Manner of his death. bank of the river, near to and in full view of the Falls; which, of all other objects, it was his delight to behold. He occupied his new residence about two months. On Friday, the 10th of June, 1831, he went twice below the bank of the river, to bathe, and was seen to go a third time. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the ferryman saw him in the water- he was partly floating and partly resting his body on the shelving rocks. As the boat approached, to screen himself from the gaze of the passengers, he drew his head under the water. It was not seriously thought of, as he had often been noticed in the same situation, and acting in the same manner. When the ferryman returned, his clothes were seen on the rocks, where he usually deposited them, but he was not there. An examination was immediately made, but his body could not be found. It was supposed to have been carried away by the current. "The greedy surge had swept him down, far, far From mortal ken." On the 21st, the body was taken up at Fort Niagara; was clearly identified, and was on the next day removed and decently interred in the burial ground at Niagara Falls. Thus terminated the career of the unfortunate Francis Abbott - little, indeed, known to those near whom he spent the last two years of his life. Some few gleanings more can only be given. He was an English gentleman, of a respectable family; he was endowed with a good mind, highly cultivated; and was eminently pleasing in his manners. He was not only master of several languages, but deeply read in the arts and sciences, and possessed all the minor accomplishments of the finished gen His character. tleman, fascinating colloquial powers, and music and drawing in great perfection. Many years of his life had been spent in travelling. He had visited Egypt and Palestine; had travelled through Turkey and Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France; and had resided for considerable periods of time in Rome, Naples, and Paris. While at the Falls, business brought him in contact with several of the inhabitants, with a few of them he would sometimes be sociable; to all others he was distant and reserved. His conversations were always interesting, and his descriptions of countries and people highly glowing and animated. But at times, even with his favored acquaintance, he would hold no converse; but communicated to them his wishes, on a slate, and would request that nothing might be said to him. He would frequently, for three or four months together, go unshaved; often with no covering on his head, and his body enveloped in a blanket; shunning all, and seeking the deepest solitude of the island. He composed much, and generally in Latin; but he destroyed his compositions almost as fast as he produced them. When his little cot was examined, hopes were entertained that some manuscript or memorial might be found, of his own composition; but he left nothing of the kind. His faithful dog guarded his door, and was with difficulty pursuaded aside while it was opened. His cat occupied his bed; and his guitar, violin, flutes, and music books, were scattered around in confusion. There was a portfolio, and the leaves of a large book; but not a word, not even his name, was written in any of them. Many spots on Iris Island are consecrated to the memory of Francis Abbott. On the upper end of the island he had established his walk, and in one place it had be His walks-his temerity. like that on which a senBetween Iris and Moss come trodden and well beaten, tinel performs his tour of duty. Island, there is embowered in seclusion and shade, one of the most charming waterfalls, or cascades, imaginable. This was his favorite retreat for bathing. There he resorted at all seasons of the year. In the coldest weather, even when snow was on the ground, and ice in the water, he continued to bathe in the Niagara. On the lower extremity of the island, there was a bridge leading over what are called the Terrapin Rocks; from this bridge there extended a single piece of timber, some twelve or fifteen feet over the precipice. On this bridge it was his daily practice to walk; with a quick step he would pass the bridge, advance on the timber to -the extreme point, turn quickly on his heel and walk back; and continue thus to walk for hours together. Sometimes, he would let himself down at the end of the timber, and hang under it by his hands and feet for fifteen and twenty minutes at a time, and this over a chasm so terrific, as to make dizzy the strongest head. On being remonstrated with, for thus exposing himself, he would reply, that, on crossing the ocean, he had frequently seen the sea-boy in much greater peril; and, as he should probably again pass the sea, he wished to inure himself to such dangers: if the nerves of others were disturbed, his were not. In the darkest hours of the night, he was often found walking alone, in the wildest and most dangerous places near the Falls; and at such times he would shun the approach of men, as if they were unwelcome intruders on his solitude. He had a stipend allowed to him by his friends in England, competent for his support. He attended to the state of his accounts, very carefully; was economical in His opinion of the Views. his expenditure of money for his own use; but generous in paying for all favors and services, and never receiving any thing without making immediate payment. He had a deep and abiding sense of religious duties and decorum; and was mild in his behavior, and inoffensive in his conduct. Religion was a subject he appreciated, and seemed well to understand. The charity he asked from others, he extended to all mankind. What, it will be inquired, could have broken up and destroyed such a mind as his? What drive him from society, which he was so well calculated to adorn,- and what transform him, noble in person and intellect, into an isolated anchorite, shunning the association of his fellow men? The mystery he never unfolded, and his friends have remained silent on the subject. He was about twenty eight years of age, at the time of his death. With the scenery of the Falls, he was perfectly infatuated, and expressed himself in the most rapturous terms, when he spoke of the beautiful retreats of Iris Island. He was asked, why he did not take up his residence in Canada, under his own government - among his own people; and, as he preferred being near the Falls, he could there select a place to suit him, as the views on that side were considered, by many, the best. His reply was, that he preferred this side, because, in all that was interesting and beautiful, the American scenes around the Falls were decidedly superior. Alexander's Leap. ALEXANDER'S LEAP. "My thoughts came back. Where was I? Cold, Life reassumed its lingering hold; it is no dream." At a spot, about thirty rods from the Falls, a thrilling incident occurred in 1836. A number of men, employed upon the Lockport and Niagara Falls rail road, were one night carousing at a small tavern, in the village. A dispute, upon some religious subject, arose between a party of Irishmen and a few Scotchmen, who happened to be present. The Scotchmen soon found it necessary to retreat to another room; but the Irish blood, excited with whiskey, was up, and they rushed in upon them, swearing death and destruction upon "Luther's breed." It had become one reason is lost in of those fierce and fatal rows, where passion and intoxication, and in the whirlwind of excitement, blows are dealt, and life is taken; and from which, happy is he who can safely retreat. The Scotchmen rushed through the back door and over the fences, hiding themselves behind trees and stumps. They all succeeded in eluding their infuriated pursuers. One of |