[In the following essay, Byers revisits the authorship controversy surrounding The Power of Sympathy, arguing that several documents as well as Brown's handwriting show the novel to have been written by him.]

In October, 1894, Arthur W. Brayley, editor of the Bostonian, began a serial publication of the first American novel, The Power of Sympathy, under the name of Mrs. Sarah Wentworth Morton,¹ to whom the novel, long anonymous, had been attributed publicly at least since 1878.² Between the October and December issues of the magazine, Mrs. Rebecca Vollentine Thompson convinced the editor of the rightful authorship of William Hill Brown, her uncle, and supplied information concerning the 1789 publication of the novel. In the December issue of the Bostonian, Brayley corrected his error in a ten-page statement based largely on what, according to him, Mrs. Thompson, who was not identified by name, had revealed.³ Subsequently, although Professors Emily Pendleton and Milton Ellis argued logically and strongly for William Hill Brown as the author, Alexander Cowie noted the “cogent, though not absolutely conclusive, evidence” of Brown authorship.⁴ In spite of this word of caution, Richard Walser, Terence Martin, and Herbert Brown⁵ simply accepted Brown as the author of the novel on the basis of the Brayley account and the seminal studies of Pendleton and Ellis.

In 1952, however, C. Waller Barrett, in commenting on the Barrett collection, would seem to have laid the matter to rest with his brief notice of “a [unique] presentation copy [of The Power of Sympathy] in original sheep from the author, William Hill Brown, which may be said to have settled beyond any doubt the question of authorship.”⁶ On the second fly leaf of Volume I appears the following inscription: “M^r. W^m. P. Jones / from his friend / & humble Servant / The Author.” The inconclusive nature of “The Author” is relieved by a second inscription on the second fly leaf of Volume II: “W^m. H. Brown / to / W^m. P. Jones.” Unfortunately, however, the handwritings of the two inscriptions are not in the same style. William S. Kable, moreover, declares that the two inscriptions do “not match in age of ink. …”⁷ He observes:

Apparently, the former [the inscription in the second volume] is the product of a zealous hand who wished to transform the high degree of probability in favor of Brown's authorship into certainty. Although the seemingly authentic inscription in the first volume does establish this as a presentation copy, without the additional evidence of the second inscription this copy hardly serves as absolute proof of Brown's authorship.⁸

Kable may here be suggesting more than he says. When he comments on the difference between inks, accuses “a zealous hand,” and speaks of “the high degree of probability,” he seems to be proposing that dishonesty of some sort was at work, for it was not until over a hundred years after the publication of The Power of Sympathy that Brown's name was linked publicly with the novel. Hence, only at that point could “the high degree of probability” exist and could, say, a disreputable book dealer hope to profit from the newly published Brayley information. Further, a deliberate attempt to imitate in Volume II the handwriting of Volume I for questionable purposes would surely have produced greater similarities and better results. Moreover, a hundred years' difference between inks is likely to be considerable. Such is not the case between the inks of the two inscriptions. The inscription of Volume II is certainly heavier than that of Volume I, but the difference can be accounted for through the type of pen, the amount and type of ink on the pen, and even the stress at the moment. Puzzlingly, Kable, after rejecting the inscriptions as having been done at the same time, would seem to accept in his statement the second inscription as proof of the authenticity of the first inscription and consequently as evidence of Brown authorship.

Three additional explanations of the inscriptions seem to present themselves. First, Brown could have provided the inscription in Volume I; and then “W^m. P. Jones,” perhaps a friend, dissatisfied with the possibly intentional evasiveness of “The Author,” furnished his own identification in Volume II. Or, second, Brown himself could have signed the Volume II inscription; and then W^m. P. Jones, dissatisfied with an inscription which could indicate only a gift copy and not necessarily an autographed copy, identified Brown as the author in Volume I by using the last two lines of the dedication of the novel “To the Young Ladies of United Columbia”: “By their / Friend and Humble Servant, / The Author.”

Comparison of the two inscriptions with a manuscript verse letter⁹ by Brown would seem to offer a third possibility and perhaps to solve the problem. In the twenty-seven line poem and the appended note, it is obvious that Brown did not write a consistent hand. For example, the capital letter B is formed in eight distinctly different ways. Further, individual letters of both inscriptions in The Power of Sympathy resemble letters of both the poem and the inscription on the title page of the Yale University Library copy of The Better Sort, a farce presented by Brown to his “aunt” Catharine Byles.¹⁰ It is not at all improbable, therefore, that Brown simply varied his style of writing in the two volumes.

Beyond its value, then, as a unique presentation copy, this copy of The Power of Sympathy seems to be the only direct, first-hand evidence in which Brown connects himself with the novel.

