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.

75

of mercantile integrity in all his dealings, and was affable
and kind, without being generous, in his treatment of
inferiors. He was a stranger td violent emotions of any
kind, and his intellectual acquisitions were limited to his
own profession.
His demeanour was tranquil and uniform. He was
sparing of words, and these were uttered in the softest
manner. In all his transactions he was sedate and considerate. In his dress and mode of living there were no
appearances of parsimony, but there were, likewise, as
few traces of profusion.
His sister had shared in his prosperity. As soon as
his affairs would permit, he sent for her to Scotland,
where she had lived in a state little removed from penury,
and had for some years been vested with the superintendence of his household. There was a considerable
resemblance between them in person and character. Her
profession, or those arts in which her situation had compelled her to acquire skill, had not an equal tendency to
enlarge the mind as those of her brother, but the views
of each were limited to one set of objects. His superiority was owing, not to any inherent difference, but to
accident.
Balfour's life had been a model of chasteness and
regularity,- though this was owing more to constitutional
coldness and a frugal spirit, than to virtuous forbearance; but, in his schemes for the future, he did not exclude the circumstance of marriage. Having attained a
situation secure, as the nature of human affairs will admit,
from the chances of poverty, the way was sufficiently prepared for matrimony. His thoughts had been for some
time employed in the selection of a suitable companion,
when this rencounter happened with Miss Dudley.
Balfour was not destitute of those feelings which are
called into play by the sight of youth and beauty in distress. This incident was not speedily forgotten. The
emotions produced by it were new to him. He reviewed
them oftener, and with more complacency, than any
which he had before experienced. They afforded him
so much satisfaction, that, in order to preserve them undiminished, he resolved to repeat.his visit. Constantia