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.
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