_Mr. Toogood_.—The reverend gentleman has hit the nail on the head. It is the distribution that must be looked to; it is the _paterfamilias_ that is wanting in the State. Now here I have provided him. (Reproducing his diagram.) _Mr. Trillo_.—Apply the money, sir, to building and endowing an opera house, where the ancient altar of Bacchus may flourish, and justice may be done to sublime compositions. (Producing a part of a manuscript opera.) _Mr. Skionar_.—No, sir, build _sacella_ for transcendental oracles to teach the world how to see through a glass darkly. (Producing a scroll.) _Mr. Trillo_.—See through an opera-glass brightly. _The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—See through a wine-glass full of claret; then you see both darkly and brightly. But, gentlemen, if you are all in the humour for reading papers, I will read you the first half of my next Sunday’s sermon. (Producing a paper.) _Omnes_.—No sermon! No sermon! _The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—Then I move that our respective papers be committed to our respective pockets. _Mr. Mac Quedy_.—Political economy is divided into two great branches, production and consumption. _The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—Yes, sir; there are two great classes of men: those who produce much and consume little; and those who consume much and produce nothing. The _fruges consumere nati_ have the best of it. Eh, Captain! You remember the characteristics of a great man according to Aristophanes: ὅστις γε πίνειν οἶδε καὶ βίνειν μόνον. Ha! ha! ha! Well, Captain, even in these tight-laced days, the obscurity of a learned language allows a little pleasantry. _Captain Fitzchrome_.—Very true, sir; the pleasantry and the obscurity go together; they are all one, as it were—to me at any rate (aside). _Mr. Mac Quedy_.—Now, sir— _The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—Pray, sir, let your science alone, or you will put me under the painful necessity of demolishing it bit by bit, as I have done your exordium. I will undertake it any morning; but it is too hard exercise after dinner. _Mr. Mac Quedy_.—Well, sir, in the meantime I hold my science established. _The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—And I hold it demolished. _Mr. Crotchet_, _jun._ Pray, gentlemen, pocket your manuscripts, fill your glasses, and consider what we shall do with our money. _Mr. Mac Quedy_.—Build lecture-rooms, and schools for all. _Mr. Trillo_.—Revive the Athenian theatre; regenerate the lyrical drama. _Mr. Toogood_.—Build a grand co-operative parallelogram, with a steam-engine in the middle for a maid of all work. _Mr. Firedamp_.—Drain the country, and get rid of malaria, by abolishing duck-ponds. _Dr. Morbific_.—Found a philanthropic college of anticontagionists, where all the members shall be inoculated with the virus of all known diseases. Try the experiment on a grand scale. _Mr. Chainmail_.—Build a great dining-hall; endow it with beef and ale, and hang the hall round with arms to defend the provisions.