attack Maimonides, who has written an excellent 
 astronomical treatise on Ptolemaic principles, by writing 
 a book with the title, Examination of the Hilchoth 
 Kidush Hakodesh of Maimonides, in which he should 
 seek to refute his author on Newtonian principles ! But 
 enough of this.
 
 234 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 My aversion at first for belles lettres, and my subsequent conversion 
 Departure from Berlin Sojourn in Hamburg I drown 
 myself in the same way as a bad actor shoots himself An old 
 fool of a woman falls in love with me, but her addresses are 
 rejected. 
 
 FOR belles lettres I discovered not the slightest inclina- 
 tion ; I could not even conceive how any man was 
 to form a science of what pleases or displeases a matter 
 which, according to my opinion at the time, could have 
 merely a subjective ground. One day when I was 
 taking a walk with Mendelssohn, our conversation fell 
 upon the subject of the poets, whom he recommended 
 me to read. " No," I replied, " I am going to read 
 none of the poets. What is a poet but a liar?" 
 Mendelssohn smiled at this and said, " You agree in this 
 with Plato, who banished all poets from his Republic. 
 But I hope that with time you will think differently on 
 the subject. And so it happened soon. 
 
 Longinus' On the Sublime fell into my hand. The 
 examples of the sublime which he adduces from Homer, 
 and particularly the celebrated passage of Sappho, made 
 a deep impression on my mind. I thought to myself, 
 these are but foolish trifles, it is true, but the imagery
 
 An Autobiography. 235 
 
 and descriptions are really very beautiful. After that I 
 read Homer himself, and was forced to laugh heartily at 
 the foolish fellow. What a serious air, I said to myself, 
 over such childless stories ! By and by, however, I 
 found a great deal of pleasure in the reading. Ossian, 
 on the other hand, whom I got to read afterwards (of 
 course only in German translations) produced on me a 
 peculiarly awe-inspiring effect. The pomp of his style, 
 the impressive brevity of his descriptions, the purity of 
 his sentiments, the simplicity of the objects described 
 by him, and lastly, the similarity of his poetry to that of 
 the Hebrews, charmed me uncommonly. Thus I found 
 also a great deal of gratification in Gessner's Idylls. 
 
 My friend, the Pole of whom I spoke in the preceding 
 chapter, who occupied himself mainly with belles lettres, 
 was greatly delighted at my conversion. I used to dis- 
 pute with him the utility of these studies ; and once, 
 when he was reading to me as a model of vigour in ex- 
 pression a passage of the Psalms, in which King David 
 shows himself a master in cursing, I interrupted him 
 with the words, " What sort of an art is this ? Why, my 
 mother-in-law God bless her ! when she was squab- 
 bling with a neighbour woman, used to curse much more 
 wildly than that ! " 
 
 Now, however, he had his triumph over me. Men- 
 delssohn also and my other friends were uncommonly 
 pleased at this change. They wished me to devote my- 
 self regularly to the humaniora, as without these a man
 
 236 Solomon Maimon; 
 
 can scarcely make his own intellectual productions useful 
 to the world. It was very difficult, however, to convince 
 me of this. I was always in haste to enjoy the present, 
 without thinking that, by due preparation, I could make 
 this enjoyment greater and more lasting. 
 
 I now found gratification, not only in the study of the 
 sciences, but generally in everything good and beautiful, 
 with which I became acquainted ; and I carried this out 
 with an enthusiasm which passed all limits. The hither- 
 to suppressed inclination to the pleasures of sense also 
 asserted its claims. The first occasion of this was the 
 following. For many years some men, who were occu- 
 pied in various kinds of teaching, had insinuated them- 
 selves into the most prominent and wealthy families of 
 the Jewish nation. They devoted themselves especially 
 to the French language (which was then regarded as the 
 highest point of enlightenment), to geography, arithmetic, 
 bookkeeping, and similar studies. They had also made 
 themselves familiar with some phrases and imperfectly 
 understood results of the more profound sciences and 
 philosophical systems, while their intercourse with the 
 fair sex was marked by studious gallantry. As a result 
 of all this, they were great favourites in the families 
 where they visited, and were regarded as clever fellows. 
 Now, they began to observe that my reputation was al- 
 ways on the increase, and that the respect for my attain- 
 ments and talents went so far, that they were being 
 thrown wholly into the shade. Accordingly they thought
 
 An Autobiography. 237 
 
 of a stratagem, by which they might be able to ward off 
 the threatened evil. 
 
 They resolved to draw me into their company, to show 
 me every demonstration of friendship, and to render me 
 every possible service. By this means they hoped, in the 
 first place, as a result of our intercourse, to win for them- 
 selves some of the respect which was shown to me, and, 
 in the second place, to obtain, from my frank and com- 
 municative spirit, some additional knowledge of those 
 sciences which as yet they knew only in name. But, in 
 the third place, as they knew my enthusiasm for every- 
 thing which I once recognised as good, they expected to 
 intoxicate me with the allurements of sensual pleasure, 
 and to cool in some measure my ardour in the study of 
 science, which would at the same time alienate my 
 friends, my intimacy with whom made them so jealous. 
 
 Accordingly they invited me into their society, testified 
 their friendship and esteem for me, and begged the 
 honour of my company. Suspecting no harm, I received 
 their advances with pleasure, especially as I reflected 
 that Mendelssohn and my other friends were too grand 
 for everyday intercourse with me. It became therefore 
 a very desirable object with me, to find some friends of 
 a middle class, with whom I could associate sans fafon, 
 and enjoy the charms of familiarity. My new friends 
 took me into gay society, to taverns, on pleasure excur- 
 sions, at last also to ; * and all this at their own 
 
 * This " hiatus haud valde deflendus " is in the original. Trans,
 
 238 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 expense. I, on my side, in my happy humour, 
 opened up to them in return all the mysteries of 
 philosophy, explained to them in detail all the peculiar 
 systems, and corrected their ideas on various subjects of 
 human knowledge. But as things of this sort cannot be 
 poured into a man's head, and as these gentlemen had 
 no special capacity for them, of course they were not 
 able to make any great progress by this kind of instruc- 
 tion. When I observed this, I began to express some 
 sort of contempt for them, and made no attempt to 
 conceal the fact, that it was mainly the roast and the 
 wine that gave me pleasure in their company. This did 
 not please them particularly ; and as they were unable to 
 reach their object with me completely, they tried to 
 reach it at least in part. They told tales to my grand 
 friends behind my back about the most trifling incidents 
 and expressions. For instance, they asserted that I 
 charged Mendelssohn with being a philosophical hypo- 
 crite, that I declared others to be endowed with but 
 shallow pates, that I was seeking to spread dangerous 
 systems, and that I was wholly abandoned to Epi- 
 cureanism. (As if they were genuine Stoics !) They even 
 began at last openly to manifest their enmity. 
 
 All this of course had its effect ; and to add to the 
 impression, my friends observed that in my studies I 
 followed no fixed plan, but merely my inclination. Ac- 
 cordingly they proposed to me that I should study 
 medicine, but could not induce me to do it. I observed
 
 An Autobiography. 239 
 
 that the theory of medicine contains many departments 
 as auxiliary sciences, each of which requires a specialist 
 for its thorough mastery, while the practice of medicine 
 implies a peculiar genius and faculty of judgment, that 
 are seldom to be met with. I observed at the same time, 
 that the most of physicians take advantage of the ignor- 
 ance of the public. In accordance with established 
 usage they spend some years at the universities, where 
 they have an opportunity indeed of attending all the 
 lectures, but in point of fact attend very few. At the 
 close of their course, by means of money and fair words, 
 they get a dissertation written for them ; and thus, after 
 a very simple fashion, become medical practitioners. 
 
 As already mentioned, I had a great liking for paint- 
 ing ; but I was advised against this, because I was already 
 well advanced in years, and consequently might not have 
 sufficient patience for the minute exercises required for 
 this art. At last the proposal was made to me, to learn 
 pharmacy ; and as I had already obtained some acquain- 
 tance with physics as well as chemistry, I consented. 
 My object in this, however, was not to make any 
 practical use of my attainments, but merely to acquire 
 theoretical knowledge. Accordingly, instead of setting 
 to with my own hands, and thereby acquiring expertness 
 in this art, at important chemical processes I played the 
 part of a mere spectator. In this way I learnt pharmacy, 
 yet without being in the position of becoming an apothe- 
 cary. After the lapse of a three years' apprenticeship,
 
 240 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 Madame Rosen, in whose shop I was apprenticed, was 
 duly paid by H. J. D. the promised fee of sixty thalers. 
 I received a certificate, that I had perfectly mastered the 
 art of pharmacy ; and this ended the whole matter. 
 
 This, however, contributed not a little to alienate my 
 friends. At last Mendelssohn asked me to come and 
 see him, when he informed me of this alienation, and 
 pointed out to me its causes. They complained, (i) 
 that I had not made up my mind to any plan of life, and 
 had thereby rendered fruitless all their exertions in my 
 behalf; (2) that I was trying to spread dangerous 
 opinions and systems; and (3) that, according to general 
 rumour, I was leading a rather loose life, and was very 
 much addicted to sensual pleasures. 
 
 The first of these complaints I endeavoured to answer 
 by referring to the fact, which I had mentioned to my 
 friends at the very first, that, in consequence of my pe- 
 culiar training, I was indisposed for any kind of business, 
 and adapted merely for a quiet speculative life, by which 
 I could not only satisfy my natural inclination, but also, 
 by teaching and similar means, provide for my support 
 in a certain fashion. " As to the second point," I pro- 
 ceeded, " the opinions and systems referred to are either 
 true or false. If the former, then I do not see how the 
 knowledge of the truth can do any harm. If the latter, 
 then let them be refuted. Moreover, I have explained 
 these opinions and systems only to gentlemen who desire 
 to be enlightened, and to rise above all prejudices. But
 
 An Autobiography. 241 
 
 the truth is, that it is not the mischievous nature of the 
 opinions, it is the incapacity of those gentlemen to com- 
 prehend them, coupled with their reluctance to make 
 such a humiliating confession, that sets them in arms 
 against me. In reference to the third reproach, however, 
 I must say with downright honesty, Herr Mendelssohn, 
 we are all Epicureans. The moralists can prescribe to 
 us merely rules of prudence ; that is to say, they can 
 prescribe the use of means for the attainment of given 
 ends, but not the ends themselves. But," I added, " I 
 see clearly that I must quit Berlin ; whither, is a matter 
 of indifference." With this I bade Mendelssohn fare- 
 well. He gave me a very favourable testimonial of my 
 capabilities and talents, and wished me a prosperous 
 journey. 
 
 To my other friends also I bade farewell, and in briet 
 but emphatic terms thanked them for the favours they 
 had shown. One of my friends was taken aback, when 
 I bade him goodbye, at my using the brief form, "I hope 
 you will enjoy good health, my dear friend ; and I thank 
 you for all the favours you have bestowed upon me." It 
 seemed to this excellent, but prosaically poetical man, as 
 if the form were too curt and dry for all his friendliness 
 towards me. So he replied with evident displeasure, "Is 
 this all that you have learnt in Berlin ? " I made no 
 answer, however, but went away, booked by the Ham- 
 burg post, and departed from Berlin.
 
 242 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 On leaving I received from Samuel Levi* a letter of 
 introduction to one of his correspondents. When I 
 arrived in Hamburg, I went to the merchant to whom 
 this letter was addressed, and delivered it. He received 
 me well, and invited me to his table during my stay in 
 the city. But as he knew nothing except how to make 
 money, and took no particular interest in scholarship or 
 science, he evidently entertained me merely on account 
 of my letter of introduction, because he had to do some- 
 thing to gratify his correspondent. As I knew nothing 
 of trade, however, and besides made no very presentable 
 figure, he endeavoured to get rid of me as soon as 
 possible, and with a view to that asked me where I 
 meant to go when I left Hamburg. When I replied 
 that I was going to Holland, he gave me the well-meant 
 advice to hasten my departure, as this was the best 
 season of the year for travelling. 
 
 Accordingly I took out a passage on a Hamburg 
 vessel that was to sail for Holland in two or three weeks. 
 For travelling companions I had two barbers, a tailor, 
 and a shoemaker. These fellows made themselves 
 merry, caroused bravely, and sang all sorts of songs. In 
 this joviality I could not take a part ; in fact they scarcely 
 understood my language, and teased me on that account 
 in a thousand ways, though I bore it all with patience. 
 The vessel glided pleasantly down the Elbe to a village 
 
 * This name is taken from Afaimoniana, Tram,
 
 An Autobiography. 243 
 
 at the mouth of the river some miles below Hamburg. 
 Here we were obliged to lie about six weeks, prevented 
 by contrary winds from putting out to sea. The ship's 
 crew, along with the other passengers, went to the village 
 tavern, wherf they drank and played. For me, however, 
 the time became very dreary, and I was besides so sick, 
 that I nearly despaired of my recovery. 
 
 At last we got a favourable wind, the vessel stood out 
 to sea, and on the third day after our departure we 
 arrived before Amsterdam. A boat came out to the ship 
 to take the passengers into the city. At first I would not 
 trust myself to the Dutch boatman, because I was afraid 
 of falling into the hands of the crimps, against whom I 
 had been warned in Hamburg ; but the captain of our 
 ship assured me that he knew the boatman well, and that 
 I might trust myself to him without any anxiety. Accord- 
 ingly I came into the city ; but as I had no acquaintances 
 here, and as I knew that at the Hague there was a 
 gentleman belonging to a prominent Berlin family, and 
 that he had obtained from Berlin a tutor with whom I 
 was acquainted, I set out for that place in a drag-boat. 
 
 Here I took lodgings at the house of a poor Jewish 
 woman , but before I had time to rest from my journey, 
 a man of tall, spare figure, in untidy clothing, and with 
 a pipe in his mouth, came in, and, without observing 
 me, commenced to speak with my landlady. At last she 
 
 said to him, " Herr H , here is a stranger from 
 
 Berlin; pray, speak to him." The man thereupon
 
 244 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 turned to me, and asked me who I was. With my usual 
 instinctive frankness and love of truth, I told him that I 
 was born in Poland, that my love of the sciences had 
 induced me to spend some years in Berlin, and that now 
 I had come to Holland with the intention of entering 
 some situation, if an opportunity offered itself. When 
 he heard that I was a man of learning, he began to 
 speak with me on various subjects in philosophy, and 
 especially in mathematics, in which he had done a good 
 deal. He found in me a man after his own heart, and 
 we formed at once a bond of friendship with one another. 
 I now went to seek the tutor from Berlin, to whom I 
 referred before. He introduced me to his employer as 
 a man of high talent, who had made a great figure in 
 Berlin, and had brought letters of introduction from that 
 city. This gentleman, who made much of his tutor, as 
 well as of everything that came from Berlin, invited me 
 to dinner. As my external appearance did not appear 
 to promise much, and I was besides thoroughly exhausted 
 and depressed by my sea-voyage, I made a comical figure 
 at table, and our host evidently did not know what to 
 think of me. But as he put great confidence in the 
 written recommendation of Mendelssohn and the oral 
 recommendation of his tutor, he suppressed his astonish- 
 ment, and invited me to his table as long as I chose to 
 remain here. In the evening he invited his brothers-in- 
 law to meet me. They were children of B , cele- 
 brated for his wealth as well as his beneficence ; and as
 
 An Autobiography. 245 
 
 they were men of learning themselves, they were expected 
 to sound me. They conversed with me on various sub- 
 jects in the Talmud, and even in the Cabbalah. As I 
 showed myself thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of 
 this sort of learning, even explained to them passages 
 which they regarded as inexplicable, and untied the most 
 complicated knots of argument, their admiration was ex- 
 cited, and they believed they had come upon a great 
 man. 
 
 It was not long, however, before their admiration 
 turned to hatred. The occasion of this was the follow- 
 ing. In connection with the Cabbalah they told me of 
 a godly man, who had now for many years been a resident 
 of London, and who was able to perform miracles by 
 means of the Cabbalah. I expressed some doubts on 
 the subject, but they assured me they had been present 
 at performances of the kind during this man's residence 
 at the Hague. To this I replied as a philosopher, that 
 I did not indeed question the truth of their statement, 
 but that perhaps they had not duly investigated the mat- 
 ter themselves, and gave out their pre-conceived opinions 
 as facts. Moreover, I declared that I must regard with 
 scepticism the effect of the Cabbalah in general, until it 
 is shown that that effect is of such a kind as cannot be 
 explained in accordance with the known laws of Nature. 
 This declaration they held to be heresy. 
 
 At the end of the meal the wine-cup was passed to 
 me, that I might, in accordance with the usual custom,
 
 246 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 pronounce the blessing over it. This however I declined 
 with the explanation, that I did so not from any false 
 shame of speaking before a number of men, because in 
 Poland I had been a rabbi, and had very often held dis- 
 putations and delivered sermons before large assemblies, 
 and, in order to prove this, was now willing to deliver 
 public lectures every day. It was merely, I explained 
 further, the love of truth and the reluctance to do any- 
 thing inconsistent, that made it impossible for me, with- 
 out manifest aversion, to say prayers which I regarded as 
 a result of an anthropomorphic system of theology. 
 
 At this their patience was completely exhausted ; they 
 reviled me as a damnable heretic, and declared it would 
 be a deadly sin to tolerate me in a Jewish house. Our 
 host, who was no philosopher indeed, but a reasonable 
 and enlightened man, did not mind much what they 
 said ; my humble talents were of more value in his eyes 
 than my piety. Accordingly they broke up immediately 
 after dinner, and left the house in deep displeasure ; but 
 all their subsequent efforts to drive me from their 
 brother-in-law's house were fruitless. I remained in it 
 about nine months, lived at perfect freedom, but very re- 
 tired, without any occupation or any rational society. 
 
