Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/12

xii particulars, in his letters to his brother James, written in answer to the earnest entreaties of his family that he would fly from New-York, as they had formerly done from Philadelphia; but he was not only settled, as be supposed, in a healthful part of the town, but resolved that he would in no case leave the sufferers to whom his assistance might be useful. Nothing could be more honourable to his character than this almost self-sacrifice for the good of others.

"In the present healthful state," says he, "of this neighbourhood, it would be absurd to allow fear to drive me away. When there is actual and indisputable danger, it would be no less absurd to remain; since, even if the disease terminate favourably, or even were certain so to terminate, we are sure of being infinitely troublesome to others, and of undergoing much pain. E. H. S. has extensive and successful practice in this disease. Through fatigue and exposure to midnight airs, he is at present somewhat indisposed, but will shortly do well. If, when this fever attacks our neighbourhood, I run away, I am not sure that I shall do right. E. H. S. at least, probably Johnson, will remain, at all events; and if I run the risk of requiring to be nursed, I must not forget that others may require to be nursed by me, in a disease where personal attentions are all in all."

In the above year our author published his novel entitled "Wieland." This extraordinary romance brought him into universal notice; and it was shortly followed by "Ormond, or the Secret Witness," which, however, neither obtained nor deserved the same success. Brown, nevertheless, did not relax in his toil for fame; but actually began and proceeded in the