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.

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CLARA HOWARD; OR,

session, and had much to hope for from his parents.
These parents hated and reviled the object of their son's
affections, merely because she was poor, and their happiness seemed to depend on his renouncing her. To this
he would never consent, and Mary might long ago have
removed all the evils of her situation, had she been willing
to accept Sedley's offers; but, though she had the highest
esteem for his virtues and gratitude for his preference,
her heart was another's. Besides, her notions of duty
were unusually scrupulous. Her poverty had only made
her more watchful against any encroachments on her
dignity, and she disdained to enter a family who thought
themselves degraded by her alliance.
Sedley was a vehement spirit. Opposition whetted
rather than blunted his zeal; and Mary's conduct, while
it heightened his admiration and respect, gave new edge
to his desires. The youth whom she loved did not admit
a mutual affection, and his poverty would have set marriage at a hopeless distance, even if it had been conceived. Sedley, therefore, believed himself the only one
capable of truly promoting her happiness, and persisted
in courting her favour longer and with more constancy
than might have been expected from his ardent feelings
and versatile age.
I need not repeat that Mary's affections were mine.
To Sedley, therefore, I was the object of aversion and
fear, and there never took place between us intercourse
sufficient to subdue his prejudices. After her brother's
death, marriage was resolved upon between us, and Sedley slackened the ardour of his pursuit. Still, however,
he would not abjure her society.
Some secret revolution, perhaps, had been wrought in
the mind of my friend. Her consent to marriage had
been extorted by me, for she was almost equally averse
to marriage with one by whom she was not loved with
that warmth which she thought her due, as with one who
possessed every title to preference but her love. These
scruples had been laid aside, in consideration of the
benefit which her brother's death, by giving her property, enabled her to confer upon me, who was destitute.
This benefit it was no longer in her power to confer.