 Here I cannot pass over in silence an event which 
 was remarkable both in a psychological and in a moral 
 point of view. In Holland I wanted nothing but an 
 occupation suited to my powers, and naturally, therefore, 
 I became hypochondriac. From feelings of satiety, not
 
 An Autobiography. 247 
 
 infrequently I fell upon the idea of making away with 
 myself, and of thus putting an end to an existence which 
 had become a burden to me. But no sooner did I come 
 to action, than the love of life always assumed the upper 
 hand again. Once, at the Feast of Haman, in accord- 
 ance with the custom of the Jews, I had banquetted very 
 heartily in the house where I took my meals. After the 
 feast, about midnight I returned to my lodging ; and as 
 I had to pass along one of the canals that are laid out 
 everywhere in Holland, it occurred to me that this was 
 a very convenient opportunity for carrying out the design 
 which I had often formed. I thought to myself, " My 
 life is a burden. At present, indeed, I have no wants ; 
 but how will it be with me in the future, and by what 
 means shall I preserve my life, since I am of no use for 
 anything in the world? I have already resolved, on 
 cool reflection at different times, to put an end to my 
 life, and nothing but my cowardice has restrained me 
 hitherto. Now, when I am pretty drunk, on the brink 
 of a deep canal, the thing may be done in a moment 
 without any difficulty." Already I had bent my body 
 over the canal, in order to plunge in; but only the upper 
 part of the body obeyed the command of the mind, 
 trusting that the lower part would certainly refuse 
 its services for such a purpose. So I stood for a 
 good while with half the body bent over the water, 
 and propped myself carefully with my legs firmly 
 planted on the ground, so that a spectator might
 
 248 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 have fancied I was merely making my bow to the 
 water. This hesitation destroyed my whole plan. I 
 felt like a man who is going to take medicine, but, want- 
 ing the resolution required, raises the cup time after time 
 to his mouth, and sets it down again. I began at last to 
 laugh at myself, as I reflected that my sole motive for 
 suicide was a real superfluity for the present and an 
 imaginary want for the future.* I therefore let the 
 project drop for the time being, went home, and thus 
 brought the serio-comic scene to an end. 
 
 Still another comical scene must be mentioned here. 
 At the Hague there lived at that time a woman of about 
 forty-five, who was said to have been very pretty in youth, 
 and supported herself by giving lessons in French. One 
 day she called upon me at my lodging, introduced her- 
 self, and expressed an irresistible desire for scientific 
 conversation. She declared therefore that she would 
 
 * The love of life, that is, the instinct of self-preservation, seems 
 rather to increase than to decrease with the diminution or un- 
 certainty of the means of living, inasmuch as man is thereby spurred 
 to greater activity, which developes a stronger consciousness of life. 
 Only this want must not have reached its maximum ; for the neces- 
 sary result of that is despair, that is a conviction of the impossibility 
 of preserving life, and consequently a desire to put an end to it. 
 Thus every passion, and therefore also the love of life, is increased 
 by the obstacles which come in the way of its gratification : only 
 these obstacles must not make the gratification of the passions im- 
 possible, else despair is the result.
 
 An Autobiography. 249 
 
 visit me frequently in my lodging, and requested the 
 honour of a visit from me in return. 
 
 This advance I met with great pleasure, returned her 
 visits several times ; and thus our intercourse became 
 more and more intimate. We conversed usually on 
 subjects in philosophy and belles lettres. As I was still 
 at that time a married man, and, except for her 
 enthusiasm in learning, Madam had little attraction for 
 me, I thought of nothing beyond mere entertainment. 
 The lady, however, who had been a widow now for a 
 pretty long while, and had, according to her own story, 
 conceived an affection for me, began to express this by 
 looks and words in a romantic manner, which struck me 
 as very comical. I could never believe, that a lady could 
 fall in love with me in earnest. Her expressions of affec- 
 tion therefore I took for mere airs of affectation. She, 
 on the other hand, showed herself more and more in 
 earnest, became at times thoughtful in the midst of our 
 conversation, and burst into tears. 
 
 It was during a conversation of this sort, that we fell 
 upon the subject of love. I told her frankly, that I could 
 not love a woman except for the sake of womanly excel- 
 lences, such as beauty, grace, agreeableness, etc., and 
 that any other excellences she might possess, such as 
 talents or learning, could excite in me only esteem, but 
 by no means love. The lady adduced against me argu- 
 ments a priori as well as instances from experience, 
 especially from French novels, and tried to correct my
 
 250 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 notions of love. I could not, however, be so easily con- 
 vinced ; and as the lady was carrying her airs to an 
 absurd length, I rose and took my leave. She accom- 
 panied me to the very door, grasped me by the hand, 
 and would not let me go. I asked her somewhat sharply, 
 " What's the matter with you, madam ?" With trembling 
 voice and tearful eyes she replied, " I love you." 
 
 When I heard this laconic declaration of love, I began 
 to laugh immoderately, tore myself from her grasp, and 
 rushed away. Some time afterwards she sent me the 
 following billet doux : 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 I have been greatly mistaken in your character. 
 I took you for a man of noble thoughts and exalted feel- 
 ings ; but I see now that you are a genuine Epicurean. 
 You seek nothing but pleasure. A woman can please 
 you only on account of her beauty. A Madame Dacier, 
 for example, who has studied thoroughly all the Greek 
 and Latin authors, translated them into her native 
 language, and enriched them with learned annotations, 
 could not please you. Why ? Because she is not 
 pretty. Sir, you, who are otherwise so enlightened, 
 ought to be ashamed to cherish such pernicious prin- 
 ciples ; and if you will not repent, then tremble before 
 the revenge of the injured love of 
 
 Yours, etc." 
 
 To this I returned the following reply :
 
 An Autobiography. 251 
 
 " Madam, 
 
 That you have been mistaken, is shown 
 by the result. You say that I am a genuine Epicurean. 
 In this you do me a great honour. Much as I abhor the 
 title of an epicure, on the other hand I feel proud of the 
 title of genuine Epicurean. Certainly it is beauty alone 
 that pleases me in a woman ; but as this can be height- 
 ened by other qualities, these must also be pleasing as 
 means towards the chief end. On the other hand, I can 
 merely esteem such a woman on account of her talents ; 
 love her I cannot, as I have already explained in conver- 
 sation. For the learning of Madame Dacier I have all 
 respect : she could at all events fall in love with the 
 Greek heroes who were at the siege of Troy, and expect 
 in return the love of their manes that were constantly 
 hovering around her ; but nothing more. For the rest, 
 Madam, as far as your revenge is concerned, I do not 
 fear it, since Time, which destroys all things, has shat- 
 tered your weapons, that is, your teeth and nails. 
 
 Yours, etc." 
 
 Thus ended this strange love-affair. 
 
 I discovered that in Holland there was nothing for me 
 to do, inasmuch as the main desire of the Dutch Jews is 
 to make money, and they manifest no particular liking 
 for the sciences. Besides, in consequence of not know- 
 ing the Dutch language, I was unable to give instructions 
 in any science. I determined therefore to return to
 
 252 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 Berlin by Hamburg, but found an opportunity of travel- 
 ling to Hanover by land. In Hanover I went to a 
 wealthy Jew, a man who does not deserve even to 
 enjoy his riches, showed him my letter of introduction 
 from Mendelssohn, and represented to him the urgency 
 of my present circumstances. He read Mendelssohn's 
 letter carefully through, called for pen and ink, and, 
 without speaking a word to me, wrote at the foot : " I 
 also hereby certify that what Herr Mendelssohn writes 
 in praise of Herr Solomon is perfectly correct." And 
 with this he dismissed me.
 
 An Autobiography. 253 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 I return to Hamburg A Lutheran Pastor pronounces me to be a 
 scabby Sheep, and unworthy of Admission into the Christian 
 Fold I enter the Gymnasium, and frighten the Chief Rabbi 
 out of his Wits. 
 
 I MADE a prosperous journey back to Hamburg, but here 
 I fell into circumstances of the deepest distress. I lodged 
 in a miserable house, had nothing to eat, and did not 
 know what to do. I had received too much education 
 to return to Poland, to spend my life in misery without 
 rational occupation or society, and to sink back into the 
 darkness of superstition and ignorance, from which I had 
 hardly delivered myself with so much labour. On the 
 other hand, to succeed in Germany was a result on which 
 I could not calculate, owing to my ignorance of the 
 language, as well as of the manners and customs of the 
 people, to which I had never yet been able to adapt my- 
 self properly. I had learnt no particular profession, I 
 had not distinguished myself in any special science, I 
 was not even master of any language in which I could 
 make myself perfectly intelligible. It occurred to me, 
 therefore, that for me there was no alternative left, but 
 to embrace the Christian religion, and get myself baptised
 
 254 Solomon Maim on: 
 
 in Hamburg. Accordingly I resolved to go to the first 
 clergyman I should come upon, and inform him of my 
 resolution, as well as of my motives for it, without any 
 hypocrisy, in a truthful and honest fashion. But as I 
 could not express myself well orally, I put my thoughts 
 into writing in German with Hebrew characters, went to 
 a schoolmaster, and got him to copy it in German 
 characters, The purport of my letter was in brief as 
 follows : 
 
 " I am a native of Poland, belonging to the Jewish 
 nation, destined by my education and studies to be a 
 rabbi ; but in the thickest darkness I have perceived 
 some light. This induced me to search further after 
 light and truth, and to free myself completely from the 
 darkness of superstition and ignorance. In order to this 
 end, which could not be attained in my native place, I 
 came to Berlin, where by the support of some enlightened 
 men of our nation I studied for some years not indeed 
 after any plan, but merely to satisfy my thirst for know- 
 ledge. But as our nation is unable to use, not only such 
 planless studies, but even those conducted on the most 
 perfect plan, it cannot be blamed for becoming tired of 
 them, and pronouncing their encouragement to be use- 
 less. I have therefore resolved, in order to secure tem- 
 poral as well as eternal happiness, which depends on the 
 attainment of perfection, and in order to become useful 
 to myself as well as others, to embrace the Christian re- 
 ligion. The Jewish religion, it is true, comes, in its ar-
 
 An Autobiography. 255 
 
 tides of faith, nearer to reason than Christianity. But 
 in practical use the latter has an advantage over the for- 
 mer ; and since morality, which consists not in opinions 
 but in actions, is the aim of all religion in general, clearly 
 the latter comes nearer than the former to this aim. 
 Moreover, I hold the mysteries of the Christian religion 
 for that which they are, that is, allegorical representations 
 of the truths that are most important for man. By this 
 means I make my faith in them harmonise with reason, 
 but I cannot believe them according to their common 
 meaning. I beg therefore most respectfully an answer 
 to the question, whether after this confession I am 
 worthy of the Christian religion or not. In the former 
 case I am ready to carry my proposal into effect ; but in 
 the latter, I must give up all claim to a religion which 
 enjoins me to lie, that is, to deliver a confession of faith 
 which contradicts my reason." 
 
 The schoolmaster, to whom I dictated this, fell into 
 astonishment at my audacity ; never before had he 
 listened to such a confession of faith. He shook his 
 head with much concern, interrupted the writing several 
 times, and became doubtful, whether the mere copying 
 was not itself a sin. With great reluctance he copied it 
 out, merely to get rid of the thing. I went then to a 
 prominent clergyman, delivered my letter, and begged 
 for a reply. He read it with great attention, fell likewise 
 into astonishment, and on finishing entered into conver- 
 sation with me.
 
 256 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 " So," he said, " I see your intention is to embrace 
 the Christian religion, merely in order to improve your 
 temporal circumstances." 
 
 " Excuse me, Herr Pastor," I replied, " I think I have 
 made it clear enough in my letter, that my object is the 
 attainment of perfection. To this, it is true, the removal 
 of all hindrances and the improvement of my external 
 circumstances form an indispensable condition. But this 
 condition is not the chief end." 
 
 "But," said the pastor, "do you not feel any inclina- 
 tion of the soul to the Christian religion without reference 
 to any external motives ? " 
 
 " I should be telling a lie, if I were to give you an 
 affirmative answer." 
 
 " You are too much of a philosopher," replied the 
 pastor, " to be able to become a Christian. Reason has 
 taken the upper hand with you, and faith must accom- 
 modate itself to reason. You hold the mysteries of the 
 Christian religion to be mere fables, and its commands 
 to be mere laws of reason. For the present I cannot be 
 satisfied with your confession of faith. You should there- 
 fore pray to God, that He may enlighten you with His 
 grace, and endow you with the spirit of true Christianity; 
 and then come to me again." 
 
 " If that is the case," I said, " then I must confess, 
 Herr Pastor, that I am not qualified for Christianity. 
 Whatever light I may receive, I shall always make it 
 luminous with the light of reason. I shall never believe
 
 An Autobiography. 257 
 
 that I have fallen upon new truths, if it is impossible to 
 see their connection with the truths already known to 
 me. I must therefore remain what I am, a stiffnecked 
 Jew. My religion enjoins me to believe nothing, but to 
 think the truth and to practise goodness. If I find any 
 hindrance in this from external circumstances, it is not 
 my fault. I do all that lies in my power." 
 
 With this I bade the pastor goodbye. 
 
 The hardships of my journey, coupled with poor food, 
 brought on an ague. I lay on a straw-bed in a garret, 
 and suffered the want of all conveniences and refresh- 
 ments. My landlord, who took pity on me, called a 
 Jewish physician, who prescribed an emetic which soon 
 cured me of my fever. The doctor found that I was no 
 common man, stayed to converse with me for some 
 hours, and begged me, as soon as I recovered, to visit 
 him. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, a young man, who had known 
 me in Berlin, heard of my arrival. He called on me to 
 
 say that Herr W , who had seen me in Berlin, was 
 
 now residing in Hamburg, and that I might very pro- 
 perly call upon him. I did so, and Herr W , who 
 
 was a very clever, honourable man, of a benevolent dis- 
 position naturally, asked me what I intended to do. I 
 represented to him my whole circumstances, and begged 
 for his advice. He said that in his opinion the un- 
 fortunate position of my affairs arose from the fact, 
 that I had devoted myself with zeal merely to the ac-
 
 258 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 quisition of scientific knowledge, but had neglected the 
 study of language, and therefore I was unable to com- 
 municate my knowledge to others, or make any use of it. 
 Meanwhile, he thought, nothing had been lost by delay ; 
 and if I was still willing to accommodate myself to the 
 circumstances, I could attain my object in the gymnasium 
 at Altona, where his son was studying, while he would 
 provide for my support. 
 
 I accepted this offer with many thanks, and went home 
 
 with a joyful heart. Meanwhile Herr W spoke to 
 
 the professors of the gymnasium, as well as to the prin- 
 cipal, but more particularly to the syndic, Herr G , 
 
 a man who cannot be sufficiently praised. He repre- 
 sented to them, that I was a man of uncommon talents, 
 who wanted merely some further knowledge of language 
 to distinguish himself in the world, and who hoped to 
 obtain that knowledge by a short residence in the gym- 
 nasium. They acceded to his request. I was matricu- 
 lated, and had a room assigned to me, in the institution. 
 
 Here I lived for two years in peace and contentment. 
 But the pupils in such a gymnasium, as may be easily 
 supposed, make very slow progress ; and it was therefore 
 natural that I, who had already made considerable attain- 
 ments in science, should find the lessons at times some- 
 what tedious. Consequently I did not attend them all, 
 but made a selection to suit my taste. The Director 
 Dusch I esteemed very highly on account of his profound 
 scholarship and his excellent character, I therefore at-
 
 An Autobiography. 259 
 
 tended the most of his lectures. It is true, the philoso- 
 phy of Ernesti, on which he lectured, could not give me 
 much satisfaction, and just as little did I receive from 
 his lectures on Segner's Mathematical Compendium. 
 But I derived great benefit from his instructions in the 
 
 English language. The Rector H , a cheerful old 
 
 man, though somewhat pedantic, was not altogether 
 pleased with me, because I would not perform his Latin 
 exercises, and would not learn Greek at all. The Pro- 
 fessor of History began his lectures ab ovo with Adam, 
 and at the end of the year with a great deal of effort 
 reached as far down as the building of the Tower of Ba- 
 bel. The teacher of French used for translation Fenelon's 
 Sur f existence de Dieu, a work for which I conceived 
 the greatest dislike, because the author, while appearing 
 to declaim against Spinozism, in reality argues in its 
 defence. 
 
 During the whole period of my residence in the gym- 
 nasium the professors were unable to form any correct 
 idea of me, because they never had an opportunity of 
 forming my acquaintance. By the end of the first year 
 I thought I had attained my object, and laid a good 
 foundation in languages. I had also become tired of 
 this inactive life, and therefore resolved to quit the gym- 
 nasium. But Director Dusch ; who began by and by to 
 become acquainted with me, begged me to stay at least 
 another year, and, as I wanted for nothing, I consented. 
 
 It was about this time that the following incident in
 
 260 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 my life took place. My wife had sent a polish Jew in 
 search of me, and he heard of my residence in Hamburg. 
 Accordingly he came and called on me at the gymnasium. 
 He had been commissioned by my wife to demand, that 
 I should either return home without delay, or send 
 through him a bill of divorce. At that time I was un- 
 able to do either the one or the other. I was not 
 inclined to be divorced from my wife without any cause ; 
 and to return at once to Poland, where I had not yet the 
 slightest prospect of getting on in the world or of leading 
 a rational life, was to me impossible. I represented all 
 this to the gentleman who had undertaken the com- 
 mission, and added that it was my intention to leave the 
 gymnasium soon and go to Berlin, that my Berlin friends 
 would, as I hoped, give me both their advice and assist- 
 ance in carrying out this intention. He would not be 
 satisfied with this answer, which he took for a mere 
 evasion. When he thus found that he could do nothing 
 with me, he went to the chief rabbi, and entered a 
 complaint against me. A messenger was accordingly 
 sent to summon me before the tribunal of the chief 
 rabbi ; but I took my stand, that at present I was not 
 under his jurisdiction, inasmuch as the gymnasium had 
 a jurisdiction of its own, by which my case would require 
 to be decided. The chief rabbi made every effort 
 through the Government to make me submit to his 
 wishes, but all his efforts were in vain. When he saw 
 that he could not accomplish his purpose in this way, he
 
 An Autobiography. 261 
 
 sent me an invitation a second time on the pretext that 
 he wished merely to speak with me. To this I willingly 
 consented, and went to him at once. 
 
