I next chose a subject in which I thought it probable that I should not meet with any interference. I formed the design of writing the History of the Jews, though I was sensible that it would require much reading, and that I must wander through a dreary wilderness, unenlivened by one spot of verdure. My curiosity was strongly excited, and I determined to persevere in my attempt to investigate the fate of this wonderful people. I began the introduction with their state under the Persian monarchy, after their restoration from the Babylonish captivity. The standard works for this History were Josephus, and Basnage, the latter of whom brings his narrative down only to the 19th century. After this period, I was obliged to compile from desultory publications and manuscripts. I had at this time the privilege of corresponding with the celebrated Gregoire, who had attained great celebrity for the conspicuous part he acted during the French Revolution, and exerted all his energy in the first constitutional assembly to procure the rights of citizens for the Jews. He had the goodness to send me some writings in their favor, which increased the interest I felt in this oppressed people. Previously to concluding this gloomy detail of the difficulties I encountered, while writing for the press, I would first notice, that I was obliged to exert myself to the utmost to overcome my natural timidity, and accommodate myself to my situation. After the age and infirmities of my father prevented him from assisting me, as he had formerly done, in selling and exchanging the copies of my work, I was necessitated to exert myself in doing business out of the female line, which exposed me to public notice. And as I could not but be sensible that my manners were remarkably awkward, this consciousness, joined with my ignorance of the established rules of propriety, rendered me tremblingly apprehensive of exposing myself to ridicule. These unpleasant feelings, however, in time abated. In order to meet this trial, I considered, that what is right and necessary in the situation in which Providence has placed me, cannot be really improper; and though my acting upon this principle may have exposed me to the censure, or ridicule of those, whose ideas upon the subject are derived from the varying modes of fashion, and not from the unchanging laws of moral rectitude, it saved me from a feeling which would have been infinitely more painful, that of self-reproach. My objects were, to obtain the approbation of my own heart, and the esteem of a few friends whose opinion I most highly prized, and I was comparatively indifferent to the censure or ridicule of the world in general.