The Sun. — 1833-08-06 (London, England)

BATTON-GARDEN:  Yesterday Mr. Thomas Watford, a carpet-manufacturer, of Kidderminster, attended at this office, in company of his son, residing in Gloucester-street, Clerkenwell, to solicit the advice and assistance of Mr. LAING how to proceed under the following extraordinary circumstances:— About tour yeats airier, the wife of Mr. Wa!ford, sen., died, and being anxious to place his only daughter, who was then 14 ye trs of age, under the protecti..n of some female, he applied to one of his relatives, who is a married man, residing in London, holding a responsible situation, ho consented to receive the gill into his house, and for her to assist in its domestic affairs. He hats frequently written to London, inquiring after her, and received answers that she was doing very well, and was in perfect health ; and on the death of her brother, he communicate,: the event to his relative, requesting that she might he sent down in order to a•tend the funeral, when he received an answer that she was too unwell to accomplish the journey, and although the individual (her protertor) had several times since visited Kidderminster, and knew where to find applicant, he never called upon him to acquaint him how his child was going on, and he heard no more of her until October last, when be received a letter from his son, informing him that his daughter was suddenly missed from the heti,e of her relative, who would not give any aids factory account as to her disappearance. He accordingly wrote to his son, urging him to mike every inquiry into the matter, and the only account he could obtain was, that his (applicant's) daughter slept with another girl, and that she got out of bed at half•past six o'clock in a morning in November last, and, after having packed up the whole of her clothes, she decamped, and had not since been heard of. Several other applications were made, but the person alluded to persisted in saying that he knew nothing at all about the girl ; he would nut rive any satisfaction to her father ; and his not having advertised her, and other circumstances, induced applicant to suspect that his daughter had been murdered, or that she ft ad been seduced, and secretly put out of the way to prevent exposure. The persons who lived in the same house, and neigh .ours, were also astonished at the sudden d sa,ipeatance of the girl. Mr. Watford, jun., also strongly suspected some unfair play. and he made an application to Mr. Sergeant Sella% of this office, for hie advice, when he informed him he could do nothing for him without the presence of the girl's father, and information to that effect having been forwarded to him at Kidderminster, he arrived in town, and yesterday morning, in company with his son. made an application at the house of her protector, who refused to give any satisfactory account of her, fur. ther than that she had got up in the morning, had run away, and had not since been heard of. Applicant was much affected while he made his statement. Mr. LAING could not interfere, and recommended him to apply to a judge tor an habeas corpus. He quitted the office with his son, expressing his determination to follow the magistrate's advice.  PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION OF " Gonowitu."—The composition, or the compilation, of this work has been attributed to various persons, some of note sufficient to make me fancy that it has a merit of which I was not at first properly aware. It is not for me to contradict such flattering reports. Let me content myself with laughing in my sleeve at the mistakes that have occurred in affiiiating a foundling which can make but one step Irmo the cradle to the grave. The real writer of " GODOLPHIN" is yet, and ever will be, unreveiled. He enjoys the satisfiction of giving to the world the fruit of his thoughts, his speculations, and his experience—he leaves to others the responsibility of his errors. Some indeed, say, that this book is a trifle of Mr. D'lsttAom's ;—others, that it is either an imitation of Mr.