In a rebound, one-volume copy of The Power of Sympathy subsequently acquired by Barrett appear four documents, two of which provide further verification of the authorship, the alleged suppression of the novel, and the copies preserved at the time of the alleged suppression.¹¹ The first:

Boston

October 31. 1900

Mistakes have been made in authorship of “The Power of Sympathy” (supposed to be the first American novel,) by N. D. Shurtleff in his letter of Prof. Dean[e] of Harvard University, and others. The true author of the book was my uncle William Hill Brown, brother of my mother, and son of Gawen Brown, they living then on King St, now State St, Boston, where the Merchants Bank now is.

The Browns and Apthorps were intimate friends and the unfortunate scandal in the Apthorp family was written as a plot of this book and consequently suppressed. The author had retained 26 volumes.

William Hill Brown's father Gawen was from Northumberland Eng. & his mother was Elizabeth, widow of Dr Adams (brother of Samuel the Patriot) and daughter of John Hill son of Henry Hill.

Rebecca V. Thompson

The second document was written seven months later and seems to rely not only on Mrs. Thompson's signed statement but also on Brayley's published account:

This novel “The Power of Sympathy” was written by William Hill Brown, son of Gawen and his 3rd wife Elizabeth Hill (daughter of John H & Hannah Maxwell), in 1789. It is supposed to be the first American novel. No name being given others have supposed it to have been written by a Mrs Morton, but Mrs Rebecca Vollentine Thompson now living (May 1901), a very aged but brilliant minded old lady, who was niece of the W. H. Brown, his being brother of her Mother, remembers perfectly the story of her Uncle's having written the book and of it being immediately recalled when printed as the plot of it was founded on a real story in the family of the Apthorps of Cambridge who were intimate friends of the Browns. They came in distress and anger to the Brown's requesting the book to be suppressed, and the young author realizing the unhappiness he had made granted their request but kept a few copies (26?) himself. This present volume was handsomely rebound as seen, for the original binding was of simplest light brown paper-covered boards.

I fortunately found this copy in an old book store on Cornhill Boston Oct. 1900 & gave ＄25. for it. The author W^m H. Brown was uncle of W^m Brown Dinsmore 1st.

Helen Frances Dinsmore

Strattsburgh. May. 1901

When Helen Frances Dinsmore,¹² purchased the ＄25.00¹³ copy of The Power of Sympathy in October, 1900, she apparently asked Mrs. Thompson, her husband's first cousin, on October 31 for a statement of the authorship. Probably because of Mrs. Thompson's advanced age (83), Mrs. Dinsmore recorded the elderly lady's words, and then Mrs. Thompson signed the document.

Perhaps the most telling verification of the authorship of the novel is in a letter¹⁴ dated April 25, 1789, from Mrs. Margaret Mascarene Hutchinson in Halifax, Nova Scotia,¹⁵ to Mrs. Margaret Holyoke Mascarene. The letter, written three months after the publication of The Power of Sympathy and dealing with friendship, family matters, and religious beliefs, contains the following sentences:

… I am of oppinion that they that serves god in sincerity and truth, according to the best of his knowledge, that does justies loves Mercy and Walk humble with their god will be excepted, let his mode of worshipt be far different from mine, but I have no notion of a pergatory. how does those persons who are advocates for it explain the 25^th Chap^r of Mathew;¹⁶ I fear that imbibing such Doctrine will be a means of introduceing every kind of vice. one seems to be gaining ground fast amoung you, I mean suicide which I learn from the News-papers. dont you think the Sorrows of Werter¹⁷ is a pernicious book. I think they ought to be suppressd, I have no patience when I hear any one speak in favour of it. a book that justifys so rash a deed as self murder, horrid, horrid, I shudder while I write it———I have the promiss of the new novel wrote by a M^r Brown, not Doc^r Byles' grandson, he is an eminent limner in London,¹⁸ but a half brother of his, I wish to see this book, I have heard much of it, James Lovel[?]¹⁹ I hear is one of the Characters in it, and that it is not Gar———r[?]²⁰ as was first said. you perhaps know which is just. …

Thus, with Brayley's expanded account of Mrs. Thompson's verification, Mrs. Thompson's own signed statement, the presentation copy of The Power of Sympathy, and Mrs. Hutchinson's passing comment, the authorship of the first American novel should be established once and for all.

Notes

1. Publication of the novel ran in nine installments through June, 1895.

2. Francis S. Drake, The Town of Roxbury (Boston, 1878), p. 134.

3. Brayley, “The Real Author of ‘The Power of Sympathy,’” Bostonian, I, 224-233.

4. Pendleton and Ellis, Philenia, The Life and Works of Mrs. Sarah Wentworth Morton, 1759-1846 (Orono, 1931), pp. 109-112; Ellis, “The Author of the First American Novel,” American Literature, IV (Jan., 1933), 356-368; “Bibliographical Note,” The Power of Sympathy (New York, 1934), pp. [i-vi]; “Brown, William Hill,” Dictionary of American Biography (New York, 1944), XXI, Supp. 1, 125-126; Cowie, The Rise of the American Novel (New York, 1948), p. 10.

