ASS 
tyrere'gn, and of the heralds: thus, if a pcrfon, who has 
no right by blood, and has no coat ot arms, fliall take cap¬ 
tive in lawful war, any' gentleman, nobleman, or prince, 
he is, in that cafe, intitled to bear the fhield of that pri- 
foner, and enjoy it to him and his heirs for ever. 
ASSU'RANCE,/ {ajjurance, Fr.] Certain expedition. 
—What encouragement can be given togoodhels, beyond 
the hopes of heaven, and the ajjurance ot an endleis feli¬ 
city ? Tillot/on. —Secure confidence; truth—Freedom from 
doubt; certain knowledge.-—The obedient, and the man of 
practice, fliall outgrow all their doubts and ignorances, till 
perfuafion pafs into knowledge, and knowledge advance 
into ajjurance. South. —Fit mnefs; undoubting (teadinefs.— 
Men whofe conlideration will relieve our modefly, and 
give us courage and ajjurance in the duties ot our profef- 
Jion. Rogers. —Confidence; want of modefly; exemption 
from awe or fear.—My behaviour, ill governed, gave you 
the firft comfort; my aftedtion, ill hid, hath given you 
this laft ajfurancc. Sidney. —Freedom from vicious fbaine.— 
Convocation, when we come into the world, will add to 
our knowledge and ajjurance. Locke. —Ground of confi¬ 
dence ; fecurity; fufficient reafon for trutl or belief.—The 
nature of defire itfelf is no eafier to receive belief, than it 
is hard to ground belief; for, as defire is glad to embrace 
the -firft fliew of comfort, fo is defire defirous ot pertedt 
ajfurancc. Sidney. 
None of woman born 
Shall harm Macbeth. - 
■—Then live, Macduff, what need I fear of thee V 
But yet I’ll make ajjurance double fure, 
And take a bond of fate: thou flialt not live. Shakefpcare. 
Spirit; intrepidity.—They, like refolute men, flood in the 
face of the breach with more ajjurance than the wall itfelf. 
Knolles. —Sangtiinenefs ; readinefs to hope.—This is not 
the grace of hope, but a good natural ajjurance or confi¬ 
dence, which Ariflotle obferves young men to be full of, 
and old men not fo inclined to. Hammond. —Teftimony ot 
credit. Convidlion.— Such an ajjurance of things as will 
make men careful to avoid a lefler danger, ought to awa¬ 
ken men to avoid a greater. TiUoifon. —In theology, fe¬ 
curity with refpedt to a future fiate; certainty of accept¬ 
ance with God. 
Assurance, is a faculty of poffeffing a man’s felf, or 
of faying and doing indifferent things, without any uneafi- 
nefs or emotion of mind. That which generally gives a 
man aflurance is a moderate knowledge of the world; but, 
above all, a mind fixed and determined in itfelf to do no¬ 
thing againft the rules of honour and decency, and an open 
and affured behaviour is the natural confequence of fuch 
a refolution. A man tints armed, if his words or adfions 
are at any time mifinterpreted, retires within himfelf, and 
from a confcioufnefs of his own integrity afiumes force 
enough to defpife the little cenfttres of ignorance or malice. 
Such an aflurance a man ought to cherith and encourage 
in himfelf. 
Assurance, or Insurance, in commerce, is a fecu¬ 
rity given by a particular corporation or lociety, at certain 
films or rates per cent, ufually termed policies of injur ance ; 
and are either on lives, or to provide againft injuries by 
lire, or lodes by fea. An aflurance on lives, is a compact 
by which fecurity is granted for the payment of a certain 
fum of money on the expiration of the life on which the po¬ 
licy is granted, in confideration of fuch a previous payment 
made to the affurer as is accounted a fufficient compenfa¬ 
tion for the lofs and hazard to w'hich he expofes himfelf. 
The fum at which this compenfation ftiould be valued, 
depends principally on thefe two circumftances, id. On 
the rate of intereft given for the ufe of money; and, 2d, 
On the probability of the duration of the life allured, and 
the values of annuities. For, if the intereft of money be 
high, the value of the aflurance will be proportionally 
low, & e contra-, becatife the higher the rate of intereft, 
the lefs will be the prefent value which amounts to a cer¬ 
tain propofed fum in any given time. Alfo, if the pro- 
Vo l. II. No. 72. 