 He received me with much respect ; and when I made 
 known to him my birthplace and family in Poland, he 
 began to lament and wring his hands. " Alas! " said he, 
 " you are the son of the famous Rabbi Joshua ? I know 
 your father well ; he is a pious and learned man. You 
 also are not unknown to me ; I have examined you as a 
 boy several times, and formed high expectations of you. 
 Oh ! is it possible that you have altered so?" (Here he 
 pointed to my shaven beard). To this I replied, that I 
 also had the honour of knowing him, and that I still 
 remembered his examinations well. My conduct hither- 
 to, I told him, was as little opposed to religion properly 
 understood, as it was to reason. " But," he interrupted 
 " you do not wear a beard, you do not go to the syna- 
 gogue : is that not contrary to religion?" "No!" I 
 replied, and I proved to him from the Talmud that, 
 under the circumstances in which I was placed, all this 
 was allowed. On this point we entered into a lengthy 
 dispute, in which each maintained his right. As he 
 could effect nothing with me by such disputation, he 
 adopted the style of mere sermonising ; but when this 
 also was of no avail, he began to cry aloud, " Shophar ! 
 Shophar!" This is the name of the horn which is 
 blown on New- Year's day as a summons to repentance, 
 and at which it is supposed that Satan is horribly afraid.
 
 262 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 While the chief rabbi called out the word, he pointed to 
 a Shophar that lay before him on the table, and asked 
 me, " Do you know what that is ? " I replied quite 
 boldly, " Oh yes ! it is a ram's horn." At these words 
 the chief rabbi fell back upon his chair, and began to 
 lament over my lost soul. I left him to lament as long 
 as he liked, and bade him goodbye. 
 
 At the end of my second year I began to reflect, that 
 it would be an advantage in view of my future success, 
 as well as fair to the gymnasium, that I should make my- 
 self more intimately acquainted with the professors. 
 Accordingly I went to Director Dusch, announced to 
 him that I was soon to leave, and told him that, as I 
 wished a certificate from him, it would be well for him 
 to examine me on the progress I had made, so that his 
 certificate might be as nearly as possible in accordance 
 with the truth. To this end he made me translate some 
 passages from Latin and English works in prose as well 
 as in verse, and was very well pleased with the translation. 
 Afterwards he entered into conversation with me on some 
 subjects in philosophy, but found me so well versed in 
 these, that for his own safety he was obliged to back out. 
 At last he asked me, " But how is it with your mathe- 
 matics ? " I begged him to examine me in this also. 
 " In our mathematical lessons," he began, " we had 
 advanced to somewhere about the subject of mathema- 
 tical bodies. Will you work out yourself a proposition 
 not yet taken up in the lessons, for example, that about
 
 An Autobiography. 263 
 
 the relation of the cylinder, the sphere and the cone to 
 one another ? You may take some days to do it." I 
 replied that this was unnecessary, and offered to perform 
 the task on the spot. I then demonstrated, not only the 
 proposition prescribed, but several other propositions out 
 of Segner's Geometry. The Director was very much 
 surprised at this, called all the pupils in the gymnasium, 
 and represented to them that the extraordinary progress 
 I had made should make them ashamed of themselves. 
 The most of them did not know what to say to this; but 
 some replied, " Do not suppose, Herr Director, that 
 Maimon made this progress in mathematics here. He 
 has seldom attended the mathematical lessons, and even 
 when he was there he paid no attention to them." They 
 were going to say more, but the Director commanded 
 silence, and gave me an honourable certificate, from 
 which I cannot avoid quoting a few sentences. They 
 became to me afterwards a constant spur to higher at- 
 tainments, and I hope it will not be considered vainglory 
 in me to cite the opinion of this esteemed man. 
 
 " His capacity," says he, " for learning all that is 
 beautiful, good and useful in general, but in particular 
 those sciences which require severe exertion of the men- 
 tal powers, abstract and profound thought, is, I might al- 
 most say, extraordinary. All those sorts of knowledge, 
 which demand in the highest degree one's own mental 
 efforts, appear to him the most agreeable ; and intellec- 
 tual occupations seem to be his chief, if not his sole, en-
 
 264 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 joyment. His favourite studies hitherto have been phi- 
 losophy and mathematics, in which his progress has ex- 
 cited my astonishment, &c." 
 
 I now bade good-bye to the teachers and officers of 
 the gymnasium, who unanimously paid me the compli- 
 ment, that I had done honour to their institution. I 
 then set out once more for Berlin.
 
 , An Autobiography. 265 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Third Journey to Berlin Frustrated Plan of Hebrew Authorship 
 Journey to Breslau Divorce. 
 
 ON my arrival in Berlin I called upon Mendelssohn, as 
 well as some other old friends, and begged them, as I 
 had now acquired some knowledge of languages, to em- 
 ploy me in some occupation suited to my capacity. They 
 hit upon the suggestion, that, in order to enlighten the 
 Polish Jews still living in darkness, I should prepare in 
 Hebrew, as the only language intelligible to them, some 
 scientific works, which these philanthropists were to print 
 at their own expense, and distribute among the people. 
 His proposal I accepted with delight. But now the 
 question arose, with what sort of works a beginning 
 should be made. On this point my excellent friends 
 were divided in their opinions. One of them thought 
 that the history of the Jewish nation would be most ser- 
 viceable for this purpose, inasmuch as the people would 
 discover in it the origin of their religious doctrines and 
 of the subsequent corruption which these had undergone, 
 while they would thus also gain an insight into the fact, 
 that the fall of the Jewish state, as well as all the subse- 
 quent persecution and oppression which they had suf-
 
 266 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 fered, had arisen from their own ignorance and opposi- 
 tion to all rational arrangements. Accordingly this 
 gentleman recommended that I should translate from 
 French Basnage's History of the Jews ; he gave me the 
 work for this purpose, and asked me to furnish a copy 
 of my translation. The specimen gave satisfaction to 
 them all, even to Mendelssohn, and I was ready to take 
 the work in hand ; but one of our friends thought that 
 we ought to begin with something on natural religion and 
 rational morals, inasmuch as this is the object of all en- 
 lightenment. Accordingly he recommended that for 
 this purpose I should translate the Natural Religion of 
 Reimarus. Mendelssohn withheld his opinion, because 
 he believed that whatever was undertaken in this line, 
 though it would do no harm, would also be of little use. 
 I myself undertook these works, not from any conviction 
 of my own, but at the request of my friends. 
 
 I was too well acquainted with the rabbinical despot- 
 ism, which by the power of superstition has established 
 its throne for many centuries in Poland, and which for 
 its own security seeks in every possible way to prevent 
 the spread of light and truth. I knew how closely the 
 Jewish theocracy is connected with the national existence, 
 so that the abolition of the former must inevitably bring 
 with it the annihilation of the latter. I saw therefore 
 clearly that my labours in this direction would be fruit- 
 less ; but I undertook this commission, because, as al- 
 ready stated, my friends would have it so, and because I
 
 An Autobiography. 267 
 
 could think of no other means of subsistence. Accord- 
 ingly without fixing anything definite about the plan of 
 my labours, my friends resolved to send me to Dessau, 
 where I could carry on my work at leisure. 
 
 I reached Dessau in the hope, that after a few days 
 my friends in Berlin would resolve upon something defi- 
 nite about my work : but in this I was deceived ; for, as 
 soon as I turned my back on Berlin, nothing further was 
 thought of the plan. I waited about a fortnight ; but 
 when during that period I received no communication, 
 I wrote to Berlin in the following terms: "If my 
 friends cannot unite upon a plan, they might leave the 
 settlement of it to my own judgment. For my part I 
 believe that, to enlighten the Jewish nation, we must be- 
 gin neither with history nor with natural theology and 
 morals. One of my reasons for thinking so is, that these 
 subjects, being easily intelligible, would not be able to 
 instil any regard for science in general among the more 
 learned Jews, who are accustomed to respect only those 
 studies which involve a strain upon the highest intellec- 
 tual powers. But a second reason is, that, as those sub- 
 jects would frequently come into collision with religious 
 prejudices, they would never be admitted. Besides, 
 sooth to say, there is no proper history of the Jewish 
 nation : for they have scarcely ever stood in political re- 
 lation with other civilised nations ; and, with the excep- 
 tion of the Old Testament and Josephus and a few frag- 
 ments on the persecutions of the Jews in the middle
 
 268 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 ages, nothing is to be found recorded on the subject. I 
 believe, therefore, that it would be best to make a begin- 
 ning with some science which, besides being most favour- 
 able for the development of the mind, is also self-evident, 
 and stands in no connection with any religious opinions. 
 Of this sort are the mathematical sciences ; and therefore 
 with this object in view I am willing to write a mathema- 
 tical text-book in Hebrew." 
 
 To this I received the answer, that I might follow my 
 plan. Accordingly I applied myself with all diligence to 
 the preparation of this text-book, using the Latin work 
 on mathematics by Wolff as its basis ; and in two months 
 it was finished. I then returned to Berlin, to give an 
 account of my work, but received immediately from one 
 of the gentlemen interested the disappointing information, 
 that, as the work was very voluminous, and as it would 
 entail heavy expenditure especially on account of the 
 copper-plates required, he could not undertake the publi- 
 cation at his own expense, and I might therefore do with 
 my manuscript whatever I chose. I complained of this 
 to Mendelssohn ; and he thought, that certainly it was 
 unreasonable to let my work go without remuneration, 
 but that I could not require my friends to undertake the 
 publication of a work which could not calculate on any 
 good result in consequence of that aversion to all science, 
 which I myself knew to be prevalent among the Jewish 
 nation. His advice therefore was, that I should get the 
 book printed by subscription ; and of course I was
 
 An Autobiography. 269 
 
 obliged to content myself with this. Mendelssohn and 
 the other enlightened Jews in Berlin subscribed, and I 
 received for my work merely my manuscript and the list 
 of subscriptions. The whole plan, however, was thought 
 of no more. 
 
 On this I fell out again with my friends in Berlin. 
 Being a man with little knowledge of the world, who 
 supposed that human actions must always be determined 
 by the laws of justice, I pressed for the fulfilment of the 
 bargain made. My friends, on the other hand, began, 
 though too late, to see, that their ill-considered project 
 must of necessity collapse, because they had no assurance 
 of a market for such voluminous and expensive works. 
 From the religious, moral and political condition of the 
 Jews up to this time it was easy to foresee that the few 
 enlightened men among them would certainly give them- 
 selves no trouble to study the sciences in the Hebrew 
 language, which is very ill-adapted for the exposition of 
 such subjects ; they will prefer to seek science in its 
 original sources. The unenlightened, on the other hand, 
 and these form the majority, are so swayed by 
 rabbinical prejudices, that they regard the study of the 
 sciences, even in Hebrew, as forbidden fruit, and per- 
 sistently occupy themselves only with the Talmud and 
 the enormous number of its commentaries. 
 
 All this I understood very well, and therefore I never 
 thought of demanding that the work I had prepared 
 should be printed ; I asked merely remuneration for the
 
 270 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 labour spent on it in vain. In this dispute Mendelssohn 
 remained neutral, because he thought that both parties 
 had right on their side. He promised to use his influence 
 with my friends, to induce them to provide for my sub- 
 sistence in some other way. But when even this was 
 not done, I became impatient, and resolved to quit 
 Berlin once more, and go to Breslau. I took with me 
 some letters of introduction, but they were of little 
 service ; for before I reached Breslau myself, letters in 
 the spirit of those which Uriah carried had preceded me, 
 and made a bad impression on the most of those to whom 
 my letters of introduction were addressed. As a natural 
 result, therefore, I was coldly received ; and as I knew 
 nothing of the later letters, I found it impossible to ex- 
 plain my reception, and had made up my mind to quit 
 Breslau. 
 
 By chance, however, I became acquainted with the 
 celebrated Jewish poet, the late Ephraim Kuh. This 
 learned and high-minded man took so much interest in 
 me, that, neglecting all his former occupations and enjoy- 
 ments, he confined himself entirely to my society. To 
 the wealthy Jews he spoke of me with the greatest en- 
 thusiasm, and praised me as a very good fellow. But 
 when he found that all his complimentary remarks failed 
 to make any impression on these gentlemen, he took 
 some trouble to find out the cause of this, and at last 
 discovered that the reason lay in those friendly letters 
 from Berlin. Their general tenor was, that I was seeking
 
 An Autobiography. 271 
 
 to spread pernicious opinions. Ephraim Kuh, as a 
 thinking man, at once saw the reason of this charge; but 
 with all the efforts he made, he could not drive it out of 
 the heads of these people. I confessed to him that, 
 during my first sojourn in Berlin as a young man without 
 experience or knowledge of the world, I had felt an irre- 
 sistible impulse to communicate to others whatever truth 
 I knew ; but I assured him that, having for some years 
 become wise by experience, I went to work with great 
 caution, and that therefore this charge was now wholly 
 without foundation. 
 
 Irritated by my disheartening situation, I resolved to 
 form the acquaintance of Christian scholars, by whose 
 recommendation I thought I might find a hearing among 
 the wealthy men of my own nation. I could not but fear, 
 however, that my defective language might form an 
 obstacle to the expression of my thoughts ; so I prepared 
 a written essay, in which I delivered my ideas on the 
 most important questions of philosophy in the form of 
 aphorisms. With this essay I went to the celebrated 
 Professor Garve, explained to him briefly my intention, 
 and submitted my aphorisms to him for examination. 
 He discussed them with me in a very friendly manner, 
 gave me a good testimonial, and recommended me also 
 orally in very emphatic language to the wealthy banker, 
 Lipmann Meier. This gentleman settled a monthly 
 allowance on me for my support, and also spoke to some 
 Other Jews on the subject,
 
 272 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 My situation now improved every day. Many young 
 men of the Jewish nation sought my society. Among 
 others the second son of Herr Aaron Zadig took so much 
 pleasure in my humble personality, that he desired to 
 enjoy my instruction in the sciences. This he earnestly 
 begged his father to allow ; and the latter, being a well- 
 to-do enlightened man of great good sense, who wished 
 to give his children the best German education, and 
 spared no expense for that object, willingly gave his con- 
 sent. He sent for me, and made the proposal that I 
 should live at his house, and for a moderate honorarium 
 should give his second son lessons for two hours a day 
 in physics and belles lettres, and also a lesson in arithmetic 
 of an hour a day to his third and youngest son. This 
 proposal I accepted with great willingness ; and, not long 
 after, Herr Zadig asked me, if I would not also consent 
 to give lessons in Hebrew and elementary mathematics 
 to his children who had hitherto had for their teacher in 
 these subjects a Polish Jew, named Rabbi Manoth. But 
 I thought it would be unfair to supplant this poor man, 
 who had a family to support, and who was giving satis- 
 faction at any rate ; and therefore I declined this request. 
 Accordingly Rabbi Manoth continued his lessons, and I 
 entered upon mine. 
 
 In this house I was able to carry on but little study 
 for myself. In the first place, there was a want of books ; 
 and, in the second place, I lived in a room with the 
 children, where they were occupied with other masters
 
 An Autobiography. 273 
 
 every hour of the day. Besides, the liveliness of these 
 young people did not suit my character which had already 
 become somewhat stern ; and therefore I had often occa- 
 sion to get angry at petty outbursts of unruliness. Con- 
 sequently, as I was obliged to pass most of my time in 
 idleness, I sought society. I often visited Herr Hiemann 
 Lisse, a plump little man of enlightened mind and cheer- 
 ful disposition. With him and some other jolly com- 
 panions I spent my evenings in talk and jest and play of 
 every sort. During the day I strolled around among the 
 coffee-houses. 
 
 In other families also I soon became acquainted, par- 
 ticularly in those of Herr Simon, the banker, and Herr 
 Bortenstein, both of whom showed me much kindness. 
 All sought to persuade me to devote myself to medicine, 
 for which I had always entertained a great dislike. But 
 when I saw from my circumstances, that it would be 
 difficult for me to find support in any other way, I 
 allowed myself to be persuaded. Professor Garve intro- 
 duced me to Professor Morgenbesser, and I attended his 
 medical lectures for some time ; but after all I could not 
 overcome my dislike to the art, and accordingly gave up 
 the lectures again. By and by I became acquainted with 
 other Christian scholars, especially with the late Herr 
 Lieberkiihn, who was so justly esteemed on account of 
 his abilities, as well as for his warm interest in the welfare 
 of mankind. I also made the acquaintance of some 
 teachers of merit in the Jesuits' College at Breslau.
 
 274 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 But I did not give up wholly literary work in Hebrew. 
 I translated into Hebrew Mendelssohn's Morgenstunden. 
 Of this translation I sent some sheets as a specimen to 
 Herr Isaac Daniel Itzig in Berlin ; but I received no 
 answer because this excellent man, owing to his business 
 being too extensive, cannot possibly give attention to 
 subjects that are not of immediate interest to him, and 
 therefore such affairs as the answering of my letter are 
 easily forgotten. I also wrote in Hebrew a treatise on 
 Natural Philosophy according to Newtonian principles ; 
 and this, as well as the rest of my Hebrew works, I still 
 preserve in manuscript. 
 
 At last, however, I fell here also into a precarious 
 situation. The children of Herr Zadig, in pursuance of 
 the occupations to which they were destined in life, en- 
 tered into commercial situations, and therefore required 
 teachers no longer. Other means of support also gra- 
 dually failed. As I was thus obliged to seek subsistence 
 in some other way, I devoted myself to giving lessons ; 
 I taught Euler's Algebra to a young man, gave two chil- 
 dren instruction in the rudiments of German and Latin, 
 &c. But even this did not last long, and I found myself 
 in a sorrowful plight. 
 
