Omitting the seven shillings, and even the odd hundred-thousands of pounds, the net annual expenditure for army and navy appears to be twenty-four millions. The "grant in science and art," two-thirds of which was not in reality for either, but for amusement and shop interests in the Paris Exhibition--the grant which the House of Commons feels to be indicative of general danger to the national pockets--is, as above stated, 164,000_l._ Now, I believe the three additional ciphers which turn thousands into millions produce on the intelligent English mind usually the effect of--three ciphers. But calculate the proportion of these two sums, and then imagine to yourself the beautiful state of rationality of any private gentleman, who, having regretfully spent 164_l._ on pictures for his walls, paid willingly 24,000_l._ annually to the policeman who looked after his shutters! You practical English!--will you ever unbar the shutters of your brains, and hang a picture or two in those state-chambers? LETTER V. THE CORRUPTION OF MODERN PLEASURE.--(COVENT GARDEN PANTOMIME.) _February 25, 1867._ 18. There is this great advantage in the writing real letters, that the direct correspondence is a sufficient reason for saying, in or out of order, everything that the chances of the day bring into one's head, in connection with the matter in hand; and as such things very usually go out of one's head again, after they get tired of their lodging, they would otherwise never get said at all. And thus to-day, quite out of order, but in very close connection with another part of our subject, I am going to tell you what I was thinking on Friday evening last, in Covent Garden Theater, as I was looking, and not laughing, at the pantomime of 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.'