The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-04 00:00:00

NEW MONTHLY BELLE ASSEMBLEE.

. . in
The re are, several agreeable prose tales this
Number, chiefly of a sentimental character, together
with a skilfully, versified poem, addressed to the.
Editor—of rather Editress—by Leitch Ritchie. By
way of embellishment there is a beautiful fancy por-
trait,
a half-length, of a young girl, who is repre-
sented kneeling before a crucifix, near an open
window.

appear anxious, for you to renew your battle with France.,
Not wishing to refuse explicitly, you make USe of indirect_
means, such as a, victor supposes he can impose. Any
man of good faith will, perceive this- On reading your
letter. If the same disposition to recommence the strug-
gle is not evinced on both sides, it is useless to prolong
thee-neotiations For my own part rdeclare, that I. do
not desert the field of battle, and that ..I teeognise your
superiority only as accidental."—Galigranni.

PROPOSED MAGNIFICENT NA-

• TIONAL MONUMENF IN LONDON, TO
NEWTON. • • • . •

To THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF LINCOLN. CHAIRMAN
OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS YOR
THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE METROPOLIS. ."

" Sibi gratulentur Mortalas,
Tale tantumque extitisse,
IIUSIIAILGENERIS DECUS." •
A part of the-inscription on the tablet to the
memory Of Sir Isaac Newton, in the sanc-
' tuary of England, Westminster Abbey.
MY LORD—Not having the honour even of the
slightest personal acquaintance with your Lordship
which might warrant me in soliciting an interview,
I most respectfully pray leive to address you through
the public press, -on a subject to which I have always,.
ever- since I originated, it, between 18 and 19 years
ago, attached a far deeper and more expansive than
a mere national interest.

Your Lordship, I am quite sure, will agree with'
me in my conviction, that the name and memory of
Newton belong not to England alone, but to all the
nations of the world.

I respectfully hope that your Lordship will not con-
sider me obtrusive if I beg, concisely, to enumerate the
following facts in proof of the undeviating perseverance
and fervour with which, ever since the-time of its origi-
nation (Oct. 1825), I have urged ,my favourite project
on the public attention of England; a project in which
I take leave to say I have,' and can have no personal
interest whatever. lam not a professional architect,
and, in addition to this, the nature of my avocations
and duties sternly exacts from me that my general'
residence should be, not in London, but in my native
country, Ireland.
First, ia October, 1825, after one day visiting our
new observatory at Cambridge, then nearly com-
pleted, under the influence of the train of meditation
inspired by contemplating the buildingfor who at
Cambridge could think of astronomy without recol-
lecting Sir Isaac Newton ?—I wrote from my college,
my own loved college Magdalene, a letter to the
editor of the- Times, which was immediately, after
published in that journal, suggesting the principle of
my design.
- That design was then, and it is now, that, as an exqui-
sively appropriate national monument to. Newton, a
magnificent dome, of mighty elevation and diameter,
• should, like that which I had seen in Italy; at Assisi, over
the antique chapel, be reared by England over this house
mid observatory in her metropolis ; the house and
'observatory themselves being at the same time put
into as perfect a state of repair as British architec-
tural skill could devise, to protract their duration,
with all their sublime associations.
Secondly, I came to London from Cambridge and
made drawings on the spot from nature' and also
drawings of my design, elevational and sectional,
which were beautifully lithographed by. Mr. Scharf,
and which I published in the print shops.
Thirdly, I presented copies of these to the Royal.
Astronomical Society, the Royal Society, the Insti-
tution '
of Civil Engineers, and to many highly dis-
tinguished individuals.
Fourthly, in the summer of 1834, I came from
Clare to London, and was examined by a Committee'
of the House of Commons, the Shannon Navigation
Committee, on the state of the navigation of that great
river, and also touching certain improvements ; and
deeming that to be a very favourable opportunity, I,
by another public' letter with my name, in the Lon-
don newspapers, revived my long cherished project
for the' national monument to the illustrious Newton.
On this occasion the distinguished President of the
Royal Academy, SirMaitin Archer Shee, in response
to my solicitation, with the greatest courtesy and
kindness, gave me his permission to dedicate to him
whatever new pictures I might find it necessary to
publish from new drawings.
Fifthly, in 1836, Lord Monteagle, then Chancellor
of the Exchequer, honoured me by presenting from'
me a petition to the House of Commons, and I was
subsequently honoured in the same manner by the
presentation of a second one to the House by Mr.
Hume.

These petitions were published in several of the
London and Irish newspapers.

