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.

101

find in you all that could inspire veneration and love.
That my prepossessions were fully verified, will perhaps
redound little to the credit of my penetration or your
beauty, since we seldom fail to discover in the features
tokens of all that we imagine to exist within.
I know you by more copious and satisfactory means,by several letters which Philip Stanley has put into my
hands. By these it likewise appears that you have some
acquaintance with me, collected from the same source,
and from the representations of my friend. The character and situation, the early history and unfortunate
attachment, of Mary, and that expedient which she
adopted to free herself from useless importunities and
repinings, are already known to you.
This makes it needless for me to mention many particulars of my early life; they authorize the present
letter, and allow me, or perhaps, to speak more truly,
they enjoin me, to confide in you a relation of some incidents that have lately occurred. Your sensibility would
render them of some moment in your eyes, should they
possess no relation but to a forlorn and unhappy girl;
but their importance will be greater, inasmuch as they
are connected with your own destiny, and with that of
one whom you justly hold dear. I shall claim your attention for as short a time as possible.
A letter, written last autumn, to Philip Stanley, informing him of the motives that induced me to withdraw
from his society, has been shown to you: it will therefore
be needless to explain these motives anew. I console
myself with believing that they merited and obtained the
approbation of so enlightened and delicate a judge as
Clara Howard.
The place of my retreat was determined by the kind*
offers and solicitations of a lady, by name Valentine. In
other circumstances, similar solicitations from her had
been refused; but now I was anxious to retire to a great
and unknown distance from my usual home,-to retire
without delay; but my health was imperfect. I was a
female, without knowledge of the world, without the
means of subsistence, and the season was cold and
boisterous. Mrs. Valentine was opulent; her character