 Meanwhile my wife and eldest son arrived from Po- 
 land. A woman of rude education and manners, but of 
 great good sense and the courage of an Amazon, she de- 
 manded that I should at once return home with her, not 
 seeing the impossibility of what she required. I had
 
 An Autobiography. 275 
 
 now lived some years in Germany, had happily emanci- 
 pated myself from the fetters of superstition and religious 
 prejudice, had abandoned the rude manner of life in 
 which I had been brought up, and extended my know- 
 ledge in many directions. I could not therefore return 
 to my former barbarous and miserable condition, deprive 
 myself of all the advantages I had gained, and expose 
 myself to rabbinical rage at the slightest deviation from 
 the ceremonial law, or the utterance of a liberal opinion. 
 I represented to her, that this could not be done at once, 
 that I should require first of all to make my situation 
 known to my friends here as well as in Berlin, and so- 
 licit from them the assistance of two or three hundred 
 thalers, so that I might be able to live in Poland inde- 
 pendent of my religious associates. But she would 
 listen to nothing of all this, and declared her resolution 
 to obtain a divorce, if I would not go with her immedi- 
 ately. Here therefore it was for me to choose the less 
 of two evils, and I consented to the divorce. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, I was obliged to provide for the 
 lodging and board of these guests, and to introduce them 
 to my friends in Breslau. Both of these duties I per- 
 formed, and I pointed out, especially to my son, the 
 difference between the manner of life one leads here and 
 that in Poland, while I sought to convince him by several 
 passages in the Moreh Nebhochim, that enlightenment of 
 the understanding and refinement of manners are rather 
 favourable than otherwise to religion, I went further : I
 
 276 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 sought to convince him, that he ought to remain with 
 me ; I assured him, that, with my direction and the 
 support of my friends, he would find opportunities of 
 developing the good abilities with which Nature had en- 
 dowed him, and would obtain for them some suitable 
 employment. These representations made some im- 
 pression upon him : but my wife went with my son to 
 consult some orthodox Jews, in whose advice she thought 
 she could thoroughly confide ; and they recommended 
 her to press at once for a divorce, and on no account to 
 let my son be induced to remain with me. This resolu- 
 tion, however, she was not to disclose till she had 
 received from me a sufficient sum of money for house- 
 hold purposes. She might then separate from me for 
 ever, and start for home with her booty. 
 
 This pretty plan was faithfully followed. By and by 
 I had succeeded in collecting some score of ducats from 
 my friends. I gave them to my wife, and explained to 
 her that, to complete the required sum, it would be 
 necessary for us to go to Berlin. She then began to 
 raise difficulties, and declared at once pointblank, that 
 for us a divorce was best, as neither could I live happily 
 with her in Poland, nor she with me in Germany. In 
 my opinion she was perfectly right. But it still made me 
 sorry to lose a wife, for whom I had once entertained 
 affection, and I could not let the affair be conducted in 
 any spirit of levity. I told her therefore that I should 
 consent to a divorce only if it were enjoined by the courts.
 
 An Autobiography. 277 
 
 This was done. I was summoned before the court. 
 My wife stated the grounds on which she claimed a 
 divorce. The president of the court then said, " Under 
 these circumstances we can do nothing but advise a 
 divorce." " Mr. President," I replied, " we came here, 
 not to ask advice, but to receive a judicial sentence." 
 Thereupon the chief rabbi rose from his seat (that what 
 he said might not have the force of a judicial decision, 
 approached me with the codex in his hand, and pointed 
 to the following passage : " A vagabond, who abandons 
 his wife for years, and does not write to her or send her 
 money, shall, when he is found, be obliged to grant a 
 divorce." " It is not my part," I replied, " to institute a 
 comparison between this case and mine. That duty falls 
 to you, as judge. Take your seat again, therefore, and 
 pronounce your judicial sentence on the case." 
 
 The president became pale and red by turns, while the 
 rest of the judges looked at one another. At last the 
 presiding judge became furious, began to call me names, 
 pronounced me a damnable heretic, and cursed me in 
 the name of the Lord. I left him to storm, however, 
 and went away. Thus ended this strange suit, and 
 things remained as they were before. 
 
 My wife now saw that nothing was to be done by 
 means of force, and therefore she took to entreaty. I 
 also yielded at last, but only on the condition, that at the 
 judicial divorce the judge, who had shown himself such 
 a master of cursing, should not preside in the court.
 
 278 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 After the divorce my wife returned to Poland with my 
 son. I remained some time still in Breslau ; but as my 
 circumstances became worse and worse, I resolved to 
 return to Berlin.* 
 
 * " Afterwards when he spoke of Poland, he used to be deeply 
 affected in thinking of his wife, from whom he was obliged to 
 separate. He was really very much devoted to her, and her fate 
 went home to his very heart. It was easy when the subject came 
 up in conversation, to read in his face the deep sorrow which he 
 felt ; his liveliness then sensibly faded away, he became by and by 
 perfectly silent, was usually incapable of further entertainment, and 
 went earlier than usual home." Maimoniana, p. 177. He seems, 
 however, at a later period, to have at least spoken to his friends 
 about marrying a second time ; but the project was never carried 
 out. Ibid., p. 248. Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 279 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Fourth Journey to Berlin Unfortunate Circumstances Help 
 Study of Kant's Writings Characteristic of my own Works. 
 
 WHEN I came to Berlin, Mendelssohn was no longer in 
 life,* and my former friends were determined to know 
 nothing more of me. I did not know therefore what to 
 do. In the greatest distress I received a visit from Herr 
 Bendavid, who told me that he had heard of my unfor- 
 tunate circumstances, and had collected a small sum of 
 about thirty thalers, which he gave to me. Besides, he 
 introduced me to a Herr Jojard, an enlightened and 
 high-minded man, who received me in a very friendly 
 manner, and made some provision for my support. A 
 certain professor, indeed, tried to do me an ill turn with 
 this worthy man by denouncing me as an atheist ; but in 
 spite of this I gradually got on so well, that I was able 
 to hire a lodging in a garret from an old woman. 
 
 I had now resolved to study Kant's Kritik of Pure 
 Reason, of which I had often heard but which I had 
 never seen yet.f The method, in which I studied this 
 
 He died 4th Jan., 1786. Trans. 
 
 t Kant's work must still have been quite new, as it appeared in 
 1781. Trans.
 
 280 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 work, was quite peculiar. On the first perusal I obtained 
 a vague idea of each section. This I endeavoured after- 
 wards to make distinct by my own reflection, and thus 
 to penetrate into the author's meaning. Such is properly 
 the process which is called thinking oneself into a system. 
 But as I had already mastered in this way the systems of 
 Spinoza, Hume and Leibnitz, I was naturally led to think 
 of a coalition-system. This in fact I found, and I put it 
 gradually in writing in the form of explanatory observa- 
 tions on the Kritik of Pure Reason, just as this system 
 unfolded itself to my mind. Such was the origin of my 
 Transcendental Philosophy. Consequently this book must 
 be difficult to understand for the man who, owing to the 
 inflexible character of his thinking, has made himself at 
 home merely in one of these systems without regard to 
 any other. Here the important problem, Quid juris 1 
 with the solution of which the Kritik is occupied, is 
 wrought out in a much wider sense than that in which it 
 is taken by Kant ; and by this means there is plenty of 
 scope left for Hume's scepticism in its full force. But 
 on the other side the complete solution of this problem 
 leads either to Spinozistic or to Leibnitzian dogmatism. 
 
 When I had finished this work, I showed it to Marcus 
 Herz.* He acknowledged that he was reckoned among 
 the most eminent disciples of Kant, and that he had 
 
 * The name is left blank by Maimon, but is known to be that 
 which I have inserted. See Fischer's Geschichte der neueren Phi- 
 losophic, Vol. v., p. 131. Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 281 
 
 given the most assiduous application while attending 
 Kant's philosophical lectures, as may indeed be seen from 
 his writings, but that yet he was not in a position to pass 
 a judgment on the Kritik itself or on any other work re- 
 lating to it. He advised me, however, to send my man- 
 uscript directly to Kant himself, and submit it to his 
 judgment, while he promised to accompany it with a 
 letter to the great philosopher. Accordingly I wrote to 
 Kant, sending him my work, and enclosing the letter 
 from Herz. A good while passed, however, before an 
 answer came. At length Herz received a reply, in which, 
 among other things, Kant said : 
 
 " But what were you thinking about, my dear friend, 
 when you sent me a big packet containing the most 
 subtle researches, not only to read through, but to think 
 out thoroughly, while I am still, in my sixty-sixth year, 
 burdened with a vast amount of labour in completion of 
 my plan ! Part of this labour is to furnish the last part 
 of the Kritik, that, namely, on the Faculty of Judg- 
 ment, which is soon to appear ; part is to work out my 
 system of the Metaphysic of Nature, as well as the Meta- 
 physic of Ethics, in accordance with the requirements of 
 the Kritik. Moreover, I am kept incessantly busy with 
 a multitude of letters requiring special explanations on 
 particular points ; and, in addition to all this, my health 
 is frail. I had already made up my mind to send back 
 the manuscript with an excuse so well justified on all 
 these grounds ; but a glance at it soon enabled me to 
 
 T
 
 282 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 recognise its merits, and to show, not only that none of 
 my opponents had understood me and the main problem 
 so well, but that very few could claim so much penetra- 
 tion as Herr Maimon in profound inquiries of this sort. 
 This induced me . . ," and so on. 
 
 In another passage of the letter Kant says : " Herr 
 Maimon's work contains moreover so many acute obser- 
 vations, that he cannot give it to the public without its 
 producing an impression strongly in his favour." In a 
 letter to myself he said : " Your esteemed request I 
 have endeavoured to comply with as far as was possible 
 for me ; and if I have not gone the length of passing a 
 judgment on the whole of your treatise, you will gather 
 the reason from my letter to Herr Herz. Certainly it 
 arises from no feeling of disparagement, which I entertain 
 for no earnest effort in rational inquiries that interest 
 mankind, and least of all for such an effort as yours, 
 which, in point of fact, betrays no common talent for the 
 pro founder sciences." 
 
 It may easily be imagined how important and agree- 
 able to me the approbation of this great thinker must 
 have been, and especially his testimony that I had under- 
 stood him well. For there are some arrogant Kantians, 
 who believe themselves to be sole proprietors of the 
 Critical Philosophy, and therefore dispose of every objec- 
 tion, even though intended, not exactly as a refutation, 
 but as a fuller elaboration of this philosophy, by the 
 mere assertion without proof, that the author has failed
 
 An Autobiography, 283 
 
 to understand Kant. Now these gentlemen were no 
 longer in a position to bring this charge against my book, 
 inasmuch as, by the testimony of the founder himself of 
 the Critical Philosophy, I have a better right than they 
 to make use of this argument. 
 
 At this time I was living in Potsdam with a gentleman 
 who was a leather-manufacturer. When Kant's letters 
 arrived, I went to Berlin, and devoted my time to the 
 publication of my Transcendental Philosophy. As a 
 native of Poland I dedicated this work to the king, and 
 carried a copy to the Polish Resident ; but it was never 
 sent, and I was put off from time to time with various 
 excuses. Sapienti sat ! 
 
 A copy of the work was also sent, as is usually done, 
 to the editor of the Allgemeine Litteraturzeitung. After 
 waiting a good while without any notice appearing, I 
 wrote to the editor, and received the following answer : 
 "You know yourself how small is the number of those 
 who are competent to understand and judge philosophical 
 works. Three of the best speculative thinkers have 
 declined to undertake the review of your book, because 
 they are unable to penetrate into the depths of your re- 
 searches. An application has been made to a fourth, 
 from whom a favourable reply was expected ; but a review 
 from him has not yet been received." 
 
 I also began to work at this time for the Journal fitr 
 Aufkldrung. My first article was on Truth, and was in
 
 284 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 the form of a letter to a friend* in Berlin. The article 
 was occasioned by a letter which I had received from this 
 friend during my stay in Potsdam, and in which he wrote 
 to me in a humorous vein, that philosophy was no longer 
 a marketable commodity, and that therefore I ought to 
 take advantage of the opportunity which I was enjoying 
 to learn tanning. I replied, that philosophy is not a 
 coinage subject to the vicissitudes of the exchange ; and 
 this proposition I afterwards developed in my article. 
 Another article in the same periodical was on Tropes, in 
 which I show that these imply the transference of a word 
 not from one object to another that is analogous, but 
 from a relative to its correlate. I wrote also an article 
 on Bacon and Kant, in which I institute a comparison 
 between these two reformers of philosophy. The Soul of 
 the World was the subject of another discussion in this 
 journal, in which I endeavoured to make out, that the 
 doctrine of one universal soul common to all animated 
 beings has not only as much in its favour as the opposite 
 doctrine, but that the arguments for it outweigh those on 
 the other side. My last article in the journal referred to 
 the plan of my Transcendental Philosophy; and I explain 
 in it that, while I hold the Kantian philosophy to be ir- 
 refutable from the side of the Dogmatist, on the other 
 hand I believe that it is exposed to all attacks from the 
 side of the Scepticism of Hume. 
 
 * Samuel Levi, according to Maimoniana, p. 78. Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 285 
 
 A number of young Jews from all parts of Germany 
 had, during Mendelssohn's lifetime, united to form a 
 society under the designation, Society for Research into 
 the Hebrew Language. They observed with truth, that 
 the evil condition of our people, morally as well as 
 politically, has its source in their religious prejudices, in 
 their want of a rational exposition of the Holy Scriptures, 
 and in the arbitrary exposition to which the rabbis are 
 led by their ignorance of the Hebrew language. Ac- 
 cordingly the object of their society was to remove these 
 deficiencies, to study the Hebrew language in its sources, 
 and by that means to introduce a rational exegesis. For 
 this purpose they resolved to publish a monthly periodical 
 in Hebrew under the title of FpDn, The Collector, which 
 was to give expositions of difficult passages in Scripture, 
 Hebrew poems, prose essays, translations from useful 
 works, etc. 
 
 The intention of all this was certainly good ; but that 
 the end would scarcely be reached by any such means, I 
 saw from the very beginning. I was too familiar with 
 the principles of the rabbis and their style of thought to 
 believe that such means would bring about any change. 
 The Jewish nation is, without reference to accidental 
 modifications, a perpetual aristocracy under the appear- 
 ance of a theocracy. The learned men, who form the 
 nobility in the nation, have been able, for many centuries, 
 to maintain their position as the legislative body with so 
 much authority among the common people, that they can
 
 286 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 do with them whatever they please. This high authority 
 is a natural tribute which weakness owes to strength. 
 For since the nation is divided into such unequal classes 
 as the common people and the learned, and since the 
 former, owing to the unfortunate political condition of 
 the nation, are profoundly ignorant, not only of all useful 
 arts and sciences, but even of the laws of their religion, 
 on which their eternal welfare is supposed to depend, it 
 follows that the exposition of Scripture, the deduction of 
 religious laws from it, and the application of these to 
 particular cases, must be surrendered wholly to the 
 learned class which the other undertakes the cost of 
 maintaining. The learned class seek to make up for 
 their want of linguistic science and rational exegetics by 
 their own ingenuity, wit and acuteness. To form an 
 idea of the degree in which these talents are displayed, 
 it is necessary to read the Talmud along with the com- 
 mentary called Tosaphoth, that is, the additions to the 
 first commentary of Rabbi Solomon Isaac.* 
 
 The productions of the mind are valued by them, not 
 in proportion to their utility, but in proportion to the 
 talent which they imply. A man who understands 
 Hebrew, who is well versed in the Holy Scriptures, who 
 even carries in his head the whole of the Jewish Corpus 
 Juris, and that is no trifle, is by them but slightly 
 
 See above, p. 41 Trans.
 
 An Autobiography. 287 
 
 esteemed. The greatest praise that they give to such a 
 man is Chamor Nose Sepharim, that is, An ass loaded 
 with books. But if a man is able, by his own ingenuity, 
 to deduce new laws from those already known, to draw 
 fine distinctions, and to detect hidden contradictions, he 
 is almost idolised. And to tell the truth, this judgment 
 is well founded, so far as it concerns the treatment of 
 subjects that have no ulterior end in view. 
 
 It may therefore be easily imagined, that people of this 
 sort will scarcely accord a hearing to an institute which 
 aims merely at the cultivation of taste, the study of 
 language, or any similar object, which to them appears 
 mere trifling. Yet these are not the few educated men, 
 scattered here and there, the steersmen of this ship 
 which is driven about in all seas. All men of enlightened 
 minds, it does not matter how much taste or knowledge 
 they possess, are treated by them as imbeciles. And 
 why ? Simply because they have not studied the Talmud 
 to that extent, and in the manner, which they require. 
 Mendelssohn was in some measure esteemed by them on 
 this account, because in point of fact he was a good 
 Talmudist. 
 
 I was therefore neither for, nor against, this monthly 
 periodical; I even contributed to it at times Hebrew 
 articles. Among these I will mention merely one, an 
 exposition of an obscure passage in the commentary of 
 Maimonides on the Mishnah, which I interpreted by the 
 Kantian philosophy. The article was afterwards trans-
 
 288 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 lated into German, and inserted in the Berlinische Monats- 
 schrift. 
 
 Sometime after this I received from this society, which 
 now calls itself the Society for the Promotion of all that is 
 Noble and Good, a commission to write a Hebrew 
 commentary on the celebrated work of Maimonides, 
 Moreh Nebhochim. This commission I undertook with 
 pleasure, and the work was soon done. So far, however, 
 only a part of the commentary has as yet appeared. The 
 preface to the work may be considered as a brief history 
 of philosophy. 
 
