The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-06 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Little Dorrit. No. XVII:~y Charles Dickenq
An enthralling and,
in sonic r —poets, a really
wonderful number of "Little Dorrit. -Wonderful
for the effect produced by two or three most start-
ling ineideets. How • " Mistress Affery makes a
Conditional promise respulinc, her Dream 3 "—re-
lated in the twenty-4-'6.rd chapter—we care not to
speak about : seeing that the same leaden dullness
as of old, the same impenetrable haze of obscurity,
the same grim, weird, ghostly, ghastly, eltrich mys-
tery hangs still doggedly, perseveringly, and pro-
vokingly over everything in any way relating to
the House upon Ciutches ! All we can hope, is that
sooner or later, some fine day, or (more appropri-
ately, perhaps) some dreadful night, the House
up:m Crutches may tumble down abruptly—swal-
lowing up under a cloud of dust that abominable
life-iu-death ol clhag Mrs. Clean am, together with the
other "clever one," Mr. Flint winch to wit—scraping
his horny chin—with the bow of his cravat halter-
Wise under his ear—screwing himself against the
whole world like a villainous piece of rusty ma-
chinery ! That is really all our hope in regard to
that household—if we add, that is to say, our good
wish for weak-minded Mistress Affery: namely,
that just precisely the very moment before the
downfall she may rush out of the building, with her
apron over her eyes—thereby snatching herself" in
the very nick" from destruction. Nothing further
is learnt.through the twenty-third chapter about
the disappearance of Rigau(l, otherwiseThandoisthe
Murderer—althoufli, with a view to the possible
making of some discovery, Arthur (preceded by
Mrs., and followed by Mr. Flintwinch)acccompanies
Flora through his mother's dilapidated dwelling,
in a tour of inspection. Something, however, very
much to the purpose is heard in the two subse-
quent chapters, the 24th and 25th, about the Great
Merdle, the millionnaire. So that we know at last all
about " his complaint." And so does Bar—and so
does Physician ! Mr. MercUe commits suicide, and
proves to he not the greatest capitalist of his age,
but the greatest scoundrel, the greatest swindler,
"the greatest forger, and the greatest thief that
ever cheated the gallows !" He borrows a little
tortoiseshell penknife from Fanny and Sparkler—
and going incontinently thereupon to some neigh-
bouring
warm-baths, dies the death of a self-assas-
sin ! The way in which all thiS is told, we repeat,
is something wonderful. It is supremelyeimpres-
sive. It is worthy of Boz—worthy of the author
of "Oliver Twist" and " Martin Chuzzlewit."
With that amazing admixture of the terrible and',
the hemorous, which is among Mr. Dickens' most
striking characteristics, we have in these two con-
trasting chapters the most laughable description
preceding. the most terrible ! The colloquy be-
tween Fanny and Sparkler one Sunday evening
in their stuffy little abobe in " the cen-
tre of the habitable globe," as our author
fascetiously desi,;nates what is called " The
World"—could hardly be funnier if it had been
written by Mr. Dickens in the days of "Pickwick."
Mrs. Sparkler's indignation at Edmund's " looking
so aggravatingly large" has the drollest effect
imaginable. In token of which take the following
fragmentary scrap of their conversation :
"Now, Edmund, come here ! Come a little nearer,
I want to be able to touch you with my fan, that I may
impress you very much with what I am going to say.
Teat will do. Quite close enough. Oh, yea do look so
big !
Mr. Sparkler apologised for the circumstance,
pleaded that he couldn'i; help it, and said that 'our fel-
lows,' without more particularly indicating whose fe!-
tows, used to call him by the name of Quinbus Flestrin,
Junior, or the Young Man Mountain.
" You ought to have told me so, before,' Fanny
compl ,fined.
" My dear,' returned Mr. Sparkler, rather gratified,
I didn't know it would interest you, or I would have
made a point of telling you.'
" 'There ! For goodness sake, don't talk,' said
-Fanny ; want to talk, myself."
A little later on in the interview she is actually
compelled to request Sparkler "to go round to the
other side of tne sofa and sit in the window cur-
tain, to tone himself down !" Here, however, is
something still better in its way, the mention of
the first rumours in regard to Mr. Merdle's Sui-
cide :

