The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-04 00:00:00

had been placed before the ark, an impressive cere
monial in accordance with the Jewish faith was I
gone through. The ark was covered with black
cloth, the numerpus windows were darkened, the
synagogue was illumined by wax tapers, and the
whole arrangements had a sombre and most im-
pressive effect. This portion of the religious
observance having been completed, the procession
was formed to convey the mortal remains of
the much-respected and deeply-lamented deceased
to their last resting-place in the Jews' Bu-
rial-ground, North-street, Mile-end. The proces-
sion comprised the children of both sexes belonging
to the Spanish, German, -and Portuguese charity
schools, the youths training up for the priesthood, the
readers of the various metropolitan synagogues, the
hearse conveying the corpse, and the carriages of the
leading Jewish laity, includi9g those of Sir Moses
Montefiore, Barons Rothschild, Mr. D. Salomons,
Mr. 1). W. Wire, Sir I. L. Goldsmid, &c. The ca-
valcade comprised upwards of 100 carriages. The
deceased left orders- tlrat no mourning-coaches should
attend his funeral. The principal mourner was his
granthon. On arriving at the ground in North-street,
the body was carried into the -Hall, and placed in the
centre, and the reader taking his position at the head
of the coffin, repeated the usual burial-service in a
very impressive manner. At the conclusion of the
prayers the corpse was borne to the grave. Several
brown-paper parcels, sealed with wax, containing
papers and documents, were
...thrown into the grave,
by order of the deceased, and* large box, containing
one of the laws of Moses, written by himself on parch-
ment, was also consigned to the grave, by special
orders of the deceased. The, shops of the tradesmen
of the Jewish faith in the line.where the procession
passed were all closed. The ceremony lasted from 10
in the morning till near 3 in the afternoon.
On Tuesday afternoon, between four and five
o'clock, a robbery was committed in one of the Pad-
dington omnibuses,on the road from the Bank of Eng-
land to Paddington, on the person of Mr. Robert
Lasterman, a stock-broker, residing in Star-street,
Edgware-road, who was robbed of pocket-book,
containing three 1001. Bank of England notes, num-
bers 3,841, 3,842, and 3,843, dated January 18,
1842 ; also a 501. note, number 1,646, dated May 11,
L 1842. Mr. Lasterman had_ sold stock out of the
Bank• for a person to whom he intended to pay over
• the notes on his return home, but to his utter as-
tonishment he found on his arriving at his residence
. that some dexterous thief had abstracted his pocket-
• book with its contents, and effected his escape. The
time the robbery was committed must have been in
Oxford-street, when two well-dressed young men, in
passing Mr. "Lasterman, for the purpose of quitting
the omnibus, pretended to stumble, and one of them
on getting up asked Mr. Lasterman's pardon as he left
the omnibus.

THE BRITISH QUEEN.—The absence of the British
Queen was a matter of much anxiety among the mer-
chants connected with the Atlantic trade. The loss
of the President, a vessel built on the same scale and
dimensions, naturally increased the fears enter-
tained for her safety. At Lloyd's on Wednesday the
insurance upon the British Queen advanced to fifteen
guineas per cent., and before the close of the room a
speculative risk for a small amount had been taken at
twenty guineas,
THE ARBIL—The 27th Regiment, which so dis-
tinguished itself under the command of their brave
officer, Captain Smith, in the recent affair with the
Boers at the Cape of Good Hope, has been 9111'.-eed to
embark for the East Indies.

