21 DECEMBER 1861, Page 1

The periodic time of Encke's Comet and the Begum lawsuit

has just expired, and the Moulvie again figures in our courts of law. Burke's Beguins were happy at least in the romance of their sufferings, while the heroine of the New-road, in the hands of a shiftless Moulvie, who signs blank cheques for English sharpers, is as desolate as Mr. Tennyson's mermaid in her coral cave, and yet more ridiculous.

"Who would be a Begum bold, Sitting alone, Combing her hair, On a throne,

In the New-road ?"

Even though the blank cheques be declared fraudulent, the Begum is still pitiable. Looking to the periodic expenses of this cometary lawsuit, the Moulvie will doubtless have to draw many cheques, not fraudulent, on her behalf, the "figure" of which that distressed and eminent lady will contemplate with what Mr. Thackeray pathetically terms "most extreme disgust."