"The report that the great man was dead got about
with fearful rapidity. At first, ho was dead of all the
diseases that ever were known, and of several bran-new
maladies invented with the speed of Light to meet
the demand of the occasion. He lead concealed a dropsy
from infancy, he lead inherited a large estate of water on
the chest from his grandfather, he lead had an operation
performed upon him every morning of his life for eighteen,
years, he had been subject to the explosion of important
veins in his body after the manner of fireworks, he had
cad something the matter with his lungs, he lad had
something the matter with his heart, he had had some-
thing the matter with his brain. Five hundred people
who sat down to breakfast, entirely uninformed on the
whole subject, believed before they bad done breakfast,
that they privatelyand personally knew Physician to have
said to Mr. Merdle, 'You must expect to go out, some
day, like the snuff of a candle,' and that they knew Mr.
Merdle to have said to Physician, A man can die but
once.' By about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, some-
thing the matter with the brain became the favourite
theory against the field ; and by twelve the something
had been distinctly ascertained to be 'Pressure.'"
At half-past nine, however, Bar taking into Court
the real state of the case which he has learnt
from Physician—Loudon soon becomes aware
that Mr. Merdle's death has been the death of a
Suicide.
" Pressure, however, so far from being overthrown by
the discovery, became a greater favourite than ever.
There was a general moralising upon Pressure, in every
street. All the people who had tried to make money and
cad not been able to do it, said, There you were ! You
no sooner began to devote yourself to the pursuit of
wealth, than you got Pressure."
The subsequent chapter (the 26th) expressively en-
titled " Reaping the Whirlwind," opens thus elo-
quently :
" With a precursory sound of hurried breath and g=ir-
ded feet, Mr. Pancks rushed into Arthur Clennam's
Counting-house. The Inquest was over, the letter was
public, the Bank was broken, the other model structures
of straw had taken fire and were turned to smoke. The
admired piratical ship had blown up, in the midst of a
vast fleet of ships of all rates, and boats of all sizes ; and
on the deep was nothing but ruin : nothing but burning
hulls, bursting magazines, great guns self-exploded tear-
ing friends and neighbours to pieces, drowning men
clinging to unseaworthy spars and going down every
minute, spent swimmers, floating dead, and sharks."
There is an astonishing blending of the ludicrous
and the pathetic in the interview which ensues in
Doyce's counting-house between Pancks and Clen-
nam. We read it, we can't help readinv it, at
once through tears and through laughter. 'Pancks
has been the unwitting cause of bringing Doyce
and Clennam to ruin. Arthur is full of anguish,
and poor Pancks of a scarcely-expressible remorze.
Arthur has just exclaimed, less in reproach than in
sheer agony of mind—"Pancks, Pancks, I have
ruined Doyc3 ! . . . I have ruined him—
brought him to shame and disgrace—ruined him,
ruined him !" And we thereupon read :
" The agony into which the reflection wrought his
mind was so distressing to see, that Mr. Pancks took
hold of himself by the hair of his head, and tore it in

desperation at the spectacle.
" Reproach me!' cried Pancks. Reproach me, sir,
or I'll do myself au injury. Say, You fool, you villain.
Say, Ass, how could you do it, Beast, what did you
mean by it l Catch hold of me somewhere. Say some-
thing abusive to me !' All the time, Mr. Pancks was
tearing at his tough hair in a most pitiless and cruel
manner."

" 'lf you bad never yielded to this fatal mania,
Pancks,' said Clennam, more in commiseration than in
retaliation, 'it would have been how much better for
you, and how much better for me ! '
" At me again, sir ! cried Pancks, grinding his
teeth in remorse. At me again ! '
" 'lf you had never gone into these accursed caletila•

tions, and brought out you 7 results with such abominable
clearness,' groaned Clennam, it would have been how
much better for you, Panoks, and how much better for
me ! '

" At me again, sir !' exclaimed Pancks, loosening
his hold of his hair ; at me again, and again !' "
Arthur wrings his hand in reply—the hand of his
fellow-sufferer—only adding, "Blind. leaders of
the blind, Pancks ! Blind leaders of the blind 1
But Doyce, Doyce, D.-"yce, my injured partner !"
Quoth poor Pancks, a little while afterwards—
Mr. Clennam, had you laid out—_ everything ? '
He got over the break before the last word, and also
brought out the last word itself with great difficulty.
" ' Everything.'

