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.

JANE TALBOT. 91
bears to you: no matter what it is that pleases me, so I
am but pleased, you are content.
I don't like this oblivion of self. I want to be essential
to your happiness. I want to act with a view to your interests and wishes, —these wishes requiring my love and
my company for your own sake.
But I have got into a maze again,-puzzling myself
with intricate distinctions. I can't be satisfied with telling you that I am not well, but I must be inspecting with
these careful eyes into causes, and labouring to tell you
of what nature my malady is.
It has always been so. I have always found an unaccountable pleasure in dissecting, as it were, my heart; uncovering, one by one, its many folds, and laying it before
you, as a country is shown in a map. This voluble tongue
and this prompt pen! what volumes have I talked to you
on that bewitching theme,-myself!
And yet, loquacious as I am, I never interrupted you
when you were talking. It was always such a favour
when these rigid fibres of yours relaxed; and yet I praise
myself for more forbearance than belongs to me. The
little impertinent has often stopped your mouth, —at times
too when your talk charmed her most; but then it was
not with words.
But have I not said this a score of times before? and
why do I indulge this prate now?
To say truth, I am perplexed and unhappy. Your
letter has made me so. My heart flutters too much to
allow me to attend to the subject of your letter. I follow
this rambling leader merely to escape from more arduous
paths, and I send you this scribble because I must write
to you. Adieu. JANE TALBOT.
LETTER XXV.
To the Same.
Nov. 3.
WHAT iS it, my friend, that makes thy influence over me
so absolute? No resolution of mine can stand against
your remonstrances. A single word, a look, approving or