ASS 293 
bability of the duration of life be high, the value of the 
aflurance will again by proportionably low, & e contra ; 
becatife the longer the time is, the lefs will be the princi¬ 
pal which will amount to any afligned film. Thus, if it 
be required to know the premium or prefent value, to be 
given for 100I. to be received at the end of any time, as 
fuppofe ten years ; t hen, if the intereft of money be at the 
rate of five per cent, the anfwer, or prefent premium, 
would be 6il. ys. iod. but, at four per cent, it would be 
671. ns, id. and at three percent, it would amount to 
74I. 8s. 2d. Again, fuppofe it were required to allure 
100I. on a life, for any time, for inftancc, one year ; that 
is, let iock beluppofedto be payable a year hence, pro¬ 
vided a life of a given age fails in that time: here it is 
evident, that, whatever be the rate of intereft, the lefs 
the probability of the life failing within the year, the lefs 
the rifk is, and the lefs the premium ought to be. In 
effect, the rate of intereft being five per cent, if it were 
fure that the life w ould fail in that year, the value of the 
aflurance would be the fame as the prefent value of 100I. 
payable at the end of the year, which is 95I. 4s. gd. But, 
if it be an equal chance whether the life does or does not 
fail in the year, in which cafe the probability of failing is 
one-half; then the value of the aflurance will be but half 
the former value, or 47I. 12s. 4^d. Or, if'tlie odds againft 
its failing be as two to one, that is, if one perfon out of 
every three die at the age of the propofed life, the proba¬ 
bility of dying being only one-third, the value of the af- 
furance will be one-third of the firft value, or3il. 14s. nd. 
And if the odds be nineteen to one, or one perfon die out 
ot twenty, of that age, the probability of dying will be 
one in twenty, and the value of the aflurance will alfo be 
one-twentieth of the firft value, or 4I. 15s. 3d. nearly. 
Laftly, if only one perfon die out of fifty at the given age, 
the probability of dying will be one in fifty, and the value 
of the aflurance will be accordingly only one-fiftieth of the 
firft fum, or il. 18s. id. the intereft of money being all 
along confidered at the rate of five per cent. Now, accord¬ 
ing to Dr. Halley’s table of obfervations, one perfon dies 
out of three at the age of 87 ; one in twenty at the age oi 
64; and one in fifty at the age of 39: it follows, there¬ 
fore, that the value of the aflurance of tool, for one year, 
on a life aged 87, is 311. 14s. nd. on a life aged 64, it is 
4I. 13s. 3d. and, on a life aged 39, it is il. 18s. id. reck¬ 
oning intereft at five per cent. But, if intereft were rated 
at three per cent, thefe values would be 32I. 7s. 3d. and 
4I. 17s. id. and il. 18s. iod. 
The alTiirances mod commonly pradtifed are on fingle 
lives, and for fingle years. When a life is affured for any 
number of years, the premium or value may be paid, either 
in one fingle prefent payment; in confequence of which 
the fum affured will become payable without any farther 
compenfation, whenever, within the given term, the life 
fliall happen to drop : or the value may be paid in annual 
payments, to be continued till the failure of the life, 
ftiould that happen within the term; or, if not, till the 
determination of the term. And the determination of the 
Value of affurance, in all cafes, is to be made out from the 
rules for computing annuities on lives; the principal wri¬ 
ters on which are, Halley, De Moivre, Simpfon, Smart, 
Kerffeboom, De Parcieux, Price, Morgan, and Maferei. 
See alfo Life Annuities, Reversion, See. 
Affurances may be made either on Jingle lives, as above 
explained, or they may be made on any number of joint 
lives, or on the longejl of any lives; that is, an affurer may 
bind himfelf to pay any funis at the extindtion of any joint 
lives, or the longejl of any lives, or at the extindlion of any¬ 
one or two of any number of lives. There are further 
affurances on furvivorfhips; by which is meant an obliga¬ 
tion, for the value received, to pay a given fum or annui¬ 
ty, provided a given life fliall furvive any other given life 
or lives. For which fee Survivorship. The principal 
offices for making thefe infurances in England, are as fol¬ 
low : the Royal-Exchange Affurance, in the Exchange, 
and jn Conduit-ftreet, Hanover-fquare, for lioufes, goods, 
4 F blips. 
