modern society, and bear too evident marks | of being sketches from the life. We have placed "The Rival Beauties" out of its proper order, that we may conclude by a notice of those admirable historical works on which Miss Pardoe's fame will chiefly rest: her "Louis the Fourteenth," and "Francis the First." The extremely interesting character of their times admirably suited Miss Pardoe's powers as a writer, and she has in both cases executed her task with great spirit and equal accuracy. The amount of information displayed in these volumes is really stupendous, and the depth of research necessary to produce it, fully entitles Miss Pardoe to take a very high rank among the writers of history. Her style is easy, flowing, and spirited, and her delineations of character as vivid as they are just; nor would it be easy to find any historical work in which the utile is so mingled with the dulce, as in those of Miss Pardoe. She is now, we hear with much pleasure, engaged on "A Life of Mary de Medici," a subject extremely suited to her pen. Looking on her portrait, we may trust that she has half her life, or more, still in the future, and may reasonably look to her for many contributions to the delight and learning of ourselves and our posterity. THE PUBLISHING TRADE. WE alluded, some time since, to the healthy times to only "one." Not less interesting is condition of the London publishing trade, it to behold the eager way in which the and of the state of the book market through numbers called out are placed promptly on out the three kingdoms. What we ob- paper by the several booksellers, or the served then, has been more than confirmed quick, tradesman-like manner in which they by the result of Mr. Murray's great annual cast up the several totals, and look with trade-sale at the Albion Tavern, in Aldersgate mute astonishment one at another at the street, during the present month. Few of greatness of the demand. Sales of this deour readers are, perhaps, aware that it is the scription are limited to the two houses we custom of the two great London houses, Mur- have mentioned, and are always looked forray's and Longman's, to put their books up ward to with interest, as affording an index to a kind of auction every year; that the sale of the approaching season. Mr. Murray's is prefaced by a dinner, at which all the last sale was the best he has had since his booksellers of "credit" in London are invited father's death,-he disposing of books on to be present, and that, as soon as the cloth that day to the amount of £19,000. Nor is removed, Mr. Hodgson, the auctioneer, of will this be wondered at when the numbers Fleet street, commences the business of the sold are put together. For instance, the day by offering the books seriatim, as in the trade took, on that occasion, 2,000 of Lord printed catalogue, to the attention of the Campbell's "Chief Justices," 5,000 volumes. guests. The practice is not, as at other of "The Colonial Library," 1,400 of Layard's auctions, to knock the lot down to the high-"Nineveh," 1,400 of Byron's Works in one est bidder, but to put the book up at a cer- volume, 1,300 copies of Mr. Borrow's new tain price below what is usually called "sub-work "L'Avengro," 900 of the new edition scription-price," or, in other words, below the figure at which the book can be obtained on any other occasion. It is also the custom to put up books not ready for delivery, but only nearly so; and it is curious to watch the interest that is felt throughout the room when a book of name is offered for the first time. It is a matter of ancient and proper deference to the great houses to let "the Row" begin. Thus, with a popular work, Longman will start with 350,-Simpkin with the same number,--Whittaker with 250,-Hamilton and Adams with the same number,-till at last it comes to "twenty-fives" and "fives,"—and at of Mr. Cunningham's "Hand-book for Lon- Au From the North British Review. WHAT IS LIFE ASSURANCE? What is Life Assurance? Explained by Practical Illustrations of its Principles; with Observations on each description of Assurance, and on the Rates of Premium charged by the different Offices. By JENKIN JONES, Actuary to the National Mercantile Life Assurance Society, Author of a "Series of Assurance Tables, calculated from a New Rate of Mortality," &c. &c. London, 1847. THE question which forms the title of this surance?" In doing so, we shall have ocTract is one which a daily increasing num- casion to deal with several important matber of persons are beginning to ask with in-ters of principle touching the constitution terest. It is of some consequence that they and rules of Assuring Associations, upon should be supplied with a satisfactory an- which it is eminently desirable that the genswer. By many, perhaps by the majority eral community, and the classes who avail of those who ask the question, the informa-" themselves of assurance in particular, should tion afforded by the author will be held to be at least preparing to think for themselves, be sufficient; on perusal they will thankfully that when requisite they may act with intelfollow the directions given by him, and, re-ligence and decision in the support and espairing to the Office to which they may be in- tablishment of sound views. clined on some accidental ground of preference, will effect, in due form, such a policy as meets their views. If thereafter they are not very profoundly acquainted with the principles of Life Assurance, they at least know its practical working in their own case, and having satisfied their sense of duty by providing in adequate measure against the consequences of their premature decease, they are no longer inclined to