 I had been an adherent of all philosophical systems in 
 succession, Peripatetic, Spinozist, Leibnitzian, Kantian, 
 and finally Sceptic ; and I was always devoted to that 
 system, which for the time I regarded as alone true. At 
 last I observed that all these systems contain something 
 true, and are in certain respects equally useful. But, as 
 the difference of philosophical systems depends on the 
 ideas which lie at their foundation in regard to the objects 
 of nature, their properties and modifications, which 
 cannot, like the ideas of mathematics, be defined in the 
 same way by all men, and presented a priori^ I determined 
 to publish for my own use, as well as for the advantage 
 of others, a philosophical dictionary, in which all philo- 
 sophical ideas should be defined in a somewhat free 
 method, that is, without attachment to any particular 
 system, but either by an explanation common to all, or 
 by several explanations from the point of view of each,
 
 An Autobiography. 289 
 
 Of this work also only the first part has as yet ap- 
 peared. 
 
 In the popular German monthly already mentioned, 
 the Berlinische Monatsschrift, various articles of mine 
 were inserted, on Deceit, on the Power of Foreseeing, on 
 Theodicy, and other subjects. On Empirical Psycho- 
 logy also I contributed various articles, and at last 
 became associated with Herr Hofrath Moritz in the 
 editorship of the perodical.* 
 
 So much with regard to the events which have 
 occurred in my life, and the communication of which, I 
 thought, might be not without use. I have not yet 
 reached the haven of rest ; but 
 
 " Quo fata trahunt retrahuntque sequamur." 
 
 * The last few pages have been condensed from the original ; in 
 which the author gives detailed information, which seems no longer 
 of any special interest, about the articles he contributed to periodi- 
 cals. Trans.
 
 290 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 
 
 THE closing words of the Autobiography themselves 
 awaken the desire to know the sequel of the author's 
 life, and it seems therefore appropriate to finish the 
 narrative by the sketch of a few facts derived mainly 
 from the little volume of Maimoniana, to which reference 
 has been made in the preface. 
 
 It is perhaps scarcely necessary to state that Maimon's 
 life to the very end continued to retain the stamp it bore 
 throughout the whole period described in the preceding 
 chapters. That stamp had apparently been impressed 
 on it even before he left Poland; and the Western 
 influences, under which he came in Germany, never 
 altered essentially the character he brought with him 
 from home. 
 
 Even in its external features his life enjoyed no 
 permanent improvement. Fate had indeed been some- 
 what hard upon a man of so much genuine culture and 
 sensibility. Still the chronic poverty, which filled the 
 largest cup of suffering in his life, was due not wholly to 
 circumstances : it was partly his own nature or habits 
 that kept him a pauper. This is all the more remarkable, 
 that there is perhaps no work of moral or religious
 
 An Autobiography. 291 
 
 instruction which attaches more importance than the 
 Talmud to industrial pursuits.* Saturated as his mind 
 was with Talmudic lore, and disciplined as his early 
 years had been by Talmudic training, Maimon could 
 not be ignorant of the advantage which the spiritual life 
 derives from financial independence on others; and it 
 might therefore have been expected of him that, like 
 many of the great rabbis, and Spinoza and Mendelssohn 
 too, he would have devoted himself to some remunera- 
 tive occupation, however humble. This would not have 
 
 * By the kindness of my friend, the Rev. Meldola de Sola, of 
 the Portuguese Synagogue in Montreal, I am enabled to make an 
 interesting note on this subject. Among the Talmudic passages 
 enjoining industry are the following : " Rather skin a carcase for 
 pay in the public streets, than be idly dependent on charity," 
 "Rather perform the meanest labour than beg." As a further 
 evidence of the estimation in which labour was held by the sages of 
 the Talmud, it may be mentioned that Hillel, before being 
 admitted to the Great College, earned his livelihood as a wood- 
 cutter ; that Rabbi Joshua was a pinmaker ; Rabbi Nehemiah 
 Halsador, a potter ; Rabbi Judah, a tailor ; Rabbi Joshua Hasandler, 
 a shoemaker; and Rabbi Judah Hanechtan, a baker. "Of all 
 things," says Mr. Deutsch, "the most hated were idleness and 
 asceticism ; piety and learning themselves only received their 
 proper estimation when joined to healthy, bodily work. ' It is 
 well to add a trade to your studies ; you will then be free from sin, ' 
 ' The tradesman at his work need not rise before the greatest 
 doctor,' 'Greater is he who derives his livelihood from work than 
 he who fears God ' are some of the most common dicta of the 
 period. " (Literary Remains, p. 25, where there are some striking 
 stories in condemnation of asceticism). Mr. Deutsch elsewhere 
 quotes, "Rather live on your Sabbath as you would on a week-day 
 than be dependent on others," (Ibid., p. 30). Trans,
 
 292 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 been impossible even in Poland, where the Jews were 
 subject to no disability excluding them from the 
 common industries of the country ; and from the Auto- 
 biography it appears that, even at an early period of his 
 life, he was more than half aware that his poverty was 
 due, not wholly to the imperious demands of a higher 
 culture, but to a somewhat selfish indolence.* In 
 Germany, with its more advanced civilisation, it would 
 have been much less difficult for him to make a tolerable 
 living at some employment. The Autobiography shows 
 that he was very generously received by a large circle of 
 influential friends, who took a great deal of pains to 
 secure for him a position of independence, and that they 
 abandoned their effort only when they found it in vain. 
 From the Maimoniana also it appears that some of the 
 most eminent men of his time continued to tender their 
 friendly services. Among others, Plattner, Schultze 
 (Aenesidemus), and even Goethe, made advances 
 towards Maimon in a way that was not only very flatter- 
 ing, but might have been very helpful, if he had so 
 chosen, f But he never got rid of the habit, which he 
 had acquired in Poland, of depending on others ; and 
 the low standard of comfort, to which he had accustomed 
 himself, left him without sufficient stimulus to seek an 
 escape from his pauperised condition. 
 
 * See above, pp. 140-1. 
 
 t Maimoniana, pp. 196-200.
 
 An Autobiography. 293 
 
 His condition, therefore, never improved. He con- 
 tinued during his later years to work at various literary 
 employments; but the remuneration he obtained for 
 these was never sufficient for his subsistence. His works 
 appealed to a very limited public. He had consequently 
 often to go a-begging for a publisher, and to content 
 himself with what slight honorarium the reluctant 
 publishers chose to give.* The literary hack-work, of 
 which he was obliged to do a good deal, brought him no 
 better return. That sort of labour was probably as poorly 
 paid in Berlin at the time as in the Grub Street of last 
 century. He was therefore at times reduced to utter 
 beggary. Many of his earlier friends, as appears from 
 the Autobiography, had lost patience with him ; and 
 some, who had helped him before, when he was forced 
 by sheer starvation to apply to them afterwards, treated 
 him as a common beggar, dismissing him with a copper 
 in charity (Zehrpfenmg), and at times with unnecessarily 
 cold, even insulting language.! If we add to this the 
 fact, that his irregular habits often made him the victim 
 of unscrupulous men, % it will not seem surprising that he 
 sometimes fell into a bitter tone and harsh judgments 
 about his friends, or that he was apt occasionally to 
 burst out into pretty strong language of general mis- 
 anthropy. || 
 
 * Ibid. p. 80. ^Ibid. pp. 80, 83-4. ^.Ibid., p. 95, note. 
 
 \Ibtd., pp. 82-3. \\Ibid., pp. 154, 157-
 
 294 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 Perhaps Maimon might have risen out of the chronic 
 destitution, to which he seemed doomed, if he had 
 cultivated in any degree the virtue of thrift. But 
 thriftlessness, as the Autobiography shows, had been an 
 hereditary vice in his family, at least for two generations 
 before him; and though he gives vivid pictures of its 
 pitiable results in the households of his grandfather and 
 father, he never made any effort to rise above it himself. 
 Whenever he obtained any remuneration for his work, 
 instead of husbanding it economically till he obtained 
 more, he usually squandered it at once in extravagancies, 
 often of a useless, sometimes of a reprehensible kind. * 
 He points out in his first chapter, that his grandfather 
 might have been a rich man if he had kept accounts of 
 income and expenditure. But his friend Wolff, has to 
 confess that, good mathematician as Maimon was, he 
 never seemed to think of the difference between plus 
 and minus in money-matters, f With such a character 
 one of Maimon's friends was not far from the truth, when 
 on a fresh application for assistance, he dismissed him, 
 too harshly perhaps, with the blunt remark, "People like 
 you there is no use in trying to help." J Certainly help 
 was not to be found in Maimon himself, and it is difficult 
 to see how he could have avoided the chance of a miserable 
 death by actual starvation, had it not been that a generous 
 
 'Ibid., pp. 80, 95, 104. t Ibid,, p. 84. %Ibid,, p. 105.
 
 An Autobiography, 295 
 
 home was at last opened to him, where he closed his days 
 in comfort and peace. 
 
 A character like that of Maimon implied a general 
 irregularity of life, an absence of that regulation by fixed 
 rules of conduct, which is essential to wellbeing. He 
 was not indeed unaware of the importance of such 
 regularity. " I require of every man of sound mind," he 
 said one day, " that he should lay out for himself a plan 
 of action." No wonder that this requirement leads his 
 friend to remark, that it seemed to him as if Maimon's 
 only plan of life had been to live without any plan at all.* 
 
 The irregularity of his habits is strikingly seen in his 
 want of method even at his literary work. Notwith- 
 standing the technical culture he gave himself in early 
 life in drawing, he seems never to have reached any 
 degree of muscular expertness. Wolff remarked his 
 awkwardness in handling his pen, and his inability to 
 fold a letter with tolerable neatness.! In other respects 
 also he was careless about those mechanical conveni- 
 ences by which mental work is usually facilitated. He 
 was commonly to be seen working at a very unsteady 
 desk, one leg of which was supported by a folio volume. % 
 He did not even confine himself to any particular place 
 for work. Apparently he spent more of his day in public 
 taverns than in his private lodging, and he might often 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 159. ^ Ibid., pp. 231-2. J Ibid., p. 96.
 
 296 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 be seen amid the distraction of such surroundings writing 
 or revising proofs, while, as a consequence, his papers 
 sometimes were mislaid and lost, and his work had all 
 to be done over again. It was said of the Autobio- 
 graphy itself that it had been written on an alehouse 
 bench.* He could never understand how any man 
 could do intellectual work by rule; and therefore, 
 though he had to make his living as best he could by 
 literature, he never formed the habit of reserving one 
 part of the day for work. He commonly worked in the 
 morning, at least in his morning, and that, his friend 
 acknowledges, was not very early ;f but this itself was 
 evidently no fixed rule. Probably for the same reason 
 he never adopted the plan, which authors find so service- 
 able, of first sketching an outline of a work before it is 
 written out in detail. " I have," he said one day, " given 
 up, with good result, the habit of making a draught 
 beforehand. You are not, by a long way, so careful 
 about your work when you know that you are going to 
 write it over again ; you neglect many a thought, do not 
 write it down, because you believe that it will occur to 
 you again in copying out, which frequently does not 
 happen." J It is clear, however, that, his opinion to the 
 contrary notwithstanding, his writings suffered from his 
 unmethodical habits. "The fact," says the most 
 competent of judges on this subject, " that Maimon is 
 
 Ibid., p. 140. ^Ibid., p. 96. %lbid., p. 97.
 
 An Autobiography. 297 
 
 far from having attained the recognition which his 
 importance deserves, may be accounted for by the 
 defective condition of his writings. His extraordinary 
 acuteness was designed, but was not sufficiently cultivated, 
 to give to his investigations the light and the force of 
 methodical exposition. He wrote with most pleasure in 
 his Talmudic fashion, commenting and disputing, with- 
 out proper sifting and arrangement of his materials. To 
 these defects must be added the faults of his style. It 
 is surprising that he learned to write German as he did. 
 In his writings there are passages in which the thought 
 bursts out with really resplendent power, and actually 
 forces the language, even plays with it, in turns of 
 expression that take you by surprise. But a German 
 author he never became ; and as a philosophical author 
 he wanted a certain sense of order that is indispensable 
 for exposition. He can sometimes formulate very well, 
 but cannot systematise, and hence his most important 
 opinions, in which the whole meaning of his position 
 rests, are often in the course of his writings found in 
 passages the least lucid and the least prominent." * 
 
 It is perhaps only saying the same thing of Maimon in 
 another form, that he had no mechanical memory, that 
 consequently he was apt to forget the names of persons 
 and of places, sometimes could not remember the name 
 of the street where he lived, or the day or even the 
 
 * Fischer's Geschichte der neuern Philosophic, vol. v., pp. 133-4. 
 U
 
 298 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 month ; and it is not therefore surprising that he often 
 injured himself by neglecting all sort of engagements.* 
 It may be readily inferred that he was particularly 
 negligent about all engagements and regulations bearing 
 upon the mere externals of life. That a man of his 
 condition and character must have been unusually care- 
 less about his personal appearance, follows as a matter 
 of course, and therefore we may pass over the references 
 of Wolff to peculiarities of Maimon's dress. He was 
 usually to be seen out of doors clad in an overcoat which 
 had evidently not been made for himself, and which, we 
 may suspect, was intended as a convenient covering for 
 the defects of under-garments, his boots bearing the 
 weather-stains of many days, and his beard often show- 
 ing that for a good while he had forgotten his engage- 
 ment with his barber. In the latter years of his life he 
 abandoned the use of a wig, as well as of powder in his 
 hair, at a time when these changes must have been 
 regarded as rather daring innovations on prevalent 
 fashion. But in all his surroundings he showed what, 
 for a man of his intellectual attainments, seems a most 
 astonishing disregard of sanitary cleanliness and the 
 comfortable decencies of life. The state of his lodging 
 must have raised a shudder in any one sensitive to 
 disorder or uncleanliness. He acknowledged that he 
 was constantly at war with the housemaid on this subject, 
 
 * Maimoniana, pp. 190-6.
 
 An Autobiography. 299 
 
 as he could never bear to have his room swept and 
 dusted, and he complained of the perpetual annoyance I 
 to which he was exposed in Amsterdam from the exces- 
 sive scruples of the people in regard to tidiness.* It ' 
 may fairly be suspected that the annoyance was consider- 
 ably greater, as it was more justifiable, on the other side. 
 His habits in this respect clung to him to the last, and it 
 was evidently difficult to keep his surroundings tolerable 
 even in the comparatively sumptuous home in which he 
 closed his days. 
 
 The frank confessions of the Autobiography reveal the 
 fact, that the irregularity, which characterised the life of 
 Maimon, sometimes led to a breach of the weightier 
 matters of the law. The habit, which he began in Poland, 
 of seeking relief from external discomfort and internal 
 wretchedness in alcoholic stimulation, grew upon him 
 afterwards ; and as his health began to fail, he used to 
 treat his various complaints by a liberal allowance of 
 various wines and beers which he supposed adapted to 
 their cure.t The liberal allowance was very apt, espe- 
 cially in the evenings, to exceed all reasonable moderation; 
 and the sleepy inhabitants of Berlin were not infrequently 
 disturbed by the half-tipsy philosopher, as he wended 
 his way unsteadily homewards at unseasonable hours, 
 discoursing on all sorts of speculative themes in disagree- 
 
 * Ibid., pp. 90-1. t/^V., pp. 183-8.
 
 300 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 ably loud tones that were occasionally interrupted by the 
 expostulations of a night-watchman.* 
 
 The peculiarly undisciplined manners of Maimon were 
 occasionally shown in violent outbursts of various feelings. 
 Too frequently it was an irritable temper that gave way. 
 The slightest provocation, even the loss of a game at 
 chess, f was apt to cause a painful explosion ; and then 
 his language was certainly far from being restrained by 
 those usages which are found essential to the pleasantness 
 of social intercourse. J The uncontrollable violence of 
 these outbursts was amusingly exhibited in the fact, that 
 sometimes he could not command the intellectual calm 
 requisite for thinking and expressing himself in his 
 acquired German, and, even though it might be a Gentile 
 with whom he quarrelled, he fell back on his Judaeo-Polish 
 mother tongue, which came to him as if by natural instinct. 
 It is but fair, however, to add that these outbursts were 
 often merely the unusually forcible, but not altogether 
 unjustifiable, utterances of an honest indignation at 
 wrong. || 
 
 For this strangely educated man, who in his outward 
 manners seemed to remain a somewhat rude child of 
 nature, was after all ready to yield, not only to an unkindly 
 irritability, but also to the more genial emotions. It is 
 
 * lbid, t pp. 101-4. ^ Ibid., p. 217. 
 
 %Ibid., pp. 109-112, 208, 212-3. 
 
 Ibid,, p. 87. || Ibid., p. 213.
 
 An Autobiography, 301 
 
 pleasing, for example, to know that he had a particular 
 fondness for animals ; and his pets were allowed in his 
 lodging liberties which, however objectionable to a tidy 
 house-maid, showed at least the essential gentleness of 
 his heart. Tutored as he was himself in the severest 
 school of poverty, it is also pleasing to know that he 
 cherished a kindly sympathy for the poor, and was ever 
 ready to help them as he could, sometimes at the cost of 
 no small sacrifice to himself.* The finer sensibilities of 
 his nature were also easily touched by music. Though 
 he had no musical culture, and used to regret that he had 
 had none, an old Hebrew melody, long after he had broken 
 off all connection with the Jews, could move him so 
 deeply that he was obliged, even in company, to seek 
 relief in tears, t For in the uncontrolled simplicity of his 
 nature he allowed his feelings to find their natural vent 
 without much restraint from circumstances; and therefore 
 he was seen at times in the theatre excited to loud sobbing 
 by a tragedy, or to boisterous laughter over a comedy. J 
 Nor is it to be regarded as an unpleasant feature of his 
 character, but rather as an indication of a wholesome 
 check on the general irregularity of his life, that, even 
 after he had thrown off all the peculiar restraints of his 
 national religion, he clung with evident fondness to many 
 of those rabbinical habits which he had cultivated in his 
 
 * Ibid., p. 249. t /#</., p. 88. 
 
 id., p. 230.
 
