The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-02 00:00:00

Rigaud) from Miss Wade the abominable i And
here we at once gladly afford to a rather elaborate
note,- prefixed to the present number by Mr.
Dickens, the benefit, such as it is, of our circulation.
It is a note, as the read"r will observe, minutely
and rather anxiously explanatory
"By an oversight of the author's, which he did not
observe until too late for correction in the first impres-
si.mn of the number for last month (No. XV.), the name
Rigaud is used in the 17th cbapter of the Second Book,
instead of Blandois. The personage in the story who
assumed the latter name, is habitually known to the
airbor by the former, as his real one ; and hence the
mistake. It is set right, if the reader will have the
goodness to substitute the word Blandois for Rigaud, in
that chapter when it occurs. The chapter commences at
page 467, and ends at page 474."
Nothing whatever is learnt, in the present number,
as to the cause of the mysterious disappearance of
this horrible assassin M. Rigaud, alias Blandois. At
Calais, Clennam has an unsatisfactory interview
about the matter with Miss Wade--attended at the
close of the interview by Harriet, otherwise Tatty-
coram. They meet, by the way, in a room at Miss
Wade's Calais residence, in which we note among
the marvellously characteristic still-life, such exceed-
ingly Gallic Ineubles as " a little round table, with a
tumultuous assemblage of legs underneath :"
and, upon the mantel-piece " a Greek
warrior with his helanet off, sacrificing
a clock to the Genius of France !" Arthur Clen-
nam harried about the Calais streets by hotel
touters, such, for example, as the one described at
p. 493, as "a native gentleman in a suit of grease,
and a cap of the same material," returns to Lo'-
don onlyjust in time to take leave for awhile of
his wise and honest partner, Daniel Doyce—off, as
it appears, on some engineering expedition for the
Emperor of all the Russias. Arthur does more,
however, than this almost immediately upon his re-
turn homewards. He sets upon the trail of Rigaud
the assassin, true-hearted little chirruping Jean
Baptist Cavaletto. As to the autobiographic reve-
lations of Miss Wade (constituting the whole of
chap. 21, book ii.), while they help to explain
much that was bewildering and incomprehensible
in the plot of " Little Dorrit," they at the same
time only demonstrate more clearly than ever the
detestable peculiarities of that most intolerable cha-
racter. Henceforth Miss Wade may be placed in
the same category with Miss Dartle, the one blot
in our author's otherwise perfect masterpiece—
" David Copperfield."

"Ask Mamma." By the Author of " Handley
Cross" and " Soapy Sponge." Illustrated by
John Leech. Part I.
A comical new serial, by a popular humorist—
drolly written, and most facetiously illustrated.
It gives promise already by the broad fun of the
opening chapters—delightfully acceptable promise
—of many a hearty laugh to come. A prospect not
to be wondered at when the Author is the cele-
brant of the renowned Mr. Jorrocks, and the Artist
the chief glory of that merry old gentleman, Mr.
Punch ! Our Hero's Ancestors—Pens et Mere—
occupy our attention in Part One : "our hero,"
by the way, let us say at once, being no other than
one Fine Billy, otherwise Billy Pringle. Pringle,
the elder, after the fashion of the famous lover in
the Comic Song, falls in love with Miss Willing—
" Which, was a Lady's Maid !"
Miss Willing's earlier experiences in which capacity
are ludicrously enough narrated at the outset.
As in the instance of the family she feels con-
strained to leave, because at odd times her mast:x
woud come into 11,,T mistress's room with nothing
on but his shirt and his spectacles ! The way in
which the said Miss Willing " hooks" as well as
"eyes" Mr. William Pringle is a thing to grin over
while reading, as one can't help grinning ever John
Lee3b's own inimitable caricatures. He is fsirly
hooked, by the by, to the suppressed amusement
of one Blood-Red Ben, and of apother " white-
lashed" Pheasant-Feathers. The former of thee
two worthies being a House Porler : and the latter
•the s'attt-rnly daughter of some down-country
poacher. We 01111 look forward to the continua-
tion of "Ask Mamma" with a tolerable certainty of
finding in it a genuine source of amusement.

The Year Book of Facts in Science and Art. 1857.
By John Tunts, F. S. A.
. _ _ .

Another useful look by the painstaking and able
author of " Things not Generally Known," be;ng
an exhibition of the important discoveries and im-
provements of the past year in mechanics and the
useful at-0, natural philosophy, electricity, chemis-
try, zoology, and botsny, geology and mineralogy,
meteorology, and astronomy. The sources from
wkich the f tett have been drawn are the records of
the proceedings of learned societies and other reli-
able storehouses of information. The' author has
compiled the matter judiciously, and with an im-
partiality sufficiently obvious to inspire confidence.
in its trustworthiness. The value of such a work
will be best appreciated by those whose access to
scientific reports and 'journalistic announcements is
limited, while none who take an interest in the
advancement of art and science will fail to ro-
cognis) in " The Year Book of Facts" an int-x.le-
di4te boon,. and the forerunner of an invaluable
series.

The Engrish Popular History of

England: Bradbury and Evans.

" The English Cyclopeedia" has reached the
forty-ninth part, and extends from Nash to Pater-
son. Among the most remarkable names in this
number are, of course, Nelson and Newton. Many
living celebrities are also included—Viscount Pal-
merAon and Omer Pacha among them. The work
is ioo well known and widely circulated to require
criticism, and will doubtless continue to obtain the
encouragement it merits.

" The Popular History of England" is a useful
work, but not of so high a character. It has
reached the fifteenth part, and brings down the
history to near the close of the reign of Henry the
Eighth. It will be useful as a summary, and the
illustrations are a great attraction.