The service these troops render cannot in any way be shown. The public gain nothing by them, and they cost an immense sum annually. An economical Ministry would not, for an instant, hesitate to rid the country from the burthen of maintaining them. It is difficult to obtain a grant of 20,000. for the purposes of education, and yet more than 200,000l. is readily voted by Parliament for these useless regi ments. To But the propriety of abolishing the Guards may be defended on other grounds. It is evident that they are a mere excuse for aristocratic advancement; that they exist only to enable a few young men to acquire rank, at the expense of the people. the officers their existence affords no military instruction; and whatever advantages may arise from keeping up military science, it is evident that the Officers of the Guards are not the persons among whom it is cultivated. There is but one reason why they exist, and it is so corrupt a one, that it ought not for a moment to be regarded. If an Army is to be maintained, those who subject themselves to the evils of the service, ought not to be set side, in order to gratify some political partisan of the Commander-in-Chief, or of the minister of the day, or to please some nobleman of fortune, or of interest. As a public service, it should be grateful to those who engage in it, and it should be so regulated that those whose conduct deserves reward should not be disgusted. At present, young gentlemen receive his Majesty's com mission, and from that moment throughout the whole term of their service they are occupied in soliciting friends to attack the Horse Guards, not with arms or cannon, but with the soft allusions to family connections, or the political influence of property. The deserving officer is neglected, in order that the paltry pretensions of some aristocratic family should be gratified. - In many respects the military about London are not merely useless, but absolutely a nuisance. The complaints that are made respecting the side-arms of soldiers are very frequent, and if much caution was not used, would be much more common. A drunken soldier is daily to be met with in the streets, or tumbling home to his barracks through the Park. He has a bayonet at his side; any accident may be treated by a drunken man as an offence: if he has only his fists to use, little fear can be entertained of his anger; if he is armed, his weapon is easily drawn, and the unintentional offender is wounded without the possibility of protecting himself. This is a nuisance of which every soldier can, when alone, be the cause. But there is sometimes a still greater nuisance, one of much greater magnitude, on which a few words more may be said. For the gratification of great personages, it is usual for a review of the Household Troops to take place in the summer months in Hyde Park. If it was a quiet affair it would be harmless, and grown up and little children might be permitted to enjoy it without complaint. The inconvenience of it would Their only be felt by the soldiers. Unfortunately it is not so harmless. It is an amusement to the great people who order it, and their wishes only are considered. When it takes place, as was the case last week, a train of artillery is brought upon the ground. By the discharge of the guns of the soldiers and of the artillery a great noise is created. It serves no good purpose, and is an idle amusement for those who order it. To others it is a painful and annoying proceeding. In this large town there are many persons always sick and always indisposed. maladies are various, and it matters not what they are. In sickness the strongest wish of the patient is that he should enjoy quiet, and nothing contributes more to the restoration of his health. The creaking merely of a door excites him, his nurse therefore whispers in low voice. Every anxiety exists that no unnecessary excitement should be created, and recovery depends upon the care that is thus exhibited. A great man wishes to see a review. He alarms the neighbourhood, and the poor and sickly in vain sigh for the quiet which he dis turbs. In the neighbourhood also of Hyde Park, close to the entrance into it, is a large hospital, called St George's Hospital. The number of its inmates is great, and the diseases under which they suffer are mostly of a severe kind. They are chiefly poor, and enter the hospital in order to receive that constant assistance which their own homes, or their limited means, cannot give. It is the severity of their sickness which brings them to the hospital. What can be said of the humanity of those who disregard their sufferings, and for mere amusement direct artillery to be fired, and a tremendous noise to be created, which the slightest experience of sickness must have taught them to be excessively painful, and often dangerous? Let a few idle boys make a shouting in the street, and some legal authority will at once silence them. The amusements of the great may be as noisy as possible; they may create alarm, excite the fever of the sick, or distract the couch of the dying; they are upon a scale which the poor can never imitate, and, therefore, the law does not attempt to reach them. THOMAS FALCONER. THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AND "THE DERBY." [From the Second Number of the LONDON REVIEW.] A FEW nights ago, a friend of ours dreamt that he was in the House of Commons, waiting in anxious expectation for the motion of Lord John Russell on Corporation Reform, when the Noble Lord entered, mounted upon Ibrahim, the favourite for the Derby, and informed the House that he must postpone his motion, as he was engaged to ride :-then, within the precincts of the Senate-house, the race was run; the Chair was the goal-the Speaker the judgehis hat was the flag wherewith he awarded his decision, amidst tumultuous cheering from the ministerial benches. At this moment the dreamer, in loud laughter, awoke. He felt no emotion of surprise; nor would he have felt surprised if such a train of ideas had been called up by association when awake; or if such a train of events had in reality occurred, and he had been forewarned of them, and had expected them. In either case, he would only have felt the emotion of ridicule, which he likewise experienced in his dream. This dream may surprise our readers; yet its origin is most easily traced to the fact, that the motion to which we have referred was postponed on account of the Derby. Indeed, to those who are unacquainted with the aristocratic senators of England-who suppose that, in the illustrious assembly of our Commons, the weal of the community is the only abiding thought of its members, the noble end pursued at the sacrifice of all personal concerns, or at the very least of all personal recrea tions the fact that a motion, so important to the interests of the empire, was delayed, in order that the representatives of the people might attend the race-course at Epsom, would create an emotion of surprise almost as strong as would be excited in our minds by the appearance of the Noble Lord in the guise represented by the dreamer. Extract from an Article on the Philosophy of Dreaming, signed “ W. M." 1 TO ADVERTISERS. The Publisher of these Pamphlets suggests to the Public that they are a desirable medium for Advertisements, as their circulation is large and encreasing. For terms, apply at the Office, No. 14, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. Just Published, Price Six Shillings, THE LONDON REVIEW, No. II. A QUARTERLY POLITICAL AND LITERARY JOURNAL, CONTENTS. The Church and its Reform.-2. Napier, on the Ionian Islands.-3. Crabbe's Life and Works. -4. Rationale of Parliamentary Representation.-5. Portugal and its Political Economy.-6. Retrenchment: Military Abuses.-7. Tennyson's Poems.-8. Macnish on the Philosophy of Dreaming.-9. The Canadas and their Grievances.-10. Prose Fictions and their Varieties.-11. Austria, its Government, and People.-12. Parliamentary Retrospect, and Municipal Corporation Bill. London: SIMPKIN and MARSHALL; TAIT, Edinburgh; and WILLMER and SMITH, Liverpool. TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE. 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