resume the general question, or to do more than probably take their share in the conventional gossip which may prevail regarding the comparative progress of their own, and other, and rival institutions. Another class of inquirers we are persuaded desiderate not only practical directions how to effect a Life Assurance, and information as to the official machinery and working of Assurance Institutions, all which Mr. Jenkin Jones' small volume sufficiently supplies, but also a fuller development of the nature and principles of Life Assurance as a system.Cordially recommending Mr. Jones' directory to all who have arrived at that ripened stage of conviction at which its information will be as useful as it is acceptable, we shall, in a more general manner than suited his purpose, endeavor to supply an answer to the question, "What is Life As Banks, Assurance Companies, and other Associations established for the purpose of preserving and accumulating the surplus wealth of individuals, will only take root under the shadow of just and long-established Governments. They will only flourish in communities where integrity and confidence alike prevail. Other conditions are necessary to their growth and prosperity. They must be based upon sound principles, conducted with intelligence and energy, and their whole affairs and interests arranged and adapted to the varying exigencies of their progress. We cannot in this country boast of entire freedom from either blundering or fraud; but, generally speaking, Life Assurance, in its origin and history in Britain, presents a pleasing example of the combined operation of these several elements of success. In other countries, Life Assurance has been little practiced. France has been too careless and unstable, Holland has been too busy, Germany too unpractical, and America too youthful and self-confident, to cultivate the frugal and forecasting arts of a wise economy, among the chief of which we may reckon Life Assurance. In Britain alone has there been found the intelligence to appre ciate, and the wisdom to secure, the full | ter for 10 years; of Vienna, Berlin, and benefits of the system. It would be an interesting and instructive exercise to trace minutely the origin and progress of Life Assurance in this country To do so thoroughly, it would be necessary to take notice of the advances made at different times and places in collecting the facts regarding human life and mortality, which, while they form the basis of Life Assurance, have, at the same time, other important uses. It would be requisite also to show the progress made by successive writers in the development of the science of Life Probabili ties, as deduced from these data; and, finally, to mark the growth of Life Assurance as a scheme of business gradually gaining acceptance with the community, and now covering the land with prosperous institutions, which are yearly dispensing their benefits among innumerable families. To furnish a detailed history of these several departments of the subject would more than exhaust our space. A cursory glance at its prominent features, under the several heads referred to, will suffice for our present purpose. Brandenburgh for long periods, and seven enumerations of the entire population of Sweden, with similar materials from the Canton de Vaud; a very carefully constructed Table of the Mortality of Carlisle for 8 years prior to 1787. To these have now been added Tables of the Experienced Mortality in the London Equitable Office; and, latterly, of seventeen different Offices, embracing assured lives to the number of 83,905. The mortality among the annuitants to whom the Government sold annuities has supplied a very valuable Table, in which male and female life is separately treated. To all those materials, which, with due allowance for the operation of those causes which might be expected to produce variation, may be said in their general results to confirm and corroborate each other, there has now been added the "English Life Table," constructed by the Registrar-General from the Records of England and Wales, established in 1839, and now in full operation, from which the value of life on an average of the whole community has been satisfactorily obtained. We are warranted, therefore, in asserting, without qualification, that the law of mortality has been ascertained so accurately from As--sufficient data as to admit of the most confident reliance on its general operations. In regard to Mortality Bills and Mortuary Registers, the main fact which it is important to impress upon the mind of any one asking for the first time, What is Life surance? is, that such collections of facts have been made as to afford a satisfactory standard of the duration and value of human life. This, of course, forms the grand foundation of the system, and if any great error or fallacy had been retained in the hypotheses of mortality, the fortunes and wellbeing of innumerable families might be put in peril. No such disastrous result is possible from this cause, the basis of facts on which the system has been reared being deeply and securely laid. A brief enumeration of the principal Mortality Tables which have been constructed within the last century and a half will, perhaps better than a general assurance on our part, show how extensive and various are the facts from which the law of mortality can now be deduced. These various materials have been from time to time rendered subservient to important uses and applications by those philosophers and writers who have devoted their attention to the study and development of the science of Life Probabilities. To Dr. Halley belongs the credit of first unfolding