The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, No. 577 | Page 7

be more natural)
was considered somewhat mysterious, as his body was not found; and
some time subsequent to the event, a fellow of a waggish disposition
happening to be accidentally in that part of the country, and bearing, it
is said, a singular resemblance to Patch, was stopped by a
Rochester-man on the road, and questioned on the subject. The stranger
immediately saw a fair opening for fun, and, after some hesitation,
reluctantly confessed that he was actually Sam himself; but that, for
particular reasons, his being alive must be kept a profound secret, until
a day he named, when he would make a public appearance in Rochester,
and that he trusted to the fidelity of the person who had discovered him
not to mention the circumstance, meantime, to any living being. _As a
matter of course_, it was speedily confided, in like manner, to the
whole population; and on the appointed day, crowds assembled to
laugh at the credulity of one another. A poor tradesman of the town had
taken wilfully the same fatal leap, only on the day preceding my visit.
Many of the poor Indians are lost over the fall, when rum has been in
plenty. A squaw was observed upon one occasion, with her canoe
absorbed in the current, and she herself utterly insensible to the danger.
Warned at last by loud exclamations from the banks, she roused herself,
only to behold the frightful chasm before her, when, perceiving all hope
of escape to be vain, and every effort fruitless, she coolly finished off
the contents of her bottle, and plunged into the abyss.--See _Quart.

Journ. Agric._ No. 18.
* * * * *

ANECDOTE GALLERY.
SATIN STONE NECKLACES.
These beautiful ornaments of polished fluorspar--first made and
brought into fashion, we believe, by the late Mr. Mawe, of the
Strand--are even more appreciated by our Gallic neighbours than by
ourselves. We have been in society where the attention and admiration
of a gallant French gentleman was ludicrously divided between the
attractions of a lady's face and her satin-stone necklace. Some years
since, the Duchess de Berri, it is said, purchased various ornaments of
this description and material, to a considerable amount, which she wore,
either upon, or immediately subsequent to, her marriage. On the fatal
night of the Duke de Berri's assassination, the Duchess happened (so
goes the story) to be wearing one of these identical purchases; and, in
consequence, upon the anniversary of her widowhood, and on other
occasions when peculiarly depressed in spirits, never fails to put on a
satin-stone necklace, as a memento of the hours of her bridal and
deprivation. Louis XVIII. purchased, when in England, a large stock of
these delicate, white necklaces, which, on returning to France, he
disposed off amongst his admiring fair noblesse, by gift or purchase.
* * * * *
DUELLING IN FRANCE.
Different versions of the following anecdotes, respecting Mr. G---- (an
English officer), may be abroad, but we give them as detailed to us:--
Mr. G----, a young English militaire of fashion and spirit, not a great
while since, had the fortune to fight a couple of duels in Paris, under
circumstances rather curious. He was acquainted with a French
gentleman, whom nature had endowed with more tongue than with

discretion and good principles;--in fact, it came to the ears of Mr. G----,
that the loquacious Gaul was a revolutionist in politics, a professed
atheist in religion, and (how could it happen otherwise?) a man devoid
of the most ordinary principles of honour, probity, and social decencies.
He was in the habit of slandering and vituperating, in the most violent
manner; and, in the well-thronged cafés and salons of the French
capital, not only his bon ami Mr. G----, but everything and everybody
English, until our young officer, provoked by his insolence beyond all
patience, taking the advice of a friend, challenged him. The Gaul,
affecting to be highly irritated, at first protested that "he would never
consent to degrade himself by fighting any of the d--d English;" and,
with horrid imprecations, parodied Caligula's memorable malice, by
wishing that "all the cursed members of that infernal nation were but
one body, which he might destroy at a shot!" However, that no
imputation might rest on his courage, he consented to meet his
adversary--for whom, by the way, he expressed the most thorough
contempt--next morning, at the Bois de Boulogne. They met; and this
miserable man received the reward of his perfidy and malice, by a ball
through his heart!
Some days after this affair, Mr. G---- being grossly insulted by another
French gentleman--a notorious duellist, and, if we mistake not, an ally
of the deceased--felt himself obliged to notice the affront in a similar
manner. Monsieur ---- treated the challenge with supreme contempt,
begged to