DARING ROBBERY OF WILLV :s:
—On F ridgy last a most , c., AT BATTERSEA.
oaring robbery was com-
mitted at the residence of Mr. Ashness, an indepen-
dent gentlemanlivi,;,gin Battersea-rise, and the cir-
cumstances under which it took place leave but little
doubt that it was planned and executed by a dishonest
servant. Two tin boxes were found to have disap-
peared ; one was filled with wills, deeds, and other
valuable documents, and the other contained, in addi-
tion to a number of papers, between 501. and 601. in
gold, a diamond ring of great value, and a mourning
ring set with hair, encircled with pearls, and engraved
" Anne Ashness, died April 9, 1832, aged 81." In-
formation was immediately sent to the Clapham and
Wandsworth station-houses, and Sergeants Emmer-
son and Burchett, of the V division, were employed
to investigate the circumstances, and if possible trace
out the perpetrator or perpetrators of the robbery. On
Saturday and Sunday the premises underwent a strict
search. During the rigid search the police were
making in the garden and fields in the rear of it, they
found one tin box embedded in the mud of a ditch.
This had been forced open, and it was soon ascer-
tained that it was the one which was filled only with
wills, deeds, and securities. Some idea of the value
of the papers may be formed when one which was
lying exposed on the top of the others was a bond for
40,0001. The other box, containing the money, &c.,
being still missing, it was determined to search the
house thoroughly, and ultimately it was found upon
the top of the house. The papers that were in it
previously remained, but the gold and rings were
gone. The whole of the servants were strictly ex-
amined, but nothing was elicited to fix the offence
upon any one of them.
The ancient world was only a little world. Al-
though warlike, it derives its chief glory from the
works of genius—from the writings of poets, histo-
rians, and philosophers. Viewed through this glow-
ing but exaggerated medium, that looks great and
magnificent, which in reality was stinted, meagre, and
desolate. Alexander vainly thought he had conquered
the universe, when he had only ravaged a district.
Nations were then only tribes, empires cantons, and
their half-savage rulers hardly more potent than Emirs
of Lebanon, or Khans of Tartary. Most of what
now constitutes the earth, and fills it, was unknown ;
the great seas and continents were hid below the hori-
zon of the ancients ; even the swell of an ocean tide
had scarcely been felt by them ; and all their con-
quests, battles, and bustle—the sites of their great cities
and kingdoms, as well as of their histories and epic
poems—never ranged far from the tranquil shores and
islets of the Mediterranean lake. The number of
people corresponded to their narrow geographical
limits. How, indeed, could mankind be numerous with-
out the means of sustenance, when there was little
commerce, and no manufactures; when they were
strangers to the useful arts, by which a dense popula-
tion can alone he fed, clothed, and lodged ? All, there-
fore, which has been transmitted as to the extreme po-
pulousness of the ancient world, may be considered
almost as deceptions as its oracles. Carthage,according to
Strabo, contained 700,000 inhabitants ; Athens, inclu-
sive of slaves, about half amillion ; Rome, four millions,
It is not improbable, that in these representations
there is a wrong figure or a redundant one. State-
ments of numbers are very liable to errors, and the
errors to be copied or multiplied, as the grammatical
construction does not detect them. Besides, it must
be remembered of Athens and Rome, that, though
termed cities, they, were more properly districts or
provincesi walled in. The present remains of the
Roman walls show that they were of vast extent ; but
they encompassed large tracts of country—were truly
rus in urbe, and included in their circuit woods and
water, and corn-fields, as well as mansions and spa-
cious gardens. And Rome, as is well known, com-
prised. the chief of Italy. Genoa, Milan, Florence,
Leghorn, and other noble cities, are of recent founda-
tion, and pertain entirely to modern history. Italy,
even in the Augustan age. must have been
P thinly
peopled, and doubtless afforded a free passage enough
for those vast herds of swine (one thousand in number'
of which Polybius writes, and which were guided in
their pastoral migrations by the blowing of horns.
The severity of the climate in the most busy regions
of the old world attests the scantiness of population.
In Ovid's time, the Black Sea was often frozen,
which would be quite a phenomenon at present. That
Italy is warmer now than formerly, we have many
testimonies. From various passages of Horace, we
may suppose, that the streets of Rome were full of
snow; and Juvenal refers to a woman breaking the
ice of the Tiber to perform her ablution. I never
met with a tourist who had seen snow in Rome; and
the Tiber is hardly more liable to freeze than the
Nile or Ganges. This increase of temperature is satis-
factory proof of an increase of people ; for numbers
tend much to the civilization of climates, as of manners
and institutions.--jade's Lecture on Ancient and
Modern Society.
An adjourned meeting of the letter-press printers was_
on Wednesday held at the Three Herrings, Bell-yard,
Temple-bar, which was attended by upwards o
of the unemployed compositors of London thea r lri4e.'seesntt-
minster, in order to take into considerationpresent
depressed. state of the trade, when a resolution was
passed to the effect, that the unexampled distress
printers
srminthtiecrsh
prevails among the unemployed letter-press
of the metropolis, through laxity
utmost the objects
gelled the promoters of a
subscriptionof
fborusitnheessir,
relief
tvao,hci
ca h
tthheeyt r tradeet oi
ng e tvhi
ee
wr , i
annodr
tdero utsoe
etffheceirt
ex-
ertions to promote their interests generally.
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETI.—The 'first ordinary
meeting for the winter session was held on Tuesday
afternoon, at the rooms of the Society, in Regent-
street. Amongst the specimens was some fruit of
oxalis deppii, a new edible vegetable, from Mr. Cock.
burn, which bears out all the remarks which have been
made in its favour. Some specimens of Coe 's
drop plum was exhibited, in a perfect state of preser-
vation, in which condition they were kept by being
contained in muslin bags. From Mrs. Lawrence was
exhibited a fine specimen of the gesnera sabring, with
; to eachb ited
of somet fine several other plants ; and Mr. Appleby, of the Fence,
norceahridacMaecoculesspfilealndis
exhibited specimens of
e hesesn ilver Knightian
Silver medals were awarded. B an sian medals were
awarded to Mrs. Lawrence, ,for a collection of plants;
Mr. Crawshay and Mr.
Roberts,for grapes ;
Judd, for grapes ; and certificates
of merit to Mr.
Fleming, for pines; Mr. Cockburn for oxalis d9Pii
and Mr. Waller, for
a plant of tillandsia give
&flora.
The meeting adjourned till the Btl2 of Demobs