Wieland, or, The Transformation

Excerpt from Wieland or the Transformation:


Genius and knowledge command respect; but superior genius and profound knowledge, combined with exalted moral purity, cannot fail to excite unmingled admiration. The reputation of an author in whom these qualities are united may be circumscribed during life; but its rise and extension after death prove that his claims to distinction are well founded. It is no less the duty than the pleasure of friendship to fortify and sustain these claims. The impartiality of criticism cannot but confirm the anticipations of affection.

Charles Brockden Brown was the highly-gifted descendant of ancestors originally English, who came over to this country with the wise and benevolent Penn, and landed from the same ship on the banks of the Delaware. Their principles, moral, religious, and political, coincided with those of their pious and illustrious leader.

He derived the additional name of Brockden from his uncle Charles Brockden, so respectfully mentioned by Franklin in his life, who, to avoid the vengeance of conspirators, whose secret conversations he had accidentally overheard, fled to America and settled in Pennsylvania, where his industry and abilities finally raised him to an important office, which he filled with distinguished reputation.