The novels of Charles Brockden Brown, consisting of Wieland;or, The transformation. Arthur Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the year 1793. Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a sleep-walker. Jane Talbot. Ormond; or, The secret witness. Clara Howard; or, The enthusiasm of love. With a memoir of the author.

JANE TALBOT. 155
should account it my supreme felicity to call mine. Let
it be a precious deposit in your hands.
And now, madam, permit me to conclude with a solemn
blessing on your head and on hers, and with an eternal
farewell to you both. H. COLDEN.
LETTER XLIII.
To James Montford.
Philadelphia, December 7.
I HOPE you will approve of my design to accompany
Stephen. The influence of variety and novelty will no
doubt be useful. Why should I allow my present feelings,
which assure me that I have lost what is indispensable not
only to my peace but my life, to supplant the invariable
lesson of experience, which teaches that time and" absence
will dull the edge of every calamity? And have I not
found myself peculiarly susceptible of this healing influence?
Time and change of scene will, no doubt, relieve me;
but, in the mean time, I have not a name for that wretchedness into which I am sunk. The light of day, the company of mankind, is at this moment insupportable. Of
all places in the world, this is the most hateful to my
soul. I should not have entered the city, I should not
abide in it a moment, were it not for a thought that occurred just before I left Baltimore.
You know the mysterious and inexplicable calumny
which has heightened MIrs. Fielder's antipathy against me.
Of late, I have been continually ruminating on it, and
especially since Mrs. Talbot's last letter. Methinks it
is impossible for me to leave the country till I have
cleared her character of this horrid aspersion. Can there
be any harmony between mother and child, must not suspicion and mistrust perpetually rankle in their bosoms,
while this imposture is believed?
Yet how to detect the fraud-Some clue must be discernible; perseverance must light on it at last. The
agent in this sordid iniquity must be human; must be