a general formula for calculating the value of annuities, whereby he supplied the germ of all subsequent developments of the science. De Moivre contributed greatly to advance the subject, although the hypothesis on which he proceeded was soon found to be incorrect. Thomas Simpson and James Dodson, in their several works, aided in extending the application of the facts and laws of mortality, as then ascertained, to many useful purposes, and especially in promoting the business of Life Assurance. The successful and patriotic labors of Dr. Price, in destroying the bubble schemes set afloat during the latter half of last century, are known to many, and deserve ever to be held in honorable remembrance. The publication of the fourth edition of his work on Annuities and Reversionary Payments, in 1783, with the valuable tables which enriched it, markthe commencement of a new era in the A Record of the Births and Burials in the city of Breslau from 1687 to 1691; the Mortality Bills of London from 1728 to 1737; the Register of Assignable Annuities in Holland for 125 years before 1748; Lists of the Tontine Schemes in France and the Necrologes of Religious Houses; the Mortality of Northampton for 46 years prior to 1780; of Norwich for 30 years prior to 1769; of Holycross for 30 years prior to 1780; of Warrington for 9 years; of Ches-ed business of Life Assurance. Mr. Morgan's labors, both in the business and authorship of Life Assurance, are still remembered in connection with the London Equitable Society. Francis Baily, in 1810, published a work on Annuities, distinguished by scientific beauty, and calculated for daily use in the business of Life Assurance. A similar work, comprehending all that was valuable in previous writers, was produced in 1815 by Mr. Joshua Milne. The standard compilation of David Jones, published under the auspices of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, is now, perhaps more than any other work, in daily use by Assurance Companies. To a student of principles, however, we would recommend the simpler work of Baily. It might be invidious, and it is not necessary, to notice and estimate in comparison the services of eminent actuaries of our own generation, such as Ansell, Finlaison, Davies, Neison, Edmond, and the Joneses, or to dwell on the contemporary authorship of such writers as Babbage and De Morgan, whose works will abundantly repay the careful perusal of any one desirous of fully understanding the theory of Life Assurance. The first Life Assurance Society established in this country was the Amicable Corporation of London, founded during the reign of Queen Anne in the year 1706. Centuries, before that time there existed in England ancient associations known as gilds, fraternities, mysteries, and brotherhoods. These possessed more of the character of friendly societies than of Life Assurance institutions; but they discover even in the early developments of society those prudent and benevolent tendencies of the English community, which have rendered it in later times so favorable a soil for the cultivation of Life Assurance. Anterior to the bubble schemes exploded by Dr. Price, only five Life Assuring Associations had been established in England. These earlier societies began by charging an annual premium of £5 per cent. on every life assured, without reference to age-so rude were the first ideas, of the risk undertaken in a policy of Life Assurance. Even when they discovered how very rough and inequitable this mode of regulating the contributions was, the first attempts to graduate rates to the age of the assured were made upon calculations of the probability of life greatly below its actual value, while the premiums were still further enhanced by the ignorant, but perhaps wholesome jealousy of Government, which refused to issue licenses, (then much desired by the societies as a guarantee of their soundness,) because the rates were not considered sufficiently high. From the publication of Dr. Price's work, before alluded to, until the end of the last century, there were instituted only two new Assurance Societies which survived any length of time. Since the commencement of this century, companies and societies of all kinds have sprung up and flourished. From 1800 to 1810 inclusive, thirteen were established. For the next ten years till 1820, only four were set up. During the succeeding decennial period till 1830, twelve new companies attested the return of a fresh interest and impulse in the direction of Life Assurance. The next ten years, ending in 1840, were signalized by still more abundant evidences of the zealous cultivation of Life Assurance, no less than thirty-one associations having during that period effected a permanent establishment in the country. Since 1840 a still, larger number have appeared. Altogether, the whole societies and companies now doing business in Life Assurance in the United Kingdom are about ninety-three. We say Companies and Societies; for under these generic designations may be classed all the proper Life Assurance Institutions. Society is the name appropriate to those associations which, composed exclusively of assuring members, depend on the contributions of those members alone for the fulfillment of their policies, and which retain, for the benefit of the members, all surplus funds arising from the excess of contributions. In short, the Society is constituted and worked on the principle of Mutual Assurance. The Company, in its pure, unmixed character, consists of an association of proprietors or shareholders subscribing, and partially paying up, an aggregate capital on which they trade with the public (at least the healthy portion