CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN, 1771-1810

[Illustration: CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN]

Philadelphia has the honor of being the birthplace of Brown, who was the
first professional man of letters in America. Franklin is a more famous
writer than Brown, but, unlike Brown, he did not make literature the
business of his life. Descended from ancestors who came over on the ship
with William Penn, Brown at the age of ten had read, with Quaker
seriousness, every book that he could find. He did not go to college, but
studied law, which he soon gave up for literature as a profession.

Depression from ill health and the consciousness that he would probably die
young colored all his romances. He has the hero of one of his tales say,
"We are exposed, in common with the rest of mankind, to innumerable
casualties; but, if these be shunned, we are unalterably fated to die of
consumption." In 1810, before he had reached forty, he fell a victim to
that disease. Near the end of his days, he told his wife that he had not
known what health was longer than a half hour at a time.

Brown deserves a place in the history of American literature for his four
romances: _Wieland_, _Ormond_, _Arthur Mervyn_, and _Edgar Huntly_. These
were all published within the space of three years from 1798, the date of
the publication of _Wieland_. These romances show a striking change from
the American fiction which had preceded them. They are no longer didactic
and sentimental, but Gothic or romantic. Working under English influence,
Brown gave to America her first great Gothic romances. The English romance
which influenced him the most was _Caleb Williams_ (1794), the work of
William Godwin (1756-1836), the father-in-law of the poet Shelley.