 302 Solomon Maimon : 
 
 earlier years. From Fischer's account of the style of 
 Maimon's works we have seen how his intellectual work 
 was affected by his Talmudic studies. The criticism is 
 evidently just. Maimon himself had met with it, and 
 acknowledged its justice. He protested indeed that it 
 did not affect the truth of his speculations, though he 
 evidently felt its disadvantages, and laboured at times to 
 acquire a more methodical style.* 
 
 The rabbinical habits of Maimon, however, were 
 most quaintly seen in peculiarities of outward manner. 
 Gesticulations customary in the study of the Talmud he 
 was seen to adopt not infrequently when he forgot him- 
 self in the earnestness of conversation, or when in a 
 company he fell into a brown study, or even in the 
 studies of his retirement. Thus in reading Euler's 
 mathematical works or any other book which required 
 great attention, he would fall into the Talmudic sing- 
 song and rhythmical swing of the body.f 
 
 It is noteworthy also, that, with all the unrestrained 
 rudeness which often characterised his manners, Maimon 
 was not without a certain dignified courtesy ; and when 
 the occasion demanded it, he could turn a polite phrase 
 as prettily as the most accomplished gentleman.! There 
 was, moreover, in Maimon an intrinsic shyness which 
 must have gone a long way to soften the less amiable 
 
 * Ibid., pp. 86-7. Mbid., p. 89. 
 
 jSee, for example, Ibid., pp. 112, 115, 209, 250-1.
 
 An Autobiography. 303 
 
 side of his social character.* Then it is evident that his 
 conversation, in his better moods at least, had a charm 
 which made him a welcome guest in any company. 
 Thus, amid all that may have been repulsive at times, 
 there must have been in Maimon's character a good deal 
 to attract the friendly companionship of others. The 
 Autobiography itself, as well as Wolffs little book, shows 
 that Maimon enjoyed as much as he desired of the 
 cultured society of his time. Being naturally shy, indeed, 
 he rather shrank from company in which intercourse is 
 regulated by a somewhat rigid social code ; and the 
 desire of freedom from such restriction often drove him 
 into company of a much more objectionable kind. He 
 also seems to have entertained a strong dislike to any 
 excessively demonstrative affection. He himself was 
 rather curt in his expressions of courtesy or friendliness 
 towards others, contenting himself generally, on meeting 
 them, with a familiar nod. The lifting of the hat 
 appeared to him meaningless, and a deliberate embrace 
 "in cold blood" was intolerable.! Yet in many 
 instances the attachment of his friends was marked with 
 an unusual degree of warmth, and brought many an 
 hour of sunshine to a life which otherwise would have 
 been shadowed with insufferable gloom. 
 
 Among all Maimon's friends, the most conspicuous 
 place must be given to the man by whose generous 
 
 * Ibid., p. \ Ibid., pp. 165-6.
 
 304 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 hospitality he was able to close his chequered life amid 
 the comforts of a luxurious home. While he was living 
 in a miserable lodging in one of the suburbs of Berlin, 
 he learned from one of his friends that a Silesian noble- 
 man, Graf Kalkreuth, who had formed a high opinion of 
 his writings, was anxious to make his personal acquain- 
 tance. After a good deal of delay, Maimon was at last 
 induced to call upon the Graf at his residence in Berlin. 
 Fortunately he was very favourably impressed with the 
 character of his noble friend ; and the friendship thus 
 begun led before long to his taking up his abode 
 permanently with the Graf.* The generous considera- 
 tion which the host displayed for all the eccentricities of 
 his guest, made this arrangement one of the happiest for 
 the poor philosopher, who since his childhood had 
 seldom enjoyed the comforts of a home. 
 
 But it is evident that the hardships of his life had at 
 an early period begun to tell upon his constitution, and 
 that this was further shattered by irregular habits in his 
 later years. Symptoms of serious trouble in the lungs 
 excited his alarm in the winter of 1795, and he was 
 induced to seek medical advice. Partly from an unwise 
 scepticism in regard to medicine, partly from his usual 
 failure to adhere to any fixed rule in his conduct, the 
 services of his physicians commonly ended with the con- 
 sultation ; he seldom or never acted on their advice, f 
 
 * Ibid., pp. 201-210. \Ibid., pp. 183-8.
 
 An Autobiography. 305 
 
 He lived in indifferent health for five or six years more. 
 When his last illness overtook him, he was living in the 
 house of Graf Kalkreuth at Siegersdorf near Freistadt, 
 in Lower Silesia. The only account of him at this crisis 
 was written by the pastor of Freistadt, for a monthly 
 periodical of the time, entitled Kronos. It forms the 
 close of Wolffs little book ; and as it is the only account, 
 it may be of some interest here. The pastor, Herr 
 Tscheggey, had made the acquaintance of Maimon 
 about the year 1795 ; but their intercourse had become 
 much closer about six weeks before Maimon's death, 
 when he used to visit the pastor two or three times a 
 week. On hearing that Maimon had been confined for 
 some days, the good pastor at once went to see him. He 
 found him in a state of great weakness, unable to leave 
 his room, and besought him earnestly, but in vain, to 
 take medical advice. A few days afterwards he called 
 again, and saw that evidently the end was drawing nigh. 
 Curious to know whether Maimon in this situation would 
 remain true to his principles, he gave the following turn 
 to the conversation, which he professes to report word 
 for word. 
 
 " I am sorry to find you so ill to-day, dear Maimon," 
 said the pastor. 
 
 " There will perhaps be some improvement yet," re- 
 plied Maimon. 
 
 " You look so ill," his friend proceeded, " that I am 
 doubtful about your recovery." 
 
 w
 
 306 Solomon Maimon: 
 
 " What matters it after all ? " said Maimon. " When 
 I am dead, I am gone." 
 
 " Can you say that, dear friend," rejoined the clergy- 
 man, with deep emotion. "How? Your mind, which 
 amid the most unfavourable circumstances ever soared 
 to higher attainments, which bore such fair flowers and 
 fruits shall it be trodden in the dust along with the 
 poor covering in which it has been clothed ? Do you 
 not feel at this moment that there is something in you 
 which is not body, not matter, not subject to the condi- 
 tions of space and time ? " 
 
 "Ah !" replied Maimon, "these are beautiful dreams 
 and hopes " 
 
 " Which will surely be fulfilled," his friend broke in ; 
 and then, after a short pause, added, " You maintained 
 not long ago that here we cannot reach further than to 
 mere legality. Let this be admitted ; and now perhaps 
 you are about to pass over soon into a condition, in 
 which you will rise to the stage of morality, since you 
 and all of us have a natural capacity for it. Why ? 
 Should you not wish now to come into the society of 
 one whom you honoured so much as Mendelssohn ? " 
 
 The zealous pastor says he gave the conversation this 
 turn on purpose, in order to touch this side of the philo- 
 sopher's heart. After a while the dying man exclaimed, 
 " Ay me ! I have been a foolish man, the most foolish 
 among the most foolish and how earnestly I wished it 
 otherwise ! "
 
 An Autobiography. 307 
 
 "This utterance," observed the pastor, "is also a 
 proof that you are not yet in complete accord with your 
 unbelief. No," he added, taking Maimon by the hand, 
 " you will not all die ; your spirit will surely live on." 
 
 " So far as mere faith and hope are concerned, I can 
 go a good way; but what does that help us?" was 
 Maimon's reply. 
 
 " It helps us at least to peace," urged the pastor. 
 
 " I am at peace (Ich bin ruhig)" said the dying man, 
 completely exhausted. 
 
 Here Tscheggey broke off the conversation, as the 
 sufferer was evidently unable to continue it. When he 
 rose to leave, Maimon begged him to stay, or at least to 
 come back again soon. He came back the following 
 morning, but found the patient unconscious. At ten 
 o'clock on the same evening it was the 22nd of Novem- 
 ber, 1800 this strangely tossed life had reached its 
 haven. 
 
 " He died at peace," says the kindly clergyman, 
 " though I do not venture to say from what source the 
 peace was derived. When a few days afterwards I 
 passed the castle of his noble friend, I looked up with 
 sadness to the window of his former room, and blessed 
 his ashes." It is to be regretted that the generous piety 
 of the friendly minister was not universal, and that the 
 ashes of the unfortunate doubter were only with a 
 grudge allowed to find a decent resting-place.
 
 Notes on some Books of Special Interest 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 ALEXANDER GARDNER, 
 
 PAISLEY AND LONDON. 
 
 AT ALL LIBRARIES. 
 
 JAMES HEPBURN, Free Church Minister. 
 
 By SOPHIE F. F. VEITCH, Author of " Angus Graeme, Game- 
 keeper," etc. 2 vols., Crown 8vo., 2 is. 
 
 " A strong story of real life and cannot fail to give Miss Veitch a 
 prominent position among modern novelists. . . . The whole story 
 is exceedingly powerful." Saturday Review. 
 
 " The work of fiction which heads the list may fairly be described as a singularly powerful and 
 fascinating novel. Description by comparison is frequently convenient, though occasionally mis- 
 leading ; but we do not think we shall convey a wrong impression if we say that 'James Hepburn ' 
 bears a strong resemblance to some of the most vigorous and characteristic of Mrs. Oliphant's 
 realistic Scottish stories. . . . James Hepburn is one of the most truly heroic characters in 
 recent fiction, with a certain largeness and grandeur in his heroism which are wonderfully im- 
 pressive, and yet with a homeliness which never permits him to slip for a moment outside the range 
 of pur imaginative belief. In creating an ideal character of unmistakable flesh and blood, Miss 
 Veitch has achieved an unequivocal success, and one or two of the pivot situations in the book are 
 conceived and presented with such dramatic power and sympathetic insight, that in virtue of them 
 alone 'James Hepburn ' takes place among the most remarkable and admirable of recent novels. 
 . . . There are chapters in ' James Hepburn ' of which we feel convinced that the author of 
 Scenes of Clerical Life would not have been ashamed. . . . Such a novel is not only a book 
 to admire, but one for which to be grateful." The Spectator. 
 
 " ' James Hepburn ' is a novel in two volumes, which is quite start- 
 ling in the freshness and beauty of its conception. . . . This book 
 deserves careful reading ; there is much more in it than the mere in- 
 terest of a clever story, and only good can result from its influence." 
 Literary World. 
 
 "The author of 'Angus Graeme, Gamekeeper,' has produced another Scottish novel of re- 
 markable power. 'James Hepburn, Free Church Minister,' is at once a striking character study, a 
 skilful picture of the social life of a country town and district, and a powerful sensational story. 
 It is in the first of these aspects that it displays most original vigour. ... It must be ad- 
 mitted to be one of the strongest productions of the fictional ait that have recently appeared." 
 Scotsman. 
 
 " There can be no question that ' James Hepburn ' is the most notable Scottish story that will be 
 issued in the jubilee year." The Christian Leader.
 
 " And of this tendency towards pure character-painting and everyday incident Miss Sophie 
 Veitch promises to be the best exponent. In the two volumes which contain the story of episodes 
 in the life of lames Hepburn, each character is carefully studied and presented as a finished 
 masterpiece. . . . The book is a drama palpitating with intense and real life, whose author 
 should have a grand professional future." Whitehall Review. 
 
 -The book deserves the highest praise. Hepburn's relations with Lady Ellinor his pure and 
 noble love for her are fitly crowned by his splendid self-sacrifice. . . . The descriptive part 
 of this fine and often brilliant novel is admirably done." London Figaro. 
 
 " No one who begins this story will pause till he has seen the hero through his troubles, and we 
 are sure no one who has done so will think he has spent his time badly." The British Weekly. 
 
 James Hepburn is a story of very unusual power, promise, and desert. . . . The story of 
 Lady Elinor is exceedingly pathetic ; and all her moods, as she gradually progresses along a path 
 of peril, are described with a hand at once sure and delicate. Academy. 
 
 Seldom do we meet with a novel by a comparatively unknown author which can afford such un- 
 alloyed pleasure. . . . It is not every writer who can, like Mrs. Oliphant, throw a glamour 
 over the sordid details of bourgeois life. Amongst the few who can do so Miss Veitch may now 
 claim to rank ; her novel is a remarkable one, and if it does not attain to considerable popularity 
 the fault will not be with the author. . . . There is intense pathos in the loyal struggle of the 
 beautiful young wife who believes herself to be unsympathised with. . . . We had marked 
 more than one passage for quotation, but space warns us that the pleasure must be forgone. We 
 must, however, draw special attention to Lady Ellinor 's withering summary of Radicalism (vol. ii. 
 p. 242). The novel is one of the very few that follows Mr. Weller's recipe, and makes us " wish 
 that there was more of it." Pictorial World, 
 
 " A SUCCESSFUL SCOTCH NOVEL. It is long since a Scottish novel met with such a demand or 
 created such a genuine sensation as has attended the publication of ' James Hepburn, Free 
 Church Minister,' which was issued a few weeks ago by Mr. Gardner, of Paisley, and which we 
 noticed in the week of its publication. We hear that already Mr. Mudie has ordered four sepa- 
 rate supplies, the latest being for a large number of copies, so great is the demand for the story on 
 the part of the subscribers to his library. Miss Sophie Veitch, the authoress, had already made 
 her mark by her fine novel of ' Angus Graeme, Gamekeeper.' " Daily Mail. 
 
 " 'James Hepburn,' by Miss Veitch, is a clever and strong novel. ... Its power and 
 literary skill are undeniable." World. 
 
 A cleverly written story here includes both interesting incident and wall-drawn character." 
 
 OlJfPH 
 
 The Queen. 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO JAMIESON'S SCOT- 
 TISH DICTIONAR Y. By DAVID DONALDSON. Now Ready, 
 Price 253.; Large Paper, 423. 
 
 ' ' The work, taken as a whole, entitles Mr. Donaldson to the gratitude of all 
 interested in the study of philology, for having performed so thoroughly and so 
 well a difficult and laborious task." Scotsman. 
 
 "The soundness of the judgment which he has applied to this portion of his 
 herculean task is only equalled by the fulness of his knowledge of those works 
 which cover the whole period of Scottish history; during which the vernacular was 
 written and spoken by all classes of society. A very large number of the words in 
 the Supplement are recorded by Mr. Donaldson for the first time, at least as Scot- 
 tish words, and of many of them the explanation will be found nowhere else. . . 
 Of Mr. Donaldson's work, it may safely be said that it is the most complete and
 
 scholarly endeavour that has thus far been made to accomplish a very difficult 
 task." Mail. 
 
 " On every page we find evidence that Mr. Donaldson has mastered all the works 
 that cover the entire period of Scottish history during which the vernacular was 
 written and spoken by all classes of society. He has, furthermore, utilised an 
 extensive personal knowledge derived from the living speech of the people ; and 
 alike in the definitions and illustrations he displays unfailing soundness of judgment, 
 shown sometimes as much in what he has omitted as in that which is given. An 
 excellent memoir of Dr. Jamieson, admirable both for the fullness of its information 
 and the generous warmth of its spirit, adds to the value of a work without which, 
 we may safely affirm, no Scottish library can henceforth be regarded as complete." 
 Leader. 
 
 IDYLL OF THE CAPTIVE KING; and 
 
 Other Pieces. With Etchings. By JAMES SHARP. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth, 6s. 
 
 "The author gives undoubted evidence of his right to be heard, and our perusal 
 of this volume enables us to commend his wide reading and knowledge of the world, 
 both in its physical and ethical aspects. It is neealess to add that Mr. Gardner 
 has done his part admirably." The Kelso Chronicle. 
 
 "Whether Mr. Sharp's poetry be regarded in the abstract, or as the product of 
 the hours of leisure of a man of business, much of it is commendable, and much is 
 genuine and sound in feeling." The Scottish News. 
 
 Mr. James Sharp does not miss the occasion in his volume of poems, The 
 Captive King (Alexander Gardner). His Jubilee Ode, like those of better-known 
 bards, scarcely represents his poetic powers, as the following couplet may show : 
 Much as we love the Prince of Wales, the Princess fair, serene, 
 We want no other sovereign ! We want no other Queen ! 
 
 " Tullibardine's Bride," though a little diffuse, is a readable narrative poem based 
 on a Perthshire legend. In other lyrical pieces Mr. Sharp sustains a patriotic vein 
 with fervour. Saturday Review. 
 
 Mr. Sharp's lyrics and shorter pieces, are always pleasing in sentiment, and are 
 often sweet in expression. Scotsman. 
 
 The book of poems which we introduce to our readers to-day has, we think, 
 amply justified its issue in the beautiful form in which it is presented to the public. 
 . . . This delightful book will do something to modify that conception, and to 
 show that mercantile pursuits and the exalted, if traditionally prosaic, dignity of 
 Bailieship are not incompatible with a successful cultivation of the Muses. In 
 depicting one of the most tragic chapters in our national annals, Mr. Sharp has 
 attained charming results in his use of those heroic measures which the genius of 
 Scott and of Edmonstone Aytoun has made classic, and through which these 
 masters have made the 'dim shadows that ere while flitted across the stage of Scottish 
 history to stand forth as living men. . . . We have directed the attention of 
 our readers to these poems because of their intrinsic merits. Strathearn Herald.
 
 If it be the poet's task to feel pleasure in life and discern beauty in nature, to 
 praise virtue and rejoice in love, and make his readers do the same, then Mr. 
 Sharp has succeeded admirably in effecting his purpose. Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 Mr. Sharp is seen at his best in his shorter poems. In these, as a rule, healthy 
 sentiment is expressed in unpietentious verse. Academy. 
 
 SECOND AND ENLARGED EDITION. 
 
 LAW LYRICS. Fcap. 8vo, 35. 6d. 
 
