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.

88 JANE TALBOT.
LETTER XXIII.
To J~irs. Fielder.
Baltimore, November 2.
MIADAM:It would indeed be needless to apologize for your behaviour to me. I not only acquit you of any enmity to
me, but beg leave to return you my warmest thanks for
the generous offers which you have made me in this letter.
I should be grossly wanting in that love for Mrs. Talbot which you believe me to possess, if I did not partake
in that gratitude and reverence which she feels for one
who has performed for her every parental duty. The
esteem of the good is only of less value in my eyes than
the approbation of my own conscience. There is no
price which I would not pay for your good opinion, consistent with a just regard to that of others and to my own.
I cannot be pleased with the information which you
give me. For the sake of my friend, I am grieved that
you are determined to make her marriage with me the
forfeiture of that provision which your bounty has hitherto
supplied her.
Forgive me if I say that, in exacting this forfeiture, you
will not be consistent with yourself. On her marriage with
me, she will stand in much more need of your bounty than
at present, and her merits, however slender you may deem
them, will then be, at least, not less than they now are.
If there were any methods by which I might be prevented from sharing in gifts bestowed upon my wife, I
would eagerly concur in them.
I fully believe that your motive in giving me this timely
warning was a generous one. Yet, in justice to myself and
your daughter, I must observe that the warning was superfluous, since Jane never concealed from me the true state
of her affairs, and since I never imagined you would honour
with your gifts a marriage contracted against your will.
Well do I know the influence of early indulgences.
Your daughter is a strong example of that influence; nor
will her union with me, if by that union she forfeit your