"Mr. PTuacks-took hold of his tough hair again, and
gave it such a wrench that he pulled out several prongs
of it. After looking at these with an eye of wild hatred,
he put them in his pocket."
Ultimately—Arthur having placed his affairs in
the hands of Mr. Rugg as his legal adviser, and
having publicly exonerated his absent partner
Doyce from any share in the blame attaching to
his own ruinous speculations—the Arrest comes to
complete the downward career of the Bankrupt.
A writ bring served unoa Arthur Cloonan', in
Bleeding-Heart-Yard,, by a sheriff's officer, humor-
ously described by Mr. Dickens as " an elderly
member of the Jewish persuasion preserved in.runi ."
We close the number, leaving Arthur Clennam
sobbing out " 0 my Little Dorrit !" as he turns
his face against the wall to weep—the wall of the
old familiar room in which he himself is now a pri-
soner for debt hi the Marshal3ea

The Edinburgh Essays. By Members of the
University. 1856. Edinburgh : A. and C.
Black.
A perfectly worthy companion to the Oxford Essays
and the Cambridge Essays. A fitting cornpet it or
with them in regard to scholarship, in regard to!
elcqueuce, and in regard to originality—for a pro-

haply permanent repute, and cortainly for a very
general admiration. In the goodly volume before
us, extending to upwards of 350 octavo pages,
there are altogether eight distinct and elaborate
contributions. Au octave of Essays writ en with
an ability as kindrA in style, as in subject they aro
strikin ly varied and miscellaneous. Professor
Blackie's masterly paper upon " Plato" is one in
every way worthy of the Grecian of the Univer-
sity of the Modeler Athens ! It occupies the fere-
most position :deservedly. It is replete with evi-
dences of a scholarly taste, and of a ripe and
affluent erudition. Second upon the list is
am attractive and eminently compensative
article upon " Early English Life in the Drama,"
written with an evident familiarity with his subject,
by "John Skelton, Advocate." Subsequently, Dr.
Gairdner discourses about " Homoeopathy" with a
due appre:tiati,ai of the powers, if he fail to have
"sat at the fee,.." of Hannemann. Afterwards we
find in the fourth Essay, under a somewhat f tuta,stio
title, a charmingly diversified and singularly enter-
taining contribution, by Andrew Wilson, relating
to "Infanti Per d.uti." The "Progress of Britain
in the Mechanical Arts," as relat=.ll by James Sime,
we would o ummend very earnestly to general consi-
deration. It is explanatory, in some measure, of
the rapid growth of our national greatness,
particularly of late years, and affords a clue
to the secret of our national prosperity. Who will
not feel an interest in turning over the pages-
-234 to 240—devoted to young Alexander Smith's
Essay upon the congenial theme of "Scottish Bal-
lads '?" A graceful and eloquent tribute to some of
the elder bards of Scotland, penned in a genial and
earnest spirit by the last of the gifted sons of
song, dear to the heart of old Caledonia ! The
Essay immediately following this attractive criti-
cism is a biographic treatise upon " Sir William
Hamilton," by Thomas Spencer Baynes, LL.B. A
youthful but giitAl disciple of that great
philosopher—Mr. Baynes evidences in this re-
markable tribute of love and admiration for
the genius of Sir William Hamilton, very notable
powers of analysis, much critical acumen, and
withal a deep and comprehensive appreciation. He
begins by observing that "Scotland has recently
lost, its rapid succession, three of her greatest men,
Dr. Chalmers, Professor Wilson, and Sir William
Hamilton, who, during more than a quarter of a
century, have been respectively her foremost repre-
sentatives in Theology, Literature, and Philo-
sophy." And he then contrasts that extraordinary
triumvirate by "pencilling them oft" through a few
master-touches in the following inimitable and
life-like silhouettes :