of it) in assuring lives at certain specified rates, thus affording to the assured the guarantee of a separate capital, but appropriating to the shareholders, in addition to the interest which that paid-up capital produces, the profit arising from their assuring trade. The Proprietary Companies now, however, with not more than one or two exceptions, offer to assurers the option of either paying merely the rate for which the Company is willing to insure the life, and so acquiring no after-benefit beyond the exact sum in the policy; or paying a somewhat larger rate, and thereby obtaining some participation in the profits of the business. Having thus introduced into their original proprietary constitution the more popular principle of mutual Assurance, they may be said with more correctness to belong to a new and mixed genus, partaking in about equal proportions of the proprietary and mutual elements. In fact, Life Assurance Associations are generally and familiarly classified under the three heads of "Mutual," "Proprietary," and "Mixed." " equal charges of those early times of ignorance and over-caution have gradually given place to rates, generally speaking, graduated according to the ages of parties, there yet remains room for improvements in applying the facts of ascertained mortality, so as to do justice to the several ages of the assured; and, in the sale and purchase of annuities and reversions, to meet with more accuracy the different degrees of contingency. Life Assurance is based on the principle, or rather on the fact, that human life, proverbially uncertain as it is in the individual, is in respect of a multitude of individuals governed by a fixed and well-ascertained law, in virtue of which it can be safely and accurately calculated how many of them shall die in each year, until the whole become extinct. Proceeding upon an ascertained or assumed rate of mortality, it is not difficult to find by calculation what single or annual payment by each of a multitude of individuals would provide a certain specified amount to be paid over on the death of each. Money, however, does not, in a commercial community, rest a single day unproductive, and the interest to be derived for the use of the money while it remains in the common fund, thus manifestly forms the other main element, along with the rate of mortality, in determining the scale of premiums on which Assurances are effected by any association. When a body of individuals associate to We shall not attempt to analyze or comment upon the various institutions which offer the benefits of Life Assurance to the public. This has already been done with a free hand by such writers as Babbage and De Morgan and their several reviewers. Neither shall we at any length discuss the merits of those measures by which such associations as the London Equitable have been managed to the great profit of a privileged class. These proceedings have already been canvassed until something very like unanimity on the subject prevails. We shall merely give a general view of the principles of Life Assurance, and of the advantages peculiar to different classes of associations, leaving our readers to exercise their own judgment as to the plan which appears to them most advantageous. It is desirable, and it is, moreover, high time, that the public should for themselves acquire a knowledge of the elements of the subject. The pretensions of rival establishments would then in some measure be subjected to an independ-gether with the view of assuring lives, either ent test; and public patronage, guided by better lights than puffing advertisements, would quietly and steadily move in the right direction. We have already glanced at the foundation of the system, and seen that the force of mortality in this country has been ascertained, and may be relied upon with all the confidence which mankind repose in the operation of a general law. While, however, we hold that the law of mortality has been so well ascertaind as to relieve both assurer and assured of all apprehension of any serious and disastrous mistake in the tables on which Assurance is conducted, the subject is one to which continued attention should be earnestly and patiently directed, with the view of working out its minuter applications. There is still much to be done even in the best conducted institutions toward adjusting equitably the contributions of the several classes of their members. A vast advance has been made since the period when the youngest and most select lives were rated, without any distinction, with the old and infirm. But although the excessive and un on the plan of a Proprietary Company or a Mutual Society, the first thing to be done is to fix the rate of mortality on which their tables shall be constructed. It may safely be asserted that the Northampton Table has been proved to be erroneous, and that the associations which retain it in any department of their business, however prosperous and extensive, are in so doing clinging to an antiquated hypothesis which must operate in producing inequitable results to large classes of their contributors. The true rate of mortality is one which runs somewhere within the limits of the Carlisle, the Government Annuitants, and the English Life Table. These, along with information derived from experience in regard to assured lives, afford a correct and satisfactory basis on which to construct a table of mortality graduated so as to suit all ages; and were any parties proposing to found a new institution upon an assumed mortality differing materially from these tables, we should not only be disposed to challenge their intelligence, but to doubt their integrity. |