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Charlotte Temple, a tale of truth; reprinted from the rare first American edition (1794), over twelve hundred errors in later editions being corected, and the preface restored; with an historical and biographical introduction, bibliography, etc., by Francis W. Halsey.

  
CHARLOTTE TEMPLE Two Volumes in One
  
[title page]
  
[dedication]
  
WHY THIS EDITION
  
CONTENTS
  
VOLUME II
  
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION
 1. 
I. MRS. ROWSON
 2. 
II THE BOOK
 3. 
III CHARLOTTE
 4. 
IV THE TOMBSTONE
 5. 
V MONTRAVILLE
 6. 
VI THE LAST DAYS OF MONTRÉSOR AND MONTRAVILLE
 7. 
VII A CONTRIBUTION TO A BIBLIOGRAPHY
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[bibliography]
  
1790 -1825
  
1825 -1850
  
1850 -1875
  
1875 -1905
  
[section]
  
Footnotes
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CHARLOTTE TEMPLE A Tale of Truth IN TWO VOLUMES
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Volume I.
  
[epigraph]
  
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE
 1. 
CHAPTER I A BOARDING SCHOOL
 2. 
CHAPTER II DOMESTIC CONCERNS
 3. 
CHAPTER III UNEXPECTED MISFORTUNES
 4. 
CHAPTER IV CHANGE OF FORTUNE
 5. 
CHAPTER V SUCH THINGS ARE
 6. 
CHAPTER VI AN INTRIGUING TEACHER
 7. 
CHAPTER VII NATURAL SENSE OF PROPRIETY INHERENT IN THE FEMALE BOSOM
 8. 
CHAPTER VIII DOMESTIC PLEASURES PLANNED
 9. 
CHAPTER IX WE KNOW NOT WHAT A DAY MAY BRING FORTH
 10. 
CHAPTER X WHEN WE HAVE EXCITED CURIOSITY, IT IS BUT AN ACT OF GOOD NATURE TO GRATIFY IT
 11. 
CHAPTER XI CONFLICT OF LOVE AND DUTY
 12. 
CHAPTER XII Nature's last, best gift: Creature in whom excell'd, whatever could To sight or thought be nam'd! Holy, divine! good, amiable, and sweet! How thou art fall'n!—
 13. 
CHAPTER XIII CRUEL DISAPPOINTMENT
 14. 
CHAPTER XIV MATERNAL SORROW
 15. 
CHAPTER XV EMBARKATION
 16. 
CHAPTER XVI NECESSARY DIGRESSION
 17. 
CHAPTER XVII A WEDDING
  
[notes]
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Volume II.
  
[epigraph]
 18. 
CHAPTER XVIII REFLECTIONS
 19. 
CHAPTER XIX A MISTAKE DISCOVERED
 20. 
CHAPTER XX Virtue never appears so amiable as when reaching forth her hand to raise a fallen sister. Chapter of Accidents
 21. 
CHAPTER XXI Teach me to feel another's woe, To hide the fault I see, That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me.—Pope.
 22. 
CHAPTER XXII SORROWS OF THE HEART
 23. 
CHAPTER XXIII A MAN MAY SMILE, AND SMILE, AND BE A VILLAIN
 24. 
CHAPTER XXIV MYSTERY DEVELOPED
 25. 
CHAPTER XXV RECEPTION OF A LETTER
 26. 
CHAPTER XXVI WHAT MIGHT BE EXPECTED
 27. 
CHAPTER XXVII Pensive she mourn'd, and hung her languid head, Like a fair lily overcharg'd with dew.
 28. 
CHAPTER XXVIII A TRIFLING RETROSPECT
 29. 
CHAPTER XXIX WE GO FORWARD AGAIN
 30. 
CHAPTER XXX And what is friendship but a name, A charm that lulls to sleep, A shade that follows wealth and fame, But leaves the wretch to weep.
 31. 
CHAPTER XXXI SUBJECT CONTINUED
 32. 
CHAPTER XXXII REASONS WHY AND WHEREFORE
 33. 
CHAPTER XXXIII WHICH PEOPLE VOID OF FEELING NEED NOT READ
 34. 
CHAPTER XXXIV RETRIBUTION
 35. 
CHAPTER XXXV CONCLUSION
  
[notes]

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WHY THIS EDITION

Several reasons exist for undertaking a new edition of Mrs. Rowson's story. The more obvious ones may be indicated here:

1. Owing to frequent reprints, extending over more than a century, the text has become so corrupt that it cries aloud for restoration to its original state. Large and small, the errors in the best current edition, by actual count, make a total of 1265.

2. There has been need of a brief memoir of Mrs. Rowson to accompany her story, as one of the most widely read of modern books. In the number of copies actually printed and read in America, it is doubtful if any work of fiction has surpassed this little "Tale of Truth."

3. Mrs. Rowson having assured her readers that the story was founded on

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actual occurrences, some of which were within her personal knowledge, all the facts in the case known or ascertainable ought to be made accessible, and especially all that is known of Charlotte as a real person.

4. A detailed statement has been needed as to the authenticity of the tombstone in Trinity churchyard, which, for four generations, has been a place of constant pilgrimage, and has evoked many unaffected tears.

5. It is believed that in no edition heretofore printed have readers been furnished with an outline of the life of the English army officer who is the accepted original of Montraville.

6. In the matter of mere book-making the story has deserved a place in the company of standard fiction as offered in the better class of bookstores, and this it seems never to have had—at least not since the earliest years in its history.

7. In undertaking to meet these requirements,

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it is clear that the new edition should be illustrated from authentic material.

8. Inasmuch as the best list heretofore printed comprises only sixteen editions of the work, an attempt at a more complete bibliography seemed to be called for. It has resulted in a list of one hundred and four, but with many editions still missing.

9. While Joseph Sabin described the book as "the most popular romance of its generation," and it has not lacked for popularity in any of the three generations that have elapsed since its own, we shall search in vain for Charlotte's name in dictionaries of biography and in lists of noted names of fiction.

F. W. H.

NEW YORK, August 25, 1905.


previous section Charlotte Temple, a tale of truth; reprinted from the rare first American edition (1794), over twelve hundred errors in later editions being corected, and the preface restored; with an historical and biographical introduction, bibliography, etc., by Francis W. Halsey.
next section