The Sun.
London, England, 1824-04-15 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICE.

HISTORY of the COMMON WEALTH of ENGLAND,
from its Commencement to the Restoration of Charles the
Second. By WILLIAM GODWIN. Volume the First. Con-
taining the Civil War.

The 'Works of Mr. GODWIN, political, moral,
and romantic, have raised his name into high dis-
tinction in the literary world. All his produc-
tions denote an enlightened mind that disdains
the trammels of custom, and determines to think
for itself. All that he has written is marked by
deep penetration into human nature, and by a
philosophic spirit. His conceptions are generally
original and striking, and are conveyed with
energy and effect. The subject of the present
work relates to one of the most important events
in the history of this country. The facts are uni-
versally known, and have been related by various
writers, but those writers in general have. not
possessed sagacity sufficient to trace those facts
to their incipient causes, to form those reflections,
and to deduce those inferences which afford the
most satisfactory knowledge, and chiefly render
History instructive. CLARENDON is the only writer
who has hitherto given the most comprehensive
account of the important events which form the
subject of the present work, but he was
evidently biassed in favour of the cause of
Royalty, and, therefore, can hardly be sup-
posed to have viewed matters with an impar-
tial eye, or to have done justice to those actors
in the awful drama who assumed parts con-
trary to his own prejudices and interests. His
work, consequently, cannot be read without
suspicion of partiality. Mr. GODWIN brings to
the task a mind comprehensive enough to view
the subject in all its bearings, but on the other
hand, as a strenuous advocate for popular rights,
he may be supposed to look with indulgence, if
not partiality, on those who accomplished the
downfall of a Government, and the destruction
of a Monarch. He commences with an avowal of
a determination to treat the whole transactions
with historical impartiality, and we have no doubt
that he believed himself fully capable of a pure
investigation ; but we have perused his Work
with great attention, and though we admire his
judgment, and admit the diligent labour and
patient research with which he has performed his
task, in that portion of the Work which is before
us, yet we cannot but conceive that he generally
treats the Royal Party with too much severity, or
affected contempt, and that he looks, with a
favourable eye on those who were the chief pro-
moters of the memorable events which he records.
He says in his Preface that he wishes " to be
considered as feeling as well as thinking," but,
with all the caution with which he no doubt ex-
amined the habitudes of his mind, it appears to us
that his thoughts have sometimes been governed
by his feelings. He has, however, produced an
interesting Work, which will doubtless be a very
valuable addition to our historical treasures, when
completed by the second volume. Admitting
that he feels a bias towards the popular side, yet,
as it is evident, on the other hand, that CLA REN.
DON was devoted to the .opposite Party, from
both writers the truth may be elicited, and the
world supplied with every light that can be
thrown on a most important wra ; and though
the form of Government has been overthrown
which succeeded the Monarchy, it has bequeathed
a fund of political knowledge; it has made the
people sensible of their rights, and disposed to
maintain them; and it has taught Authority to
exercise its power with a due regard to those
rights, and to the welfare of the State. We must
do Mr. GonwiN the justice to admit, that he has
obviously spared no pains in his endeavours to
develope the truth of the transactions which he
relates, by a reference to all documents that can
tend to illustrate the subject ; and we feel such
an interest in the Work, as renders us anxious
for the appearance of the second volume, as it
will relieve us from scenes of bloodshed, and
present to us the progress of those measures
that were adopted to consolidate and establish a
Republican Government upon the ruins of the
Monarchy.

MR. ROBERT FORD'S CHEMICAL LIQUID OR
SOLUTION OF ANNOTTO.

( From the Mechanics' Weekly Journal.
An alkaline solution of annotto has long been
used under the lame of the nankeen dye; and My. Ford has
taken out a patent for a similar ankle under the above name.

His chemical liquid is described as being made of 561 b. of an-
notto, reduced down by warm water, then passed through a
fine sieve, and let to stand for a week, or longer. A sufficient
quantity of a solution of pearl-ash in water is then added to
produce the intended shade of colour, or other suitable arti-
cles may be used for this purpose. He then adds to the above
six pints more or less, of what he calls aqua lixivium caustic,
by which he probably means soap ley, and 192 ounces of spirit
of. wine. These being all mixed together, the mixture is to
be kept in a closed vessel. He claims his patent right to the
piciduction of any liquid or solution of 'annotte, prepared either
by the above or by any other means whatever ; and hence he
does not seem to be aware of the composition of the nankeen
dye, which has been so long sold in the shops.

ON MAKING TARRAS MORTAR FROM COMMON

LIMESTONE.

Mr. Minard, a civil engineer in France, announced
.that all
calcareous stones, when imperfectly calcined, woirld'make tarras
mortar. lr. Vicat mentioned in one of his memoirs, that when
powdered chalk had been heated from six to thirty minutes on
a red hot plate, it •acquired the property of setting under
water, provided it was mixed up stiff, like plaster of Paris.--,

INFOH!rfATIqb! FOR THE BRITISH
is an old remark, that those who are out of a country frequently
know more of it than those Who live in it,' and this seems to be
the fact with us and our friends across the Channel. The Etoile
of Thursday laSt,' in an 'article on' the Theatres, communicate a
the following information;—" The Theatre of Govent-garden
has:just given, for ow benefit of the actor KEMALE, a represen,
'cation, arwbrch the crowd was so gieat that in a moment after
the oyening of.the doors all the places to which the public are
admitted; that is to Say, the Pit and the Galler'iei—(Here the
Editor, in a'Note, says, It is well known that the, Boxes are
hired for long periods, and are in some 'sort becoMe the. fixed
nroperty_ of certain fornilieft')--yere so filled that people were
in danger of suffocation. Madame CATALAN' sang Rule
Britannia' and God save the King,' which she was compelled
to repeat. The English Papers speak of the effect which she
prOdudetr; and we ean easiritonceiVe thii from the circum-
stance of her singing the national airs; but it is always very
difficult to know the truth as to what passes in the English
Theatres, because the Managers write the critiques themselves,
:ruitiOi are sent to flu Papers, and inserted verbatim at a fixed
ate !"-This is capital : it•reminds us of a story in a French
15aper two or three years ago, of a pugilistic combat on the
stage betweep ap Englishman and a Frenchman, who happened
46 bi3;piVitig iutioriiinate -parts in some .afterpiece at Drury!.
lane. • The audience are said to have been delighted.with the
exht~iittbil: It is gmiC'elyineeraii for us to add., that the
Frerichs an was victorious.

FOR THE SUN.

IMPROVEMENTS.-BY ECCLESIASTICUS•
CRAP. IL*

While New Churches are building I have plead-
ed the cause of the old ones. To deliver them
from pressure of shops, the degrading and dan-
gerous contact of inflammable dwellings; to

have their architecture made visible, that they may
contribute to the beauty as effectually as to the
devotion of the city—these were the objects of
my first Chapter ; I now take other themes,