Arthur Mervyn - Softcover

Brown, Charles Brockden

Softcover

ISBN 10: 003010890X ISBN 13: 9780030108907

Publisher: Ingram

Synopsis

Excerpt: ...scruple, in the belief that he had been involved in the general calamity, and was to be numbered among the earliest victims. Those of his profession usually resided in the street where the infection began, and where its ravages had been most destructive; and this circumstance would corroborate the conclusions of his friends. I did not perceive any immediate advantage to flow from imparting the knowledge I had lately gained to others. Shortly after Mervyn's departure to Malverton, I was visited by Wortley. Inquiring for my guest, I told him that, having recovered his health, he had left my house. He repeated his invectives against the villany of Welbeck, his suspicions of Mervyn, and his wishes for another interview with the youth. Why had I suffered him to depart, and whither had he gone? "He has gone for a short time into the country. I expect him to return in less than a week, when you will meet with him here as often as you please, for I expect him to take up his abode in this house." Much astonishment and disapprobation were expressed by my friend. I hinted that the lad had made disclosures to me, which justified my confidence in his integrity. These proofs of his honesty were not of a nature to be indiscriminately unfolded. Mervyn had authorized me to communicate so much of his story to Wortley, as would serve to vindicate him from the charge of being Welbeck's co-partner in fraud; but this end would only be counteracted by an imperfect tale, and the full recital, though it might exculpate Mervyn, might produce inconveniences by which this advantage would be outweighed. Wortley, as might be naturally expected, was by no means satisfied with this statement. He suspected that Mervyn was a wily impostor; that he had been trained in the arts of fraud, under an accomplished teacher; that the tale which he had told to me was a tissue of ingenious and plausible lies; that the mere assertions, however plausible and solemn, of one like him, whose...

About this title

About the Author:

Charles Brockden Brown is considered the man who brought Gothic literature to America. Before him, Gothic novels were set in European ruined castles and moors. Brown brought them to the towns and villages of America, but retained the Gothic feel that people of the time enjoyed so much. Arthur Mervyn was one of his most popular novels. He is the most frequently studied and republished practitioner of the "early American novel," or the US novel between 1789 and roughly 1820.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ingram
• ISBN 10: 003010890X
• ISBN 13: 9780030108907
• Binding: Paperback
• Editor: Berthoff Warner