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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CLARA HOWARD; OR,

voted to another at the period of his interview with Mary
Anne; that she at all times earnestly acquitted him of
any duplicity or treachery towards her, and ascribed the
unfortunate cause of their mutual shame and embarrassment to some infatuation, in consequence of which, a
man who concealed not his love and engagement to another, and without the sanction or the promise of
marriage, prevailed on her to forget her dignity and
her duty.
" Both parties deserved blame. Which deserved it most,
and how far their guilt might be extenuated or atoned for
by the circumstances attending it, it is impossible to tell.
Mary Anne was a great, a mixed, and doubtless a faulty
character. The world in general was liberal of its eulogies on the probity as well as on the graces and talents of
Wilmot. His subsequent behaviour lays claim to some
praise; but his fatal meeting with my cousin proved that
the virtue of both was capable of yielding, when the integrity of worse people would easily have stood firm.
"About the same time Wilmot returned to Boulogne,
and my cousin accompanied her father to Paris. The lady
to whom the former was betrothed was the daughter of
the principal in that house where Wilmot had long been
a servant, and in which, in consequence of his merits,
he was now shortly to become a son and partner. The
nuptial day was fixed.
"Before the arrival of that day, he wrote a letter to
Mary Anne, acquainting her with his present situation,
reminding her that he never practised any fraud or conceallment in his intercourse with her, yet, nevertheless,
offering to come, and, either by an open application to
her father, or by a clandestine marriage, prevent any
evil that might threaten her safety or her reputation.
"This letter placed my cousin in the most distressful
dilemma that can be conceived. Her heart was still fondly
devoted to him that made this offer; a fair fame was precious in her eyes; her father's wrath was terrible. She
knew that the accident which Wilmot was willing to provide against would soon inevitably befall her; yet in her
answer to his letter the possibility of this accident was
denied, her attachment was denied, and he was earnestly