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.

213

acquainted with its benefits, but this acquisition was
valuable to me chiefly as it enabled me to reunite my
fate to that of Constantia.
Courtland was my countryman and friend. He was
destitute of fortune, and had been led to Europe partly
by the spirit of adventure, and partly on a mercantile
project. He had made sale of his property on advantageous terms, in the ports of France, and resolved to
consume the produce in examining this scene of heroic
exploits and memorable revolutions. His slender stock,
though frugally and even parsimoniously administered,
was nearly exhausted; and, at the time of our meeting
at Rome, he was making reluctant preparations to return.
Sufficient opportunity was afforded us, in an unrestrained and domestic intercourse of three months, which
succeeded our Roman interview, to gain a knowledge of
each other. There was that conformity of tastes and
views between us which could scarcely fail, at an age
and in a situation like ours, to give birth to tenderness.
My resolution to hasten to America was peculiarly unwelcome to my friend. He had offered to be my companion, but this offer my regard to his interest obliged
me to decline; but I was willing to compensate him for
this denial, as well as to gratify my own heart, by an immediate marriage.
So long a residence in England and Italy had given
birth to friendships and connections of the dearest kind.
I had no view but to spend my life with Courtland, in
the midst of my maternal kindred, who were English.
A voyage to America and reunion with Constantia were
previously indispensable; but I hoped that my friend
might be prevailed upon, and that her disconnected situation would permit her to return with me to Europe. If
this end could not be accomplished, it.was my inflexible
purpose to live and die with her. Suitably to this arrangement, Courtland was to repair to London, and wait
patiently till I should be able to rejoin him there, or to
summon him to meet me in America.
A week after my mother's death, I became a wife, and
embarked the next day, at Naples, in a Ragusan ship,
destined for New York. The voyage was tempestuous