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.

THIE SECRET WITNESS.

7

insupportably disgustful. The drudgery of a shop, where
all the faculties were at a stand and one day was an unvaried repetition of the foregoing, was too incongenial to
his disposition not to be a source of discontent. This
was an evil which it was the tendency of time to increase
rather than diminish. The longer he endured it the less
tolerable it became. He could not forbear comparing
his present situation with his former, and deriving from
the contrast perpetual food for melancholy.
The indulgence of his father hald contributed to instil
into him prejudices, in consequence of which a certain
species of disgrace was annexed to every employment of
which the only purpose was gain. His present situation
not only precluded all those pursuits which exalt and
harmonize the feelings, but was detested by him as something humiliating and ignominious. His wife was of a
pliant temper, and her condition less influenced by this
change than that of her husband. She was qualified to
be his comforter; but, instead of dispelling his gloom by
judicious arguments or a seasonable example of vivacity,
she caught the infection that preyed upon his mind, and
augmented his anxieties by partaking in themf.
By enlarging in some degree the foundation on which
his father had built, he had provided the means of a
future secession, and might console himself with the prospect of enjoying his darling ease at some period of his
life. This period was necessarily too remote for his
wishes; and, had not certain occurrences taken place, by
which he was flattered with the immediate possession of
ease, it is far from being certain that he would not have
fallen a victim to his growing disquietudes.
He was one morning engaged behind his counter as
usual, when a youth came into his shop, and, in terms
that bespoke the union of fearlessness and frankness, inquired whether he could be engaged as an apprentice.
A proposal of this kind could not be suddenly rejected or
adopted. He stood in need of assistance: the youth was
manly and blooming, and exhibited a modest and ingenuous aspect. It was possible that he was, in every respect,
qualified for the post for which he applied, but it was
previously necessary to ascertain these qualifications.