ABSTRACT
Since I first felt the power of discrimination, since I adored the excellent part of mankind, and execrated the base, I have been a wanderer in search of some thing, approaching to my idea of a perfect being. I have found many objects who, on an early intercourse, have presented the semblance of the creature I longed to Idolize! – I have fancied that I found the graces of feeling and sincerity, in woman; the fascinations of Truth, Genius, and Sensibility, in Man. – Alas! if I were deceiv’d, – am I to blame in shrinking under the painful pressure of disappointment? I have, it is True, seen a few, a very few, in my journey through life, whose minds and sentiments, whose feelings and affections, have been such as I almost instinctively idolize. – But they have not honoured me with the title of Friend; – They have not been drawn towards me, by congenial, sympathetic intuition.