5. Walser, “The North Carolina Sojourn of the First American Novelist,” North Carolina Historical Review, XXVIII (April, 1951), 138-155; “More about the First American Novel,” American Literature, XXIV (Nov., 1952), 352-357; “The Fatal Effects of Seduction,” Modern Language Notes, LXIX (Dec., 1954), 574-576; Martin, “William Hill Brown's Ira and Isabella,” New England Quarterly, XXXII (June, 1959), 238-242; Brown, “Introduction,” The Power of Sympathy (Boston, 1961), pp. iii-xiii.

6. Barrett, “Contemporary Collectors X: The Barrett Collection,” Book Collector, V (Autumn, 1956), 222-233.

7. Kable, “Editor's Introduction,” The Power of Sympathy (Columbus, Ohio, 1969), p. xxii.

8. Kable, p. xxii.

9. Now in the manuscript collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

10. Catharine Byles was the aunt of the painter Mather Brown, William Hill Brown's half-brother. Of no blood relationship to the author, she did, however, become his literary advisor and friend. See the argument of Walser, “More about the First American Novel,” pp. 352-357, that William Hill Brown was the author of The Better Sort (Boston, 1789).

11. Permission to publish the documents has been granted by C. Waller Barrett. The other two documents, although they do not contribute toward verification of Brown authorship, are of interest in themselves. The first, a letter (Boston, April 5, 1873) from Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, genealogist, antiquarian, and historian, to Charles Deane, remembered chiefly as the first editor of Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation (Boston, 1856), attributes The Power of Sympathy to Mrs. Morton and comments on the “suppression” of the novel. The second, an undated note by Deane, states, “I think it was some time believed by some, that Jason Fairbanks, whose trial for murder at Dedham in 1801 created much interest—was the child of this illicit amour [between Perez Morton and Fanny Apthorp]. But there is probably no foundation in truth for this—.” Brayley, p. 231, says, “Mr. Morton's illegitimate child, a little girl, was sent to Weston, Mass., and became one of the most beautiful women in the State. When about fifteen years of age she learned of her parents, and ever after when making her autograph would affix the words Apthorp-Morton to her Christian name.” In Tremaine McDowell's “Last Words of a Sentimental Heroine,” American Literature, IV (May, 1932), 175, “Fanny,” in a letter, asks Morton to care for her “sweet infant,” without identifying its sex.

12. Charles Knowles Bolton, “Some Notes on Gawen Brown's Family,” New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, LXIV (Oct., 1933), 317-322. Helen Frances Adams married on November 26, 1866, William Brown Dinsmore (born 1810; died March 15, 1906), the son of William Dinsmore and Catherine Hinshaw Brown, a younger sister (baptized July 23, 1769; died August 22, 1830) of William Hill Brown. Mrs. Rebecca V. Thompson (born 1816; died February 12, 1902), was the daughter of Nathaniel Vollentine and Ann Brown, another younger sister (baptized August 18, 1771; died January 23, 1853) of the author. Whereas the story of the authorship of the novel passed from Ann Brown Vollentine to her daughter Rebecca V. Thompson, the story apparently did not travel from Catherine Brown Dinsmore to her son William Brown Dinsmore.

13. An advertisement in The Boston Transcript of September 20, 1893, offered ＄500.00 for a copy of The Power of Sympathy, “Address W. H., care Walter Littlefield, Boston Press Club.” Littlefield was responsible for issuing The Power of Sympathy in book form in 1894. Thus, after more than a hundred years of oblivion, The Power of Sympathy was twice published in 1894-1895 (the Littlefield edition of 1894 and the Brayley edition of 1894-1895).

14. Published here with permission of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

15. Among the Tories to flee Boston during and following the Revolutionary War was Mather Byles, Jr., who corresponded over the years with his father and sisters Catharine and Mary Byles. See footnote 10. However, the Byles family papers, transcripts of which are in the Massachusetts Historical Society, do not mention The Power of Sympathy.

16. Verses 31-46 describe the Last Judgment, wherein the Son, “in his glory,” separates the sheep from the goats.

17. At the end of The Power of Sympathy, Harrington, the hero who discovers that his love is his half-sister, commits suicide. By his suicide letter is a copy of Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, whose hero also takes his own life.

18. Mather Brown was the son of Gawen Brown and his second wife, Elizabeth Byles; William Hill Brown was the son of Gawen Brown and his third wife, Elizabeth Hill Adams Brown.

19. Probably James Lovell, who, according to The Boston Directory of 1789, was a merchant and “Collector of Impost and Excise.” Harvard's Houghton Library copy of Occurrences of the Times (Boston, 1789), which deals partly with the publication and attempted suppression of The Power of Sympathy, has a penciled identification, reverse of p. 23, of the Bostonians who figure in the farce. The character “Positive” is identified as Y. J. Lovell, presumably the James Lovel of Mrs. Hutchinson's letter. See the argument of Walser, “More about the First American Novel,” pp. 352-355, that Brown was not the author of Occurrences of the Times.

20. Unidentified.