 " The anonymous author of the ' Lyrics ' is he not to be met with among the sheriffs ? plays 
 his tunes for session and vacation on the ' goose-quill ' of the law,' and he manages to produce from 
 that ancient instrument a considerable variety of expression. . . . His pronounced national 
 tastes are admirably shown in ' Oatmeal,' etc. ; in lyrics like ' Stornoway Bay, ' there is the true 
 lyrical gush ; while in such poems as ' A Still Lake,' there is revealed an exquisite power of word- 
 painting. . ." Scotsman.. 
 
 " For neatness and aptness of expression, it is equal to anything we have seen." Scofs Law 
 Review. 
 
 " A very agreeable little book for an idle hour. The author shows himself equally at home in 
 the serious as in the comic." Graphic. 
 
 " They are exceedingly clever, and brimming over with fun and humour. The author has earned 
 a right to be called the Laureate of the Law, for certain it is that he invests the most prosaic of all 
 professions with quite a halo of poetical interest." Nonconformist. 
 
 " Unkempt enthusiasm and rollicking good humour are the chief features of this little volume." 
 Academy. 
 
 "A charming little book. We should seek the author on the bench, not at the bar." Glasgow 
 Daily Mail. 
 
 " Will please not only those ' gentlemen of the long robe' to whom the tiny volume is dedicated, 
 but a far larger circle. It is a delightful book of verses daintily got up." Glasgow Herald. 
 
 " These lyrics will bear comparison with the best work that has been done in this particular line 
 Will rival some of the best of Outram's lyrics in common sense and humour." Scottish News. 
 
 " The lyrics are written for the most part with sprightliness and ease. The more serious and 
 imaginative pieces disclose a rich vein of poetic fancy. There are many who will procure the 
 second edition from a recollection of the pleasure which the first gave them." J 'out nal of Juris- 
 prudence. 
 
 "Will bear comparison with Outram's, Neave's, and Aytoun's. Faultless in rhythm, and re- 
 markable for rhyme." Evening News. 
 
 "The picture seems to us exquisite. Altogether, the work proves the writer to be a true poet." 
 Stirling- Advertiser. 
 
 " The verses are inspirited and inspiring, expressive of the feelings of many in these golden days 
 of summer. To the second edition the author has added some sixty pages brimful of the delightful 
 verses which are found so attractive in the first edition." Weekly Citizen. 
 
 " One of the two strongest and purest writers in the Scottish vernacular that have been added to 
 the choir of Northern minstrels during the present century." Christian Leader. 
 
 " The admirable Law Lyrics . . . bright with strokes of pawky humour, and abounding in 
 verses each of which contains a picture, the volume is one which will become a lasting favourite 
 with its readers. "--The Bailie. 
 
 " Strongly incentive to hearty honest laughter which makes the heart grow brighter, while to 
 staid and grave and reverend seigniors the sweet lark-song-like verses relating to nature, no less 
 form subjects for reflection." Ayrshire Weekly News.
 
 " The little volume is interesting from the first page to the last." Inverness Courier. 
 
 " Some of the verses exhibit a power of picturesque description which it would be difficult to 
 match, except out of the masters of song. Reveal in attractive style the patriotism which animates 
 the poet, and establishes a claim additional to that of his undoubted genius, to a large and appre- 
 ciative Scotch audience." Greenock Telegraph. 
 
 "Such pieces as 'Scotch Porridge, etc.' are amongst the most felicitous examples of Scotch 
 poetry we have seen in recent years." Brechin Advertiser. 
 
 " Strong common sense pervades the whole, and the views of the author are expressed with a 
 directness, force, clearness, and simplicity, which leaves nothing to be desired." North British 
 Advertiser. 
 
 " 9^ a h'gh'v captivating nature, the author being possessed of a keen sense of the humourous." 
 Stirling Observer. 
 
 " Equal to anything of their kind known to us after Burns. A very genial and enjoyable 
 volume." Aberdeen Gazette. 
 
 " He expresses himself with a felicity and pawky humour that equal Lord Neaves and Outran 
 at their best, and in several poems the natural grace and pith of expression remind one more of 
 Burns than any other writer. This may seem pitching it very high, but in our opinion, the poems 
 will bear out the assertion. We recommend it to all in the profession of its author, and to everyone 
 who can appreciate true humour and good poetry." The People's Friend. 
 
 " Many of the lyrics which celebrate the charms of rural life and scenery are extremely fine, dis- 
 playing as they do rare observing powers, a rich fancy, and flowing tasteful language." Dumfries 
 Standard. 
 
 " He is a follower of Robert Burns and finds in the Court, and in the Temple, an inspiration 
 which the great Scotch poet found in the fields of Ayrshire." Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 "He possesses the power of writing simple flowing verse in an eminent degree." Literary 
 Werld. 
 
 THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 
 
 AND THE SALVATION OF THE FEW. A Criticism 
 of Natural Law in the Spiritual World, By Rev. A. WILSON. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 25. 6d. Post free. 
 
 " In a former number of this Review we drew attention to two or three of the 
 main fallacies of Professor Drummond's shallow but attractive book. We are glad 
 to see that Mr. Alexander Wilson has, with a scientific knowledge equal to Pro- 
 fessor Drummond's, and with a logical faculty far superior, subjected it to a far 
 more systematic and exhaustive analysis. Those who were interested in the dazzling 
 pages of Natural Law in the Spiritual World, but not blinded by their glitter, will 
 welcome this justification of their doubts in the solid form of facts and arguments, 
 and those who were fascinated by the Professor's brilliant rhetoric and imagery will 
 have a rather painful awakening. They will see the idol shattered which they had 
 to fall down and worship as a condition of attaining to an intellectual standpoint 
 from which they might see all known facts in their harmony and continuity. It is, 
 no doubt, very fascinating to be able to harmonize and to systematize ; but suppose 
 your theory of law, identical in the natural and in the spiritual worlds, results in 
 the necessity of assuming that man is nothing more than a part of material nature 
 until he is "converted," and of believing that the survival of the fittest means the 
 salvation of the few (according to the analogy of the seeds of an orchid, of about 
 one person in a generation), would a God who has made men so be the object of
 
 religious feeling, or this spiritual world, with its rare and lonely tenants, be worth 
 arguing for ? It is probable that few readers of this new " analogy " drew such in- 
 ferences, but were merely interested in Professor Drummond's spiritual and scientific 
 gymnastics ; but for the thoughtful few who may have been disturbed by them it is 
 well that he has been answered by one so capable, both from a Christian and 
 scientific point of view, as Mr. Wilson." Saturday Review. 
 
 "It is this fallacy, the presumption that the laws of matter are continuous 
 through the spiritual universe, that Mr. Wilson finds himself first called on to meet ; 
 and he does so by contending that the principle of continuity applies only if the 
 spiritual universe be itself material, and not necessarily even them, inasmuch as 
 there are in the material universe imponderable bodies to which the law of gravita- 
 tion, for example, does not extend. . . . Mr. Wilson has written a very able, 
 acute, and temperate criticism, in a thoroughly religious spirit, with perfect courtesy 
 to his opponent ; and we should be glad to think that his work would be widely 
 read. ' ' Scotsman. 
 
 ". . . The critique is interesting, clever, earnest, and, we may add, respect- 
 ful to Professor Drummond. . . . Here, we think, Mr. W r ilson occupies a 
 very strong indeed, an invulnerable position. This is not, however, so much the 
 critic's own position as that of other writers, but, he appears to us, in great measure, 
 to recognise and accept it. His own words farther on are : ' The identification of 
 the natural and spiritual laws, if taken absolutely, would lead to the confounding 
 together of mind and body, God and Nature.' . . . We are much interested 
 in the author's criticism of the Professor's arguments touching the subject which 
 
 gives the book its title. It forms an earnest and powerful chapter "- 
 
 Literary World. 
 
 "An answer to Professor Drummond, a work of some importance has just made 
 its appearance. It is certain that Mr. Wilson's able examination of ' Natural Law 
 in the Spiritual World' will attract a good deal of attention and controversy. " 
 London Figaro. 
 
 "Mr. Wilson, with great vigour and intrepidity, criticises the Professor's con- 
 clusions. . . . The great question raised by Professor Drummond's work is 
 that of the relation of the natural law of the survival of the fittest to the doctrine of 
 election. His critic combats this conclusion with much acuteness and ability." 
 Glasgow Herald. 
 
 WITH PORTRAIT AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 DAVID KENNEDY, The Scottish Singer: 
 
 Reminiscences of his Life and Work. By MARJORY KENNEDY. 
 And SINGING ROUND THE WORLD: A Narrative oj 
 his Colonial and Indian Tours. By DAVID KENNEDY, Junr. 
 Demy 8vo, 480 pages, cloth extra, 75. 6d. Post free. 
 
 "These unique musical tours were from time to time described by the chief 
 musician's son David in different books having reference to the Colonies, to India, 
 and to the Cape. They have now found a graceful and appropriate preliminary 
 chapter in the form of a memoir of David Kennedy himself. . . . The memoir
 
 has been prepared by Miss Marjory Kennedy with much taste and judgment, and 
 will be read with interest, not only for the sake of her father's characteristic letters 
 and stories of early life, but as recalling in various other ways pleasant memories 
 associated with a family of rare gifts and graces." Glasgow herald. 
 
 LIFE IN SHETLAND. By JOHN RUSSELL. 
 
 Crown 8vo, Cloth, 35. 6d. Post free. 
 
 "Contains a great quantity of very interesting information about Shetland and 
 its people. By a happy instinct, Mr. Russell has been led to write about those 
 things which he knows thoroughly namely, his own doings and experiences. 
 There follows the story of the strange minister at the ' second diet ' of a Presbytery 
 meeting who wanted to propose a toast, but was informed by the horrified moderator 
 that ' God's people in that part of the country were not in the habit of drinking 
 toasts.' The rebuked stranger quietly rejoined that he 'had never before seen 
 God's people drink so much toddy." Much, both edifying and entertaining, might 
 be quoted from this unique volume, but enough may have been said to gain for it 
 the public attention it deserves." Scotsman. 
 
 "We owe much to men like Mr. Russell, who, without any pretence, note down 
 what comes under their observation of an interesting nature regarding curious cus- 
 toms, habits of life, and folk-lore, among the people with whom they come into 
 contact. . : . He is never entirely dull, and we prefer such volumes which 
 bring us into actual contact with a poor but unsophisticated people to many preten- 
 tious stories. We foHow the minister as he goes out and in among the people, 
 suffering hardship, visiting, catechising, getting up a stock of fifty sermons, relating 
 odd anecdotes, and noting down peculiarities. We recommend this book to all 
 who are interested in the subject. It makes luminous to us the obscure lives and 
 labours of an interesting people. " Pen and Pencil. 
 
 " An interesting and thoroughly realistic picture of life in Shetland is presented to 
 us in this volume by Mr. Russell, whose sojourn in those Northern islands gave him 
 good opportunity of observing the place and the people. . . . Good stories, and 
 brief observations and remarks on the geology, natural history, and antiquities of the 
 islands, and the peculiar manners and customs of the people, ever and anon crop out 
 in the narrative. ... It contains, however, a faithfully accurate and very reliable 
 description of Ultima Thule. And as the reader closes the volume he will find that 
 he has made acquaintance at once with a singular country, and a pleasant guide to 
 its chief points of interest." Aberdeen Free Press. 
 
 "A bright and entertainining volume, and a valuable volume withal, anent 
 Shetland and the Shetlanders. ... I know no book on Shetland equal to 
 this of Mr. Russell's. Its style is pointed and racy ; the author talks about what 
 he knows and what he knows intimately. To put the matter in a word, there isn't 
 a dull page in ' Three Years in Shetland,' from the title to the sentence at the close 
 in which Mr. Russell expresses the wish that ' all good things may attend ' the 
 islanders among whom he spent three delightful years." Bailie. 
 
 " A very readable book about a very interesting people. ... A minister, 
 of course, enjoys altogether exceptional opportunities, and Mr. Russell seems to 
 have made good use of them. He writes frankly about things as he found them,
 
 which he is perhaps all the better able to do for his change to the position of an 
 outsider." Glasgow Herald. 
 
 " It contains some of the best clerical stories though not always of the most 
 dignified nature, nor such as will tend to exalt the cloth in the estimation of rude 
 and irreverent laics that we have come across, and it gives very interesting, and 
 for the most part accurate, details of the everyday life of the people." Elgin 
 Courant and Courier. 
 
 UNIFORM WITH "BENDERLOCH." 
 
 LOCH CRERAN. Notes from the West 
 
 Highlands. By W. ANDERSON SMITH. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
 Post free. 
 
 " Readers of Mr. W. Anderson Smith's Benderloch will welcome from the same 
 pen a second instalment of notes of natural history in the Western Highlands en- 
 titled Loch Creran. . . . The influences of free moorland air and buoyant 
 water, of a spacious heaven and wide horizon, are with us, and give zest to the 
 study of fish and fowl and flower that are liberally displayed. Whether it is the 
 flight of a solitary bunting, or the habitat of the pipe-fish (Sygnathtis), the progress 
 of Myce in the refluent tide or a nested robin domiciled among strange perils, the 
 scenic suggestion cannot fail to persuade the senses. A large and distinctive por- 
 tion of Mr. Smith's book is devoted to the investigation of the rich spoil of the 
 dredger, as might be anticipated of so enthusiastic a student of fish culture, and 
 many of the most interesting pages describe excursions on the waters of Etive and 
 Creran and Benderloch, or among the rocky pools and stretches of sand exposed by 
 the ebbing sea. By sea or land, on the wild hills or among the flowers and insects 
 of his garden, Mr. Smith has^ever something to say that is worth hearing, and he 
 says it with admirable clearness and force." Saturday Review. 
 
 "These charming notes from the Western Highlands are truly fascinating. 
 Entering into the very spirit of the life and scenery by which he is surrounded, 
 Mr. Smith gives his readers the benefit of the vast and out-of-the-way stores of in- 
 formation he has gathered in all branches of natural history. Each month, as it 
 passes, has a chapter devoted to all its manifold changes and doings, and we get 
 many glimpses of charming excursions, not unmixed with danger, when overtaken 
 by those sudden climatic changes to which that grand wild mountainous coast is 
 often exposed. An enthusiastic naturalist, the writer does not ride his hobby to 
 death, but, like a true lover of Nature, his sketches are bright and fresh, and full 
 of vivid descriptions, interspersed with many curious anecdotes and facts relating 
 to both the animal and vegetable kingdoms. No better or more instructive guide 
 to the fauna and flora of the Western Highlands could be had than Mr. Anderson 
 Smith's most pleasant book." Literary World. 
 
 " They will be well rewarded who follow Mr. Anderson Smith along the sea- 
 shore, the hill-side, or the trouting stream ; they will find how much a quiet and 
 attentive eye can glean from a loving study of the denizens of earth, air, and water. 
 The book is provided with a good index, and those who have not leisure or 
 patience to read it through at a sitting may dip where they please. Like Mr. 
 Smith's dredge, they hardly ever fail to bring up something of interest." Scotsman.
 
 "Students of natural history who read Benderloch, by Mr. W. A. Smith, will 
 give a cordial welcome to Loch Creran, another and even more attractive work by 
 the same observant author. With the exception, perhaps, of Mr. Jefferson, no 
 living naturalist is gifted with a more picturesque manner of depicting the habits of 
 birds, beasts, and fishes than is Mr. Smith. . . . Then what a vast fund of 
 entertaining instruction is gathered in these excursions ; a royal road to natural 
 history is laid down by Mr. Smith, and the student follows it leisurely, culling 
 charming bits of zoological lore here and there. One never knows what a new 
 day may bring forth when accompanying Mr. Smith on his rambles. . . . 
 There is, indeed, no end to the curious things observed by Mr. Smith. He seems 
 only to sleep at home, for, with his waterproof handy, he roams about all day in 
 the open air, and comes home at night with a well-filled note-book. . . . The 
 wealth of interesting matter in this delightful volume is, however, tempting us 
 beyond our space, and we think we have collated enough to make all who love the 
 country, its sights and sounds, and health-giving breezes read the work itself." 
 Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 " To those who are familiar with Mr. Anderson Smith's Benderloch, no intro- 
 duction or recommendation will be necessary on behalf of his new book, Loch 
 Creran. The work is, in fact, as the preface explains, simply a continuation of 
 the natural history sketches of which Benderlocn is composed. . . . With 
 what a happy combination of vivacity and patience, insight and enthusiasm, Mr. 
 Anderson Smith scans the open pages of that great tome of nature. . . . 
 Treasure- trove of this kind, along with notes of a more strictly scientific character, 
 is freely scattered through Mr. Anderson Smith's pages ; and so it will have a 
 charm for every reader with healthy natural tastes." Scottish Leader. 
 
 " There are few books in the language more delightful than White's Selborne, 
 and in Mr. W. Anderson Smith that earnest Hampshire naturalist has a dis 
 tinguished successor. His most recent volume is worthy of the author of Ben- 
 der loch, a book which, it may be hoped, is already familiar to our readers. . . 
 The variety of his researches on land and water prevent monotony. The author 
 has much to tell, and he explains what he has seen and done without waste of 
 words." Illustrated London News. 
 
 " Mr. Anderson Smith's observations extend over 1881-2, and refer mainly to 
 the natural history of the district, but he deals also with other aspects of Nature, 
 and his book is well worth reading." Times. 
 
 "There can be no hesitation in assuring lovers of Nature that in Loch Creran 
 they will find a work after their own heart. . . . The charm of the volume 
 before us is that it is not the hasty outcome of the bookmaker feverishly eager to 
 piece together into a volume odds and ends of information. There is an air of 
 leisureliness about Loch Creran. Month by month are given the results of two 
 years' close intercourse with loch and sea, field and wood. The work is one to be 
 enjoyed by those who share the writer's tastes and spirit, and not to be rushed by 
 the heedless." Graphic. 
 
