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.

138

ORMOND; OR,

Such were not Ormond's modes of thinking. His
creed was of too extraordinary a kind not to merit explication. The terms of this contract were, in his eyes,
iniquitous and absurd. He could not think with patience
of a promise which no time could annul, which pretended
to ascertain contingencies and regulate the future. To
forego the liberty of choosing his companion, and bind
himself to associate with one whom he despised; to raise
to his own level one whom nature had irretrievably degraded; to avow, and persist in his adherence to, a falsehood, palpable and loathsome to his understanding; to
affirm that he was blind, when in full possession of his
senses; to shut his eyes and grope in the dark, and call
upon the compassion of mankind on his infirmity, when
his organs were in no degree impaired, and the scene
around him was luminous and beautiful,-was a height
of infatuation that he could never attain. And why
should he be thus self-degraded? Why should he take
a laborious circuit to reach a point which, when attained,
was trivial, and to which reason had pointed out a road
short and direct?
A wife is generally nothing more than a household
superintendent. This function could not be more wisely
vested than it was at present. Every thing in his domestic system was fashioned on strict and inflexible principles. He wanted instruments and not partakers of his
authority,-one whose mind was equal and not superior
to the cogent apprehension and punctual performance of
his will; one whose character was squared, with mathematical exactness, to his situation. Helena, with all her
faults, did not merit to be regarded in this light. Her
introduction would destroy the harmony of his scheme,
and be, with respect to herself, a genuine debasement.
A genuine evil would thus be substituted for one that
was purely imaginary.
Helena's intellectual deficiencies could not be concealed.
She was a proficient in the elements of no science. The
doctrine of lines and surfaces was as disproportionate
with her intellects as with those of the mock-bird. She
had not reasoned on the principles of human action, nor
examined the structure of society. She was ignorant of