In the second, presented by Mr. Hume, I intro-
duced what appears to me to be a great improvement.
It occurred to me that nothing could be more feli-
citously appropriate, and in unison with the spirit of
my design, than that a statue of white marble, of the
most exquisite execution, of Newton sitting in medi-
tation, should be placed in this his observatory, where
he so often sat in life in celestial meditation, and from
whence I am now writing to your Lordship, and im-
ploring from you and England not to let it, and the
house which it crowns so nobly, tumble prematurely,
in England's metropolis, into ruin and rubbish.
I do not 'deem it expedient, having already tres-
passed so long, to inflict upon your Lordship the ar-
chitectural details of the plan which I Tecommended,
as they are described in thelpetition presented by Lord
Monteagle.
In conclusion, I respectfully pray permission to
quote one passage from my letter from Cam-
'bridge in 1825, a second from my letter written in
London in 1834, and a third from my first petition to
the House of Commons..
FROM. THE LETTER FROM MAGDALENE COLLEGE.
"Protected in the manner I have -described from
the dilapidating influence of rains and winds, the
venerable edifice, in which Newton studied, or was
inspired, that palace of the soul, /night stand fast
for ages : a British monument mote sublime than the
pyramids' although remote antiquity and vastness be
combined. to create their interest."

FROM THE LETTER OF 1834. •
"The bOdy, of Newton .has Jung since mouldered
into dust and earth and ashes, and these are not diffe-
rent from the dust and and ashes of the other
great men of England 'who surround his sepulchre.
"But, this: airy: the observatory, which I
now again, for the second time, call-on England to
save from ruin, was the etherealTitadel from which,
while he lived; the spirit of Newton made incursions
into the abyss, of celestial space—the' empyrean-'the
blue serene'—the hyaline of Heaven ; and _in its
fight, made as if it had taken to itself the wings of the
morning, it seemed, as ,it were,- almost to disidentify
itself from its human essence, and to blend with
those. superior existences described by Milton, those
pure intelligential ' substances with thoughts which
wander through eternity.' " • • •
FROM THE PETITION PRESENTED BY THE CHANCELLOR

OF THE EXCHEQUER. •
• "Sibigratdentur trirtales,".
And let the people of England exult above all others,
' "7'ale tantumque extitisse,"
HUMANI GENERIS DECUS.
" Petitioner respectfully, most respectfully, hopes
that this appeal, to the House of Commons will not be
made in vain, especially in an epoch like the present,
when the light of science sheds an Elysian effluence
oil the world ; although it be now,. in comparison
with vvhatit will be hereafter, only as the cool dewy
roseate dawn of -a roseal-blushing morning, in com-
parison with the meridian torrid glory of the Arch-
Chemic Sun."
" This must be the case, in consequence of the
evitable progressive development,.throug,h future ages,
of portions (to, use the words of the mighty metaphy-
sician Loeke),of those masses of knowledge which still
lie hidden within the secret recesses of nature."
STEELE,
I have the honour to be, my
mLoArds,
Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant,
TA
member of the Cambridge Senate, and of the
London Institution of Civil Engineers.
Observatory of Newton, No. 35, 'St. Martin's-
street, Leicester-square; March 29,1844.

METROPOPTAN • DRAPERS'
ASSOCIATION.

Rooms, -
Assoca ion was last
night Ah
:meetingelcn thef
Hanover the Draptaking those steps which ma=ybe deemed most expe-
dient for procuring an abridgment of the hours of
Hanover
it'
for the purpose of
business in -the drapery houses in the metropolis.
This Association, it is right to remark, does not con
template any . appeal to the Legislature for its in-
terference ; it is formed on purely, voluntary prin.:
ciples, and seeks to accomplish its objects solely by
moral influences. There is, therefore, all the differ-
ence in the world between its
.proposal to abridge_
the hours of business and the legislative proposal to.
abridge the hours of labour in the 'factories. There
is this much difference between the two cases—that
the' abridgment of-the hours of business in the dra--
pery trade 'would not lead to any diminution in the
amount of business done, whereas, in the case of the
factory operatives, the Ten Hours' Bill would be fol-
lowed by a reduction in the amount of work per-
formed to the extent of one-sixth. In drapers' shops
the business now done in thirteen hours could easily'
be done in ten or even eight hours, . and consequently,
no pecuniary injury could be done either to the mas-
ter,or the assistant by .shutting up one or two hours
earlier than at present.. In the case of the factory
operatives, the diminution in the amount of produc-
tion-Would be followed by a corresponding reduction'
in the amount of wages. Our readers are aware
that the Drapers' Association has existed for some,
time. They-are also aware of the objects for which
it was formed. The unusual length of time each day.
which assistant-drapers are obliged to devote to.busi-
.ness, has long been-the subject of regret to all who
wish well to their fellow-men. The practice hitherto
has been,and, in many, instances is still, to keep
drapers', hops open, to nine in the ,evening. Some
,keep, open even later ; but let us take nine as the
.generaL boiir Now,- to be kept .confined
behind the ceanter

THE' &UN, r--14 RSD -711, N I NG, AY It IL 1