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.

TIIE SECRET WITNESS.

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larly of the doting fondness and measureless confidence
with which she regarded him.
Her imperfect knowledge of my situation left her in
some doubt as to the truth of these pretensions, and she
was willing to ascertain the truth by bringing about an
interview. To guard against evasions and artifice in the
lover, she carefully concealed from him her knowledge
of the original, and merely pretended that a friend of
hers was far more beautiful than her whom this picture
represented. She added, that she expected a visit from
her friend the next morning, and was willing, by showing
her to Mr. Martynne, to convince him how much he was
mistaken in supposing the perfections of his mistress
unrivalled.
CHAPTER XXV.
MARTYNNE, while he expressed his confidence that the
experiment would only confirm his triumph, readily assented to the proposal, and the interview above described
took place, accordingly, the next morning. Had he not
been taken by surprise, it is likely the address of a man
who possessed no contemptible powers would have extricated him from some of his embarrassment.
That my portrait should be in the possession of one
whom I had never before seen, and whose character and
manners entitled him to no respect, was a source of some
surprise. This mode of multiplying faces is extremely
prevalent in this age, and was eminently characteristic
of those with whom I had associated in different parts of
Europe. The nature of my thoughts had modified my
features into an expression which my friends were pleased
to consider as a model for those who desired to personify
the genius of suffering and resignation.
Hence, among those whose religion permitted their
devotion to a picture of a female, the symbols of their
chosen deity were added to features and shape that
resembled mine. My own caprice, as well as that of
others, always dictated a symbolical, and, in every new