arket, Maimon had to face the
suspicious scrutiny of the most dreaded of these detectives, who was
puzzled and provoked by a belief he had seen him before, "evidently
looking on me," as Maimon put it afterwards, "as a comet, which comes
nearer to the earth the second time than the first, and so makes the
danger more threatening."

Of a sudden this lynx-eyed bully espied a Hebrew Logic by Maimonides,
annotated by Mendelssohn. "Yes! yes!" he shrieked; "that's the sort of
books for me!" and, glaring threateningly at the philosopher, "Pack,"
he said. "Pack out of Berlin as quick as you can, if you don't wish to
be led out with all the honors."

Maimon was once more in desperate case. His money was all but
exhausted by the journey, and the outside of the Rosenthaler gate
again menaced him. All his sufferings had availed him nothing: he was
back almost at his starting-point.

But fortune favors fools. In a countryman settled at Berlin he found a
protector. Then other admirers of talent and learning boarded and
lodged him. The way was now clear for Culture.

Accident determined the line of march. Maimon rescued Wolff's
_Metaphysics_ from a butterman for two groschen. Wolff, he knew, was
the pet philosopher of the day. Mendelssohn himself had been inspired
by him--the great brother-Jew with whom he might now hope some day to
talk face to face.

Maimon was delighted with his new treasure--such mathematical
exposition, such serried syllogisms--till it came to theology. "The
Principle of Sufficient Reason"--yes, it was a wonderful discovery.
But as proving God? No--for that there was _not_ Sufficient Reason.
Nor could Maimon harmonize these new doctrines with his Maimonides or
his Aristotle. Happy thought! He would set forth his doubts in Hebrew,
he would send the manuscript to Herr Mendelssohn. Flushed by the hope
of the great man's acquaintance, he scribbled fervidly and posted the
manuscript.

He spent a sleepless night.

Would the lion of Berlin take any notice of an obscure Polish Jew?
Maimon was not left in suspense. Mendelssohn replied by return. He
admitted the justice of his correspondent's doubts, but begged him not
to be discouraged by them, but to continue his studies with unabated
zeal. O, judge in Israel! _Nathan Der Weise_, indeed.

Fired with such encouragement, Maimon flung himself into a Hebrew
dissertation that should shatter all these theological cobwebs, that
by an uncompromising Ontology should bri