The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-06 00:00:00

THAMES.

DARING BURGLARY.—Patrick Cummings, aged
24 years, was brought before Mr. Benson charged
with breaking into the premises of Messrs. Kirk-
aldy & Co., High-street, stealing therefrom 3601b5.
of tallow.

After some evidence had been given the prisoner
was remanded.

THE LAST HALF CENTURY.

It is in the three momentous matters of light,
locomotion, and communication that the progress
effected in this generation contrasts most surpris-
ingly with the aggregate of the progress effected
in all previous generations put together since the
earliest dawn of authentic history. The lamps and
torches which illuminated Belshazzat's feast were
probably just as brilliant, and framed out of nearly
the same materials, as those which shone upon the
splendid fetes of Versailles when Marie Antoinette
presided over them, or those of the Tuileries during
the Imperial magnificence of the First Napoleon.
Pine wood, oil, and perhaps wax, lighted the banquet
halls of the wealthiest nobles alike in the 18th century
before Christ and in the 18th century after Christ.
. There was little difference except in finish of work-
manship and elegance of design—little, if any, ad-
vance, we mean, in the illtu.ninating power, or in
the source whence that power was drawn—between
the lamps used in the days of the Pyramids, the
days of the Coliseum, and the days of Kensington
Palace. Fifty years ago,
that is, we burnt the
same articles,and
got about the same amount of
light from them, as we did 5,000 years ago. Now
we use gas of which each burner is equal to
fifteen or twenty candles ; and when we wish for
more can have recourse to the electric light or
analogous inventions, which are 50-fold more bril-
liant and far-reaching than even the best gas. The
streets of cities, which from the days of Pharaoh
to those of Voltaire were dim and gloomy,
even where not wholly unlighted, now blaze every-
where (except in London) with something of the
brilliancy of moonlight. In a word, all the ad-
vance that has been made in these respects has
been made since many of us were children. We
remember light as it was in the days of Solomon,
we see it as Drummond and Faraday have made
it. The same thing may be said of locomotion.
Nimrod and Noah travelled just in the same way,
and just at the same rate, as Thomas Assheton
Smith and Mr. Coke of Norfolk. The chariots
of the Olympic games went just as fast as the
chariots that conveyed our nobles to the Derby,
"in our hot youth, when George 111. was King."
When Abraham wanted to send a message to
Lot he despatched a man on horseback, who gal-
loped twelve miles an hour. When our fathers
wanted to send a message to their nephews they
could do no better and go no quicker. When we
were young, if we wished to travel from London to
Edinburgh, we thought ourselves lucky if we could
average eight miles an boar—just as Robert Bruce
might have done. Now, in our old age, we feel
ourselves aggrieved if we do not average 40 miles.
Everything that has been done in this line since the
world began—everything, perhaps, that the capa-
cities of matter and the conditions of the human
frame will ever allow to be done, has been done
since we were boys. The same at sea.
Probably when the wind was favourable, Ulysses,
who was a bold and skilful navigator, sailed as
fast as a Dutch merchantman of the year 1800,
nearly as fast at times as an American yacht or
clipper of our fathers' day. Now, we steam 12 and
15 wiles an hour with wonderful regularity, whether
wind and tide be favourable or not—nor is it likely
we shall ever be able to go much faster. But the
progress in the means of communication is the most
remarkable of all. In this respect Mr. Pitt was no
better off than Pericles or Agamemnon. If Ruth
had wished to write to Naomi, or David to send a
word of love to Jonathan when he was a hundred
miles away, they could not possibly have done it
under 12 hours. Nor could we to our friends 30
years ago. In 1837 the humblest citizen of Great
Britain can smd a message, not 100 miles, but 1,000
in 12 tnieutes.—Spectator.

MADAME TUSSAUD'S. —The life-size portrait
models of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth have been
enriched by dresses of the most costly and elaborately
embroidered d ascription, copied from authentic paintings
of the period. In the present day the ladies' costumes, in
point of elegance and richness, are as nothing to those of
the Elizabethau age.