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.

30

CLARA HOWARD: OR,

it to you, and desires me to tell you that she has received
your letter, and will answer it very shortly. Adieu.
Yours, PIILIP STANLEY.
P. S.-I stay at No. - North Eighth Street.
LETTER XIII.
To Francis Harris.
Philadelphia, April 23.
Do you wish for some account of my present situation?
I will readily comply with your request. I am, indeed,
in a mood, just now, extremely favourable to the telling
of a long story. I have no companions in this city; and
various circumstances, while they give me a few days'
solitude and leisure, strongly incline me likewise to
ruminate and moralize on past adventures.
When I last wrote to you, I told you my destiny had
undergone surprising changes since we parted. I had
then no leisure to enter into minute particulars. Alas!
my friend, changes still more surprising have since occurred, but changes very different from those to which I
then alluded. Then they were all benign and joyous;
since, they have been only gloomy and disastrous.
But how far must I go back to render my narrative
intelligible? You went your voyage, if I mistake not,
just after I was settled, with my uncle and sisters, in
the neighbourhood of Hatfield. I believe you were acquainted with the beginning, at least, of my intercourse
with Mr. Howard. I described to you, I believe, the dignified, grave, and secluded deportment of that man,the little relish he appeared to have for the society around,
and the flattering regards he bestowed on me.
I was a mere country-lad, with little education but
what was gained by myself; diffident and bashful as the
rawest inexperience could make me. He was a man of
elevated and sedate demeanour; living, if not with splendour, yet with elegance; withdrawing, in a great degree,
from the society of his neighbours; immersed in books
and papers, and wholly given to study and contemplation.
I shall never forget the occasion on which he first