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.

104 JANE TALBOT.
of oaks, transformed by those magicians, carpenters and
butchers, into hearth-brushes. A whimsical metamorphosis, upon my faith!
"Pish! what stupid musing! I see I must betake
myself to bed at last, and throw away upon oblivion one
more hour than is common."
So it once was. But how is it now? no wavering and
deliberating what I shall do,-to lash the drowsy moments into speed. In' my haste to set the table and its
gear in order for scribble, I overturn the inkhorn, spill
the ink, and stain the floor.
The damage is easily repaired, and I sit down, with
unspeakable alacrity, to a business that tires my muscles,
sets a gnawer at work upon my lungs, fatigues my brain,
and leaves me listless and spiritless.
How you have made yourself so absolute a mistress
of the goose-quill, I can't imagine; how you can maintain the writing posture and pursue the writing movement for ten hours together, without benumbed brain or
aching fingers, is beyond my comprehension.
But you see what zeal will do for me. It has enabled
me to keep drowsiness, fatigue, and languor at bay during
a long night. Converse with thee, heavenly maid, is an
antidote even to sleep, the most general and inveterate
of all maladies.
By-and-by I shall'have as voluble a pen as thy own.
And yet to that, my crazy constitution says, Nay.'Twill
never be to me other than an irksome, ache-producing implement. It need give pleasure to others, not a little, to
compensate for the pain it gives myself.
But this, thou'lt say, is beside the purpose. It is; and
I will lay aside the quill a moment to consider. I left off
my last letter, with a head full of affecting images, which
I have waited impatiently for the present opportunity of
putting upon paper. Adieu, then, for a moment, says thy
COLDEN.