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.

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ORMOND; OR,

and tedious. The vessel was necessitated to make a
short stay at Toulon. The state of that city, however,
then in possession of the English and besieged by the
revolutionary forces, was adverse to commercial views.
Happily, we resumed our voyage on the day previous to
that on which the place was evacuated by the British.
Our seasonable departure rescued us from witnessing a
scene of horrors of which the history of former wars furnishes us with few examples.
A cold and boisterous navigation awaited us. My palpitations and inquietudes augmented as we approached
the American coast. I shall not forget the sensations
which I experienced on the sight of the Beacon at Sandy
Hook. It was first seen at midnight, in a stormy and
beclouded atmosphere, emerging from the waves, whose
fluctuation allowed it, for some time, to be visible only
by fits. This token of approaching land affected me as
much as if I had reached the threshold of my friend's
dwelling.
At length we entered the port, and I viewed, with highraised but inexplicable feelings, objects with which I had
been from infancy familiar. The flagstaff erected on the
Battery recalled to my imagination the pleasures of the
evening and morning walks which I had taken on that
spot with the lost Constantia. The dream was fondly
cherished, that the figure which I saw loitering along the
terrace was hers.
On disembarking, I gazed at every female passenger,
in hope that it was she whom I sought. An absence of
three years had obliterated from my memory none of the
images which attended me on my departure.
CHAPTER XXIV.
AFTER a night of repose rather than of sleep, I began
the search after my friend. I went to the house which
the Dudleys formerly inhabited, and which had been
the asylum of my infancy. It was now occupied by