 " Every page has its charm, something at once to instruct the mind and to tickle 
 and amuse the fancy. It is not a book to be read through at one sitting, but one 
 to dip into occasionally and to ruminate over in pleased contentment. Perhaps its 
 worth will be best appreciated by those taking a holiday in the country, or, above 
 all, at the seaside. And it will serve as a very efficient guide to persons beginning 
 the study of natural history, directing them what and how to observe. Many a 
 capital story he gives illustrating the remarkab'e intelligence of the lower animals. 
 Some of these border upon the marvellous. " Perthshire Constitutional and journal.
 
 IO 
 
 ' ' Chatty and discursive, rather than elaborate, the interest in ' Loch Creran ' is 
 well maintained throughout, and the book appeals to the general reader, by whom 
 it will doubtless be perused with greater pleasure than a more highly scientific 
 disquisition. " Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " He is a charming companion. ' His descriptions are vivid and true to nature 
 whether he makes us shiver and feel glad of the shelter of the house, as he tells us 
 of winter's storms and floods, or whether he fills our hearts with a longing for the 
 freshness and gladness of spring as he notes the signs of its advent on the shores of 
 Loch Creran." Glasgow Herald. 
 
 OLD CHURCH LIFE IN SCOTLAND: 
 
 Lectures on Kirk-Session and Presbytery Records. Second Series. 
 , By ANDREW EDGAR, D.D. Demy 8vo, cloth, 73. 6d. Post free. 
 
 " Antiquaries may welcome the minister of Mauchline as an elder brother of 
 their craft. We have not seen the first series of lectures, but certainly these con- 
 tain much that is queer and quaint. Odd people, these Scotch folks ; but there is 
 a homeliness and a reverence about them which we greatly value. Our author is 
 evidently of the Established Church, and knows most about the old customs of that 
 body, of which he writes with a twinkle in his eye which causes our eye to twinkle 
 also. The grim want of humour in some of the proceedings is about the same 
 thing as the presence of humour : you may laugh till you cry, and cry till you 
 laugh ; between the tremendously solemn and the ridiculous there is but a step. 
 We have been so interested with the lectures that we must get the former volume. 
 What times those must have been when guests at a funeral began to meet at ten in 
 the morning, though the body might not be moved till three or four ! Five or six 
 hours ! How did they spin them out? No marvel that the Kirk-Session had to 
 hear charges of drunkenness. Such books as these are the best of history, leading 
 us indeed into byways and lone paths which the general historian never traces. "- 
 
 0. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 MY COLLEGE DAYS: The Autobiography 
 
 of an Old Student. Edited by R. MENZIES FERGUSSON, M.A., 
 Author of " Rambles in the* Far North," &c. 8vo, cloth, 55. 
 Post free. 
 
 " Mr. Fergusson, either as author or as editor, has well earned our gratitude by 
 giving us a volume which all may read with enjoyment and pleasure. 
 Space and its limits will not allow us to dwell on many other points of interest to 
 be found in this entertaining volume; but we cannot pass without mentioning the 
 worthy dame who said, in praise of her preacher : ' There's ae thing aboot yon 
 man he's a grand roarer.' Nor must we forget the careful landlady who was 
 always anxious to know if her student-lodger was as yet an unengaged man, or, to 
 use her own graphic phrase, was 'a bund sack set by.' . . ." Literary World. 
 
 "We own to a suspicion that in this instance Mr. Fergusson has been his own
 
 II 
 
 literary executor. Whether this be the case or not, he has no reason to be ashamed 
 of the bequest. The sketches have a pleasant grace of literary style, and a good 
 deal of power in description of character-sketching, while there is in the writer a 
 subtle under-strain of pawky humour, and he has brought together and put per- 
 manently on record a number of traditions of University life in Edinburgh and St. 
 Andrews that are well worth preservation. . . . Our old student's reminiscences 
 of St. Andrews, where he took the theological course after graduating in arts at 
 Edinburgh, are not less lively or interesting than those he sets down respecting his 
 Alma Mater ; and his book is likely to take a place both on the shelves and in the 
 enduring regard of many readers who have had similar experiences and tasted 
 similar pleasures. A word of praise is due to the excellence of its typography and 
 get-up." Scottish Leader. 
 
 "We think the verdict will be that Mr. Fergusson has done well in publishing 
 this thoughtful book. It abounds in vigorous, and, in many cases, eloquent 
 delineations of University life ; it is sympathetic in its spirit and catholic in its tone, 
 especially when dealing with such subjects as the stage, so frequently abused. Its 
 author was a student of the Universities of Edinburgh, St. Andrews, and Oxford, 
 his reminiscences of which are often humorous, and always interesting. Some of 
 the anecdotes recorded in this volume regarding the Edinburgh Professors are 
 exceedingly entertaining. . . . We venture to predict for this autobiography a 
 wide circulation." Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 "The book is eminently readable, very quiet for the most part, but not without 
 a few touches of gaiety and sprightly humour ; and it betokens no little culture 
 together with a strong poetic tendency. The contents are almost entirely confined 
 to sketches of life at Scottish Universities, with some playful personal satire, of 
 which various Professors, some mentioned by name and others denoted by initials, 
 are the objects in chief, although the peculiarities of certain landladies whose 
 province it is, or was, to let lodgings to students at Edinburgh or elsewhere, come 
 in for their share of more or less satirical delineation. But there is nothing spiteful, 
 nothing bitter, nothing cynical in the mode of treatment. Two chapters are de- 
 voted to a sketch, brief but graphic and sympathetic, of academic Oxford, whither 
 the author went to sojourn and to study for two months." Illustrated London News. 
 
 "This is a delightful book, calculated to afford much pleasurable amusement of 
 a quiet kind. It is written in a light sparkling style. . . . The book itself is 
 an enjoyable one, and perhaps none will read it with greater relish than the old 
 fogies who see in it much of what they themselves passed through, and who, by the 
 perusal, are led to recal, with mingled feelings, the aspirations, the freshness, and 
 the frolic of their own College fays." Perthshire Constitutional. 
 
 "By those who have passed through the Universities it will be read with consider- 
 able pleasure, affording as it does such happy reminiscences of ' College days,' with 
 their grave, plodding seriousness, or that more boisterous playfulness which is sup- 
 posed to be the characteristic of students as a class. Those, again, who are simply 
 outsiders, and have had no College days whatever, will be charmed by the recital 
 here given of the doings of the students, and the customs associated with the res- 
 pective Universities, the pen-portraits of the several professors, the opinions ex- 
 pressed regarding men and things, the poetry, original and selected, and the hun- 
 dred and one subjects here treated of by a man of observant nature possessing faci- 
 lity of expression, besides a keen sense and appreciation of the humorous. . . ." 
 Stirling Observer. 
 
 " Many a Varsity man, who has won his degree in the modest ' little city, worn 
 and grey,' will welcome the appearance of Mr. R. M. Fergusson's College Days.
 
 12 
 
 Redolent every page of it, of the class-room, and the wild Bohemianism of student 
 life, and bristling with the ' classic ' ditties which have so often made the halls of 
 St. Salvator's resound, here is material for a mental revel in the past." Northern 
 Chronicle. 
 
 " This series of autobiographical notes deserve recognition, if only because the 
 style is perfectly natural and perfectly good-natured. . . . The book contains 
 several capital anecdotes and some excellent verse." London Figaro. 
 
 " But after all the charm of the volume lies in the whole life of a student which 
 is presented to us, for his joys and his troubles, his amusements and his hard reading, 
 are here written of by one who has evidently experienced all. Scattered throughout 
 these pages are numerous verses, some original, some well-known students' songs. 
 The original verses are very good. . . ." Stirling Journal. 
 
 "The volume contains some very excellent poems which are worthy of finding, 
 and doubtless will find, a place as verses to future songs. There is not a chapter in 
 the book which is not thoroughly entertaining." The Tribune. 
 
 "The 'Old Student' has to speak of Scotch Universities, Edinburgh, to wit, and 
 St. Andrews, while he gives some impressions, gained as an outsider, of Oxford. 
 
 There is much that is interesting and entertaining, some good stories, and 
 generally a pleasant picture of a happy and busy life." Spectator. 
 
 "The writer is always entertaining and kindly, is wise in season, and also desipil 
 in loco, and tells some good stories professors being naturally his chief subjects." 
 Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " It is, to say the least, eminently probable that Mr. Fergusson relates his own 
 experiences in Edinburgh and St. Andrews. He does so in a sufficiently lively and 
 ' freshman ' style. . . . My College Days is, on the whole, as readable as any 
 book of the kind that has recently been published." The Academy. 
 
 " Mr. R. Menzies Fergusson paints life as he thinks he saw it as a young man at 
 St. Andrews and Edinburgh, in My College Days. This ' autobiography of an old 
 student ' contains much interesting reminiscence, and Mr. Fergusson has perhaps 
 not erred in introducing into his text specimens of the verse into which some of his 
 Caledonian student contemporaries were in the habit of dropping occasionally. Mr. 
 Fergusson's little book should find many a sympathetic reader among former alumni 
 of the Scottish Universities, for he writes without affectation.' Graphic. 
 
 ' Seldom have we had more pleasure than in the perusal of these reminiscences of 
 College days. No one who has gone through the curriculum of a Scotch University 
 can fail to attest the fidelity with which his experience here finds expression. 
 'An Old Student' was privileged to have more than one alma mater. He could 
 boast the fostering care of Edinburgh, of St. Andrews, and of Oxford, and of all 
 these he has most pleasant reminiscences. Our author's experiences at Oxford will 
 repay perusal. The whole book, written in a most happy, though thoughtful and 
 affectionate strain, must incite the most cordial sympathy of all whose student days 
 have not been forgotten, while the general public will peruse it with responsive 
 hearts and a regretful feeling that they have missed the experiences of which it 
 treats. ' Brechin Advertiser. 
 
 'The minister of Logic, who made a decided hit with Rambles in the Far North, 
 has attempted a very difficult bit of work in My College Days. This purports to be 
 the MS. legacy of a College friend who died young after some experience of student 
 life in Edinburgh, St. Andrews, and Oxford. The fiction will impose upon nobody, 
 although it may shield the editor from some blame, for while there is mirth and
 
 13 
 
 vigour and kindly reminiscence, there is also some very sharp criticism, and much 
 reference to Academic dignitaries who are still in the flesh, and maybe sensitive and 
 inclined to sting when they find some of their class jokes not merely in print but 
 bound in a book. ... If certain Edinburgh divines beguile a leisure hour over 
 these pages, they will for once see themselves as the keen-witted see them, and be 
 amazed at the impudence of the rising generation. Everybody who knows Edin- 
 burgh will recognise the portrait of the preacher who is likened to Dr. Andrew 
 Thomson in one thing 'There's ae thing about yon man, he's a grand roarer.' 
 The St. Andrews part is full and cleverly done, and will have a charm for most 
 alumni of the 'College of the scarlet gown,' because it contains a large number of 
 the songs, original and selected, with which the lobby of the Natural Philosophy 
 class-room was wont to resound." Elgin Courant. 
 
 "The style is lively, and the descriptions of scenes of student life are graphic. 
 The account of the election of Rector at Edinburgh will doubtless interest many, 
 and the chapter dealing with landladies, their varieties and idiosyncracies, is 
 humorous." Morning Post. 
 
 " To recent students of our two greatest Scottish Universities Edinburgh and 
 St. Andrews My College Days is charged with intense interest, though its racy 
 humour and chatty discursiveness will render it attractive reading to those un- 
 initiated in academic mysteries and innocent of student frivolities. The life of an 
 Edinburgh student, in college and out of college, in the classroom, the debating 
 society, the theatre, and the church, is described with untiring vivacity. 
 Whether author or merely editor, Mr. Menzies Fergusson is to be sincerely con- 
 gratulated upon his success. Reminiscence is a species of literature not always 
 instructive, not always even entertaining ; in Mr. Fergusson's hands it becomes 
 both. " Fifeshire Journal. 
 
 "We think the verdict of every impartial reader will be that Mr. Fergusson has 
 done well in publishing this book. It abounds in vigorous, and, in many instances, 
 mipressive descriptions of University life ; it is enlivened at judicious intervals with 
 original verses, which evince lyrical power ; its style is admirably condensed and 
 clear ; it is sympathetic in its spirit and catholic in its tone, especially when dealing 
 with such subjects as the stage and its modern exponents by narrow-minded writers 
 so frequently abused." Ayr Observer. 
 
 "It is pleasantly written, is full of the fun of student life, full, too, of its hard- 
 ships, abounds with excellent stories, is very discriminating in professional criticism, 
 while scattered throughout the racy pages are many snatches of jovial college songs 
 recorded nowhere else. . . . Altogether the volume is very readable, and no 
 student, at all events, can find a dull page in it. " Kelso Chronicle. 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF COWRIE HOUSE. 
 
 An Historical Study. By Louis A. BARBE'. Fcap. 410, 6s. 
 
 In this new work on the interesting and mysterious episode of Scottish History, 
 usually known as the Gowrie Conspiracy, the author has not only submitted the 
 old materials to a close examination, but also thrown new light on the subject by 
 the help of letters to be found in the Record Office, but overlooked or suppressed 
 by former historians, of documents recently discovered by the Commission on 
 Historical MSS., and also of important papers preserved in the French Archives.
 
 "A treasure of almost priceless thought and criticism.'''' Contemporary. 
 Review. 
 
 In the Press. Second Edition, Thoroughly Revised. Cr. 8vo, 333 pp., 7s. 6d. 
 
 WIT, WISDOM, AND PATHOS, 
 
 FROM THE PROSE OF 
 
 HEINRICH HEINE. ',.-'' 
 
 WITH A FEW PIECES FROM THE "BOOK OF SONGS." 
 
 SELECTED AND TRANSLATED BY 
 
 J. SNODGRASS. 
 
 " Mr. Snodgrass has produced a book in which lazy people will find a 
 great deal to please them. They can take it up at any moment, and open 
 it on any page with the certainty of finding some bright epigram ; they 
 need not turn down the page on shutting up the volume, as it matters 
 little where they resume. There is nothing jarring in the whole book." 
 Athenizum, April 19, 1877. 
 
 "No Englishman of culture who is unacquainted with Heine can fail to 
 derive a new intellectual pleasure from Mr. Snodgrass's pages." Contem- 
 porary Review, September 1880. 
 
 "Mr. Snodgrass would appear to have saturated himself with Heine 
 literature, to have so caught Heine's mode of thought and his turns of 
 expression quaint, droll, swift, and scathing by turns that the trans- 
 lator would appear to have had no more difficulty in presenting Heine as 
 he was to the reader than he would have in presenting his own thoughts." 
 Glasgow Herald, March 31, 1879.
 
 " Mr. Snodgrass, in his ' Wit,' &c., has done a great service in this 
 respect, presenting as it were a full-length miniature of the man, clear and 
 effective, wherein his characteristic expression is faithfully caught, and 
 where, if we look carefully, we can see him as he really was, for he is 
 made to paint his own portrait." British Quarterly Review, October 1881. 
 
 " Mr. Snodgrass has certainly done great service to English literature in 
 presenting us with a compact little volume like that before us." Spectator. 
 
 "A word of cordial praise is due to the translator, Mr. J. Snodgrass, 
 for his admirable performance of a very difficult task. His book is one to 
 welcome and to keep as a treasure of almost priceless thought and criti- 
 cism. " Contemporary Review, February iSSl. 
 
 " Mr. Snodgrass is to be thanked for a very seasonable bit of work." 
 Examiner, April 26, 1879. 
 
 " We are bound to say that Mr. Snodgrass has done his work exception- 
 ally well." The Literary World, May 9, 1879. 
 
 " Mr. Snodgrass has made a valuable addition to English literature in 
 this volume, and has given us a most attractive and efficient introduction 
 to the study of Heine." The Nonconformist, August 20, 1879. 
 
 "He has performed his task with skill, tact, and judgment; and it is 
 easy to perceive that he has a thorough acquaintance with his author and 
 sympathy for his matter." Notes and Queries, April 19, 1879. 
 
 "The result of Mr. Snodgrass's attempt has been the production of a 
 volume which, for variety and interest, may be pronounced one of the 
 most successful books of the season." Aberdeen Journal, March 26, 1879. 
 
 " In Heine, whose prose writings in German fill well on to a score of 
 volumes, we find in remarkable combination the best qualities of German 
 thought, along with the sparkle and brilliancy of an accomplished French- 
 man's style." Aberdeen Daily Free Press, April 2\, 1879. 
 
 " Mr. Snodgrass has done his selection and translation admirably well, 
 and we owe him thanks for a volume which has in it more wit of the 
 highest sort, and more political insight, than any book that has lately been 
 given to the public." Vanity Fair, November 8, 1879. 
 
 " The compiler of this interesting little volume, Mr. J. Snodgrass, is 
 perfectly right in saying that Heine is chiefly known to English readers as 
 the author of the ' Book of Songs.' "The Week, April 19, 1879. 
 
 "The 'English Fragments' have a special interest for the English 
 reader; but the selection from Heine's prose works in general, most judi-
 
 16 
 
 ciously made and excellently translated by Mr. Snodgrass, gives a much 
 completer view of the qualities of the writer's mind." Saturday Review. 
 
 " Mr. Snodgrass has not essayed to give at all an exhaustive collection 
 of Heine's witty, wise, and pathetic sayings ; but he has selected, in the 
 order in which they occur in the complete German edition, such extracts 
 as have specially commended themselves to himself. He has produced a 
 very enjoyable volume, exactly adapted to the taste of lazy and luxurious 
 persons, who can just take up the book for five minutes to read a delight- 
 ful passage, complete in itself, and not long enough to fatigue the most 
 fastidious attention. " Academy, May 31, 1879. 
 
 ALEX. GARDNER, PAISLEY AND LONDON.