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. Y,66
What were the moral or political maxims which this
adventurous and visionary sect had adopted, and what
was the seat of their new-born empire,-whether on the
shore of an austral continent, or in the heart of desert
America,-he carefully concealed. These were exhibited
or hidden, or shifted, according to his purpose. Not to
reveal too much, and not to tire curiosity or overtask
belief, was his daily labour. He talked of alliance with
the family whose name he bore, and who had lost their
honours and estates by the Hanoverian succession to the
crown of England.
I had seen too much of innovation and imposture, in
France and Italy, not to regard a man like this with
aversion and fear. The mind of my friend was wavering
and unsuspicious. She had lived at a distance from
scenes where principles are hourly put to the test of
experiment; where all extremes of fortitude and pusillanimity are accustomed to meet; where recluse virtue
and speculative heroism gives place, as if by magic, to
the last excesses of debauchery and wickedness; where
pillage and murder are engrafted on systems of allembracing and self-oblivious benevolence, and the good
of mankind is professed to be pursued with bonds of
association and covenants of secrecy. Hence, my friend
had decided without the sanction of experience, had
allowed herself to wander into untried paths, and had
hearkened to positions pregnant with destruction and
ignominy.
It was not difficult to exhibit in their true light the
enormous errors of this man, and the danger of prolonging their intercourse. Her assent to accompany me
to England was readily obtained. Too much despatch
could not be used; but the disposal of her property must
first take place. This was necessarily productive of
some delay.
I had been made, contrary to inclination, expert in
the management of all affairs relative to property. My
mother's lunacy, subsequent disease, and death, had imposed upon me obligations and cares little suitable to my
sex and age. They could not be eluded or transferred
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