Albert, during his abode in the city, had associated with ladies of rank, beauty and accomplishments. He was a general favourite among them; he had been flattered, courted and caressed, but none had the power to fix his attention. Since his return to the country, he had been frequently invited to assemble among the artless villagers, decorated in their own native beauty, assisted sometimes for ornament with the spoils of Flora. Health, pleasure and naivette, was in the air of these charmers, and all that was pleasing to win his regard and esteem. These scenes of rural pleasure, these social parties, were adapted to his taste. In comparison of which the gay assemblages of the city had been formerly uninteresting; and he had been heard to say, that whenever his mind should become fixed, his choice would be some lady who resided in the country. [_NY Weekly_: A Rural Picture: .... led up their artless charmers, in straw hats adorned with the spoils of Flora....] Although Albert experienced a degree of happiness and contentment unknown to many, in his present situation, yet he sometimes felt himself very lonely. Alida was anxious that her brother should look out for a suitable companion; if he could be fortunate enough to find one that was amiable and sensible, and whose actions should be under the influence of genuine piety; one who would be ambitious to preserve domestic sunshine, by the goodness and equanimity of her disposition; who would have a tear for distress, a heart for friendship and love, exerted in benevolence and charity, and in the mean time have a care to the good order and arrangement of domestic duties and economy. Albert often descanted in conversation with his friends, on the general neglect of female education, which consisted of a few trifling embellishments, while those of the more substantial order were left out of the question. He thought that young ladies generally were not sufficiently learned in the solid branches, to exercise their mental powers to advantage, or to be agreeable, intelligent companions. "If it be true," said he, "that our pleasures are chiefly of a comparative or reflected kind, how supreme must be theirs, who continually reflect on each other the portraitures of happiness, whose amusements "Though varied still, are still the same In infinite progression." [_NY Weekly_: Panegyric on Marriage: If it be true, that our pleasures are chiefly of a comparative or reflected kind--How supreme must be theirs, who continually reflect on each other, the portraitures of happiness--whose amusements-- "Tho' varied still--are still the same--in infinite progression."]