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.

THE SECRET WITNESS.

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that his guidance should control their steps, but that his
agency, when most effectual, should be least suspected.
If he were solicitous to govern the thoughts of Constantia, or to regulate her condition, the mode which he
pursued had hitherto been admirably conducive to that
end. To have found her friendless and indigent accorded,
with the most fortunate exactness, with his views. That
she should have descended to this depth, from a prosperous height, and therefore be a stranger to the torpor
which attends hereditary poverty, and be qualified rightly
to estimate and use the competence to which, by his
means, she was now restored, was all that his providence
would have prescribed.
Her thoughts were equally obsequious to his direction.
The novelty and grandeur of his schemes could notfail
to transport a mind ardent and capacious as that of Constantia. Here his fortune had been no less propitious.
He did not fail to discover, and was not slow to seize,
the advantages flowing thence. By explaining his plans,
opportunity was furnished to lead and to confine her
meditations to the desirable track. By adding fictitious
embellishments, he adapted it with more exactness to his
purpose. By piecemeal and imperfect disclosures her
curiosity was kept alive.
I have described Ormond as having contracted a passion for Constantia. This passion certainly existed in
his heart, but it must not be conceived to be immutable,
or to operate independently of all those impulses and
habits which time had interwoven in his character.
The person and affections of this woman were the objects
sought by him, and which it was the dearest purpose of
his existence to gain. This was his supreme good, though
the motives to which it was indebted for its pre-eminence
in his imagination were numerous and complex.
I have enumerated his opinions on the subject of wedlock. The question will obviously occur, whether Constantia was sought by him with upright or flagitious
views. His sentiments and resolutions, on this head,
had for a time fluctuated, but were now steadfast. Marriage was, in his eyes, hateful and absurd as ever. Constantia was to be obtained by any means. If other