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 SECRET WITNESS.

117

ciently strong to receive and retain were proved to have
made no other than a momentary impression. Hence
his objections to ally himself to a mind inferior to liis
own were strengthened rather than diminished. But Ihe
could not endure the thought of being instrumental to
her misery.
Marriage was an efficacious remedy, but he could not
as yet bring himself to regard the aptitude of this'cure
as a subject of doubt. The idea of separation sometimes
occurred to him. He was not unapprehensive of the influence of time and absence in curing the most vehement
passion, but to this expedient the lady could not be reconciled. He knew her too well to believe that she would
willingly adopt it. But the only obstacle to this scheme
did not flow from the lady's opposition. He would probably have found upon experiment as strong an aversion
to adopt it in himself as in her.
It was easy to see the motives by which he would be
likely to be swayed into a change of principles. If marriage were the only remedy, the frequent repetition of
this truth must bring him insensibly to doubt the rectitude of his determinations against it. He deeply reflected on the consequences which marriage involves. He
scrutinized with the utmost accuracy the character of his
friend, and surveyed it in all its parts. Inclination could
not fail of having some influence on his opinions. The
charms of this favourite object tended to impair the clearness of his view and extenuate or conceal her defects.
He entered on the enumeration of her errors with reluctance. Her happiness, had it been wholly disconnected
with his own, might have had less weight in the balance;
but now, every time the scales were suspended, this consideration acquired new weight.
Most men are influenced, in the formation of this contract, by regards purely physical. They are incapable
of higher views. They regard with indifference every
tie that binds them to their contemporaries or to posterity. Mind has no part in the motives that guide them.
They choose a wife as they choose any household movable, and when the irritation of the senses has subsided,
the attachment that remains is the offspring of habit.