78 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vor. VIII. 
5] 
coffee-house,’’ where ‘‘men’s lives”’ were the subject of this ‘‘ detestable 
practice.”* There is no time to descant on the growth and methods of 
i surance at Lloyd’s, which afterwards took up handsome quarters in the 
Royal Exchange, but I will transcribe from Mr. Henry M. Grey’s book 
“‘Lloyd’s, Yesterday and To-day,” a few lines which may interest the 
curious :—It is a form of policy. 
‘In consideration of three guineas for one hundred pounds, and ac- 
cording to that rate for every greater or less sum received of William 
Dorrington, we who have hereunto subscribed our names do * * * 
assume, engage and promise that we respectively * * will pay or 
cause to be paid unto the said William Dorrington the sums of money, 
which we have hereunto respectively subscribed, without any abatement 
whatever. 
In case Napoleon Bonaparte shall cease to exist or be taken prisoner 
on or before the 21st June, 1813, commencing from this day. 
London, 21st May, 1813. 
£100. R. HEATH. One hundred pounds. 21st May, 1813. 
#150. ANTHONY FINN Kemp. One hundred and fifty pounds. 
21st May 1813. 
£150. B. I. MircHeLL per Anthony Finn Kemp. One hundred 
and fifty pounds. 21st: May, 181381 
Fe By this you will see why insurers are called wnder-writers, and I may 
add that the word policy is said to be derived from pollex, the thumb, 
for when Lloyd’s began business, some underwriters could not write, but 
made a thumb mark on the paper, pollice, thus anticipating Bertillon in his 
method of identification. At Lloyd’s all manner of risks have been and can 
yet be insured—loss from riots, which is excepted from fire policies; loss 
from housebreakers, a very old form, ranking in years with ‘‘assurance from 
lying,” ‘‘assurance of female chastity,’ and the like, products of the 
South Sea Bubble speculation. Dicky Thornton paid another underwriter 
£1,000 for each child the late Queen bore, and was to receive £20,000 
if she ever gave birth to twins. And by the way, insurance against one’s 
wife having twins is not unusual for those whose means would not stand 
the double strain. 
In marine insurance, the practice is much more strict than it is here, in 
fire. The assured must keep within the four corners of his policy, or lose 
his recourse. If a vessel on our lakes is insured, let us say to December 
* The prejudice against life insurance, as leading to murder and suicide and as being an attempt 
to nullify the designs of Providence may still linger among certain people. It was quite common when 
the writer was a youth. 
