Chapter The Close of Eighteenth Century of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

Two other New England women appeared thus early in print with narratives of somewhat similar sort "founded on fact." Susanna H. Rowson, an English lady who had established a school for girls in Boston, was the author of a very popular novel, Charlotte Temple, a Tale of Truth (1790), and of other novels, including a sequel, Lucy Temple, which was published in 1828.

Hannah W. Foster wrote, in 1797, The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton, a Novel Founded on Fact. Mrs. Foster was the wife of a clergyman and wrote, as did Mrs. Rowson, with a moral purpose. In both these novels, the theme of indiscretion and desertion is treated in the sentimental, didactic style which characterized many of the English novelists of the same period. The popularity of these two stories outlasted their own generation. Pilgrimages were made by sentimental readers to the graves of both these heroines; and the old slate headstone in the ancient graveyard in Salem, where the real "Eliza Wharton" is buried, has been all but chipped away by relic-hunters.

Hugh H. Brackenridge, already mentioned as the author of an early American play, wrote a satirical romance called Modern Chivalry; or, The Adventures of Captain Farrago and Teague O' Regan, his Servant, the first part of which appeared in 1792, the second, in 1806; and the playwright Royall Tyler also entered the lists with a two-volume narrative entitled The Algerine Captive, in 1799. Neither of these works, however, can be regarded as possessing the interest or importance of Mrs. Rowson's and Mrs. Foster's "tales of truth" in the annals of American fiction. It is with Charlotte Temple and The Coquette, that the novel of manners appears.

Charles Brockden Brown, 1771-1810.

While these earliest examples of the American novel are of interest historically, -- and interesting mainly on that ground alone, -- there appeared before the close of the century one or two essays in prose fiction which possess decided merit on the ground of technical construction and on that of genuine narrative power. These were the early romances of Charles Brockden Brown.

Brown was a native of Philadelphia, where he received his education. He chose the profession of the law and prepared himself for practice; but the duties of the legal calling were wholly uncongenial, and the effect of this trying situation was soon apparent in depression of spirits and impaired health. At last, he forsook the law for the profession of literature, and is deserving of some distinction as the first American to make deliberately so dangerous an experiment. He removed to New York and formed associations with a few men of literary tastes comprising the members of the "Friendly Club," among whom was William Dunlap, the future biographer of the novelist. It was a period of considerable mental excitement in both Europe and America. Revolutionary forces were vigorously alive. New theories affecting political and social relations were promulgated daily. As an essayist on moral as well as literary themes, Brown had written copiously before his abandonment of the law; he had been a diligent student; his mind was even abnormally active, and he wrote with a style noticeably strong and vivid. In 1797, Charles Brockden Brown published his first volume, Alçuin: a Dialogue on the Rights of Women. It did not meet with success. But following this, Brown produced in rapid succession a series of remarkable novels which won for their author contemporary distinction, and, historically regarded, hold a very notable place in American literature. The titles of these novels are: Wieland; or, the Transformation; Ormond; or, the Secret Witness; Arthur Mervyn; Edgar Huntley; Clara Howard; and Jane Talbot. The first of these was published in 1798; the remainder, before the end of 1801. Besides writing his novels, Brown was also conducting a magazine, The Monthly Magazine and American Review, which consisted almost entirely of his own contributions. Near the close of 1800, the novelist returned to Philadelphia, where he founded The Literary Magazine and American Register, and where he continued to write miscellaneous articles on political, biographical, and historical subjects until his death at the age of thirty-nine. He suffered from the attacks of consumption due presumably to the early undermining of his health, and aggravated by the intensity and laboriousness of his life.

The novels of Charles Brockden Brown are seldom read to-day; but they attracted general attention at the time of their appearance, and won the approbation of some European writers, including Scott and