The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-09 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Little Dorrit. No. XI. By Charles Dickens.

Hoy ! Presto ! " Book the Second Riches."
The Dorrits of the Marshalsea are no longer in the
Marshalsoa, but gallavanting about Europe, die-
porting themselves among the Alps, maundering
across the plains of Lombardy, killing time among
the lagunes of the Adriatic, under the shadow of
St. Mark's, in the gondolas of Venice. Old Mr.
Dorrit no longer receiving halfpence from a lime-
splashed plasterer like honest Plornish, but wrapped
in costly furs, and tended by an elegant valet, and
preceded in his wanderings hither and thither by a
magnificent Courier, who in the old days would, as
our historian remarks, have been regarded by the
inhabitants. of the ._Marshalsea as a very fine
Foreign Gentleman: The Family roll over the
Continpt, moreover, in a couple of resplendent
carriages— Mr. Dorrit, Miss Dorrit, Miss Amy
Dorrit, and (a new character, a sort of chaperon to
the young ladies, an expensive luxury, enjoyed as
such at the costly rate of 4001. per annum) one
Mrs. General—in the great travelling-carriage.
Frederick Dorrit, Esquire, late of the Clarionet,
and Edward Dorrit, Esquire, otherwise till very
recently Tip, in the chariot—the fourgon coming
afterwards, in due course, with the heavy baggage
and a couple of ladies' maids, and a brace of superb
footmen (hair powder and all), and a pair of valets
(including the one already mentioned)--altogether
as these retainers, are here happily designated " a
strong body of inconvenience." Yet changed though
their " surroundings" really are thus marvellously,
the Dorrits are still, one and all, precisely as they
were in the old squalid hand to-mouth times when
the Head of the House was the Father of the Mar.
shalsea. Fanny giving herself precisely the same
airs—Frederick just as comatose—Tip as vulgar to
a T—the father as pompous as usual, with his
" hums " and his " has " of empty importance--
Amy just the same dear, little, shy, gentle, timor•
ous, domesticated-angel-guardian 1 At the Con-
vent of the Great St. Bernard, these wealthy Eng-
lish travellers " come upon" Minnie and Harry
Rowan—then upon their wedding tour—and
strangely also, with them, i" upon" that grim
" hell-kite" of the tale, the ghoul-like Rigaud, lat-
terly modified into a M. Blandois, a sort of a roving
Chevalier d'lndustrie I Separating from them,
however, after a night passed with these chance
acquaintances in the Convent, the Dorrits descend
from the mountain tops into Italy in the grand
cavalcade already particularised. An incidental
chapter introduces the reader especially and for-
mally to Mrs. General, the expensive Chaperon.
The Third Chapter of Book the Second carrying
the whole party in a grand clatter onwards—like
a fragmentary reflection of " Pictures from
Italy." And the fourth settling them clown
for the time being in a Venetian Palace, whence
Little Dorrit writes an affectionate and charac-
teristic letter to "Dear Mr. Clennam,"—a letter
bringing to an end the present instalment. Con-
spicuous among the "good things" in this eleventh
number is the mention made casually of Mr. Tip's
travelling costume—one, we are told, of "the very
fullest and completest," insomuch so that " The
world seemed hardly large enough-to yield him an
amount of travel proportionate to his equipment;
The whole description of Mrs. General " driving►
the proprieties four-in-hand" is capital. Admir-
able, too, in a very different way is the limning of
the Alpine scenery with the ascending Night com-
ing up the mountain " like a rising water"--.and
when it had risen at last to the walls of the old
convent, appearing as " though that weather-beaten
structure was another Ark, and floated away upon
the shadowy waves." Deliciously ridiculous le
Miss Fanny Dorrit's indignation at "Amy's good-
natured care for Minnie Gowan nee Meagles when
the latter has chanced to faint away aild be carried
to her bedchamber. " See," observes Miss Fanny,
" what is involved in this Can we ever hope to
be respected by our servants Never. Here are
our two women, and Pa's valet, and a footman,
and a courier, and all sorts of dependents, and yet
in the midst of them we are to have one of our-
selves rushing about with tumblers of cold water,
like a menial ! Why, a policeman," exclaim,
Miss Fanny, "if a beggar had a fit in the street,
could but go plunging about with tumblers, as this
very Amy did in this very room before our very
eyes last night I" Consequent upon all which
morbid jealousy as to the maintenance of the
family dignity, we have the most humorous
description of all in this eleventh number—the in-
cident where a very genteel lady, accompanied by
her son (no other than our old absurd friend Spark-
, ler and his mamma, Mrs. Merdle, otherwise " the
Bosom"), take unceremonious possession (during
their temporary absence on the Great St. Bernard)
of a salon appertaining to the Dorrit family, in the
hotel at Martigny. The innkeeper's protestations
of anguish at this untoward casualty furnish the
key to this very laughter-moving description. He,
the innkeeper, hat in hand, on the return of the
Dorrit Family, declaring to the courier " that he
was blighted, that he was desolated, that he was
profoundly afflicted, that he was the most miserable
and unfortunate of beasts, that be had the head
of a wooden p:g," and the Mr. Dorrit's
wrath drowns the innkeeper's apologies in an out-
burst of indignation. The said haughty aristocrat
being appeased by Mrs. Merdle's elegant protesta-
tions of regret--having been previously propitiated
through the medium of Tip, by the stenographic
explanations of Sparkler, who assures that young
gentleman, under the exclamation of " old feller ;
you !" that "Lady--a mother of mine in point of
fact [as if the ridiculous wretch had two 4--swishes
no Row :" adding, that the said Lady " Being a re-
markably fine woman, et cetera"—was too many for
this " chap,"—meaning the desolated innkeeper.
The whole affair ending, of course, after all, some-
how satisfactorily, until Mrs. Merdle and the Spark-
ler are transfixed in a dumb recognition of Miss
Dorrit. Until, in fact, the Bosom pulls the partially
paralysed son of it, into their travelling chariot.
" He was no sooner within," says the historian,
" than the pad of the little window in the back of
the chariot disappeared, and his eye usurped its
place. There it remained as long as so small an
object was discernible, and probably much longer,
staring (as though something inexpressibly sur-
prising should happen to a cod-fish) like an ill-
executed eye in a large locket." Gazing through
which preposterous eye of Mr. Sparkler upon the
Dorrit Family, we leave them for a while in the
midst of their Continental wanderings.

