In 1782 he moved to Vienna where he entered the service of the Schönfeld publishing business. The coming to power of a new emperor in 1780 had opened the way to a surge in "Enlightenment" thought. Writing either anonymously or under one of a large collection of pseudonyms Hoffmann produced a number of leaflets and contributed to various news-sheets. He would in 1783 become a freemason: much the political tone of his writing during this period was correspondingly radical. His most important platform between 1782 and 1784 was "Weekly Truths for and about Priests in Vienna" ("Wöchentlichen Wahrheiten für und über die Prediger in Wien"), which purported to assess the sermons preached in Vienna churches against the standards of the "Josephine enlightenment" being feverishly rolled out by the state authorities. He took a job as secretary to Lord von Gemmingen-Hornberg who in 1783 became leading writer on "Weekly Truths". It was through von Gemmingen that he came into contact with Vienna freemason and "Illuminati" circles. In April 1783 he was accepted as a member of the "For Good Actions" ("Zur Wohltätigkeit") freemason lodge which was newly established by von Gemmingen and of which, in November 1783, Hoffmann became secretary. Subsequently, there was a falling out between Hoffmann and von Gemmingen. The origins of their differences are not entirely clear. Hoffmann, as lodge secretary, alleged that von Gemmingham had failed to pay his "Honorarium" (membership subscription) and there was talk of broken promises. In 1785 Hoffmann moved away from Vienna, having used his friendship with the well connected diplomat-librarian Gottfried van Swieten, who was much involved in the emperor's education reforms, to obtain a professorship of the German language downriver at Pest University, where he remained till 1790.
