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 ENTHUSIASM OF LOVE.

15

As soon as thou receivest this letter, thou wilt hasten
hither and endeavour to shake my purpose.
I am not doubtful of my own constancy, but I would
save myself and thee from a trial that will answer no end.
I shall leave this place early to-morrow. Whither I am
going must never be told to thee. Thy pursuit and thy
inquiries will be incessant and anxious, but the measures
I have taken for eluding thy search will defeat all thy
efforts. I know that these assurances will not dissuade
thee from making them, and I sorrow to reflect on the
labours and anxieties to which thou wilt subject thyself
for my sake; but I shall derive consolation from the belief that my retreat will never be discovered.
I enclose an order on the bank for the money that remains in it, drawn in favour of Morton, and an assignment to him of the few tables and chairs that furnish my
lodgings here. These thou wilt faithfully deliver into
his hands. I likewise return you your papers and letters.
And now, Philip-best and most beloved of men!and is it come to this? Must I bid thee farewell forever?
Do not, I beseech thee, think hardly of me for what I
have done. Nothing but a sense of duty, nothing but a
supreme regard to thy happiness, could suggest my design. I cannot falter in the execution, since I could not
waver in the sense of my duty. I am ashamed of my
weakness, that hinders me from pronouncing my last
farewell.
Make haste to forget the unhappy Mary; make haste
to the feet of your new friend, and to secure that felicity
which an untoward fate denied me the power of bestowing.
My friend, my benefactor, farewell. MARY.
LETTER III.
Zo Clara Howard.
Philadelphia, March 24.
I WRITE to you in a mood not very well suited to the
business. I am weary and impatient. The company
which surrounds me is alien to my temper and my habits.
I want to shut out the tokens of their existence,-to for.
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