LONDON-BRIDGE TRAFFIC.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—Your correspondent is the exponent of a large
clas whose endeavour it is to facilitate the traffic over
London-bridge. Having devoted much time to this im-
portant subject, permit me to remark that in my opinion
no adequate relief can be afforded by any of the plans
proposed, whose basis it is to force over the bridge more
than its legitimate traffic, end hence plethora ensues.
The only relief can be obtained by diverting the traffic
that does not legitimately belong to the bridge. At pre-
sent it is the route to the Great Northern and North-
Western Railways, Camden-town, Highgate, Hamp-
stead, &c., as well as to a considerable section of the
western districts of the metropolis. The object of my
proposed new street for Southwark, which is parallel to
and contiguous to the river, is to abstract the whole of
this traffic. It would allot to the several bridges their
respective proportions, and Victoria-street would form
part of the new route to Euston and Sings-cross sta•
tions ; thus London-bridge, relieved of near two thirds
of its traffic, would be found ample for the requirement.,
and the public would not then have to complain
very severe inconvenience and loss of time which they
have now to submit to.
I enclose a memorial to the Metropolitan Board of
Works from the Brighton and South-Western Compa-
nies,When it
which confirms my ♦iew of this subject.
of
is considered that between 10,000,000 and 11,000,000
passengers arrive and depart from this terminus, the
opinion of the directors ought to be conclusive. No
besaniydeuenPwrheiictiohdfittchhe
my testimony to the
further evidence is needful to enable
mind to decide upon the subject;
police carry out the
e
how the vast mul-
titude of the other companies are coincident, from whom
memorials will be presented.
(into dew
Without more
y e cannot
rly
effective
m concludeanne without tnh on
whichad g
traffic arrangements. It is surp ,
tru y,
tisetruioduesgdetetorivmerenthce_byridogureafTroemry
THOMAS TAYLOR.
4, Euston-grove, Easton-square.

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Coastwp (Copy.)
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,anßdaiLlwonayd,onsc apnt.d6B.righ-
" To THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.
" Ge‘iSit°leurntthoenE,—aasnlrSenoltudtiarhieictors of the South-Eastern
and Londtn, Brighton, and South Coast. Railway Com-
panies haying been requestr'd to express an opinion on
the subject of the proposed new road or street in South-
wark, between London-bridge and the West-end, pro•
posed to be formed with a view to the convenience of
the public using the lines of railway terminating at the
Loudon-bridge station, have considered the plan sub-
mitted to them by Air. T. Taylor, showing a street ex-
tending (by one or other of two routes) from High-street,
Borough,
to opposite Stamford-street Bla.ckfriars-road,
and they desire us to express to you that, in their opi-
nion, the proposed new line of street, intersecting as it
would do the main line.; of communication by thebridges
to and from the west end and those parts of the city of
London lying north of the Thames between Southwark
and Westminster-bridges, and also as forming part of_ an
almost direct line of communication between London-
bridge and the principal metropolitan
.railway stations,
IN e are, &c.,
i:f tivte6l li ,
r,e n
t calculated
enormousto relieve
raffi le: n n
andd oarberai dtlgyeotfoo ftehaceopnpoorumtbi
economise
the time and promote the convenience.,_,„
availing themselves of tlo,iss.tesrauEs.—s,
.... •
0 r SLIGHT, i Secretaries."