“As to the floors, they are usually made of clay, covered with rushes that grew in fens, which are so slightly removed now and then, that the lower part remains sometimes for twenty years together, and in it a collection of spittle, vomit, urine of dogs and men, beer, scraps of fish, and other filthiness not to be named. Hence, upon change of weather, a vapour is exhaled very pernicious, in my opinion, to the human body.” [4] The first parish registers were kept in England in 1538, in consequence of an injunction from Thomas Cromwell. They had been kept for a long time previous in Augsburg and Breslau, though it was not till the beginning of the 17th century that they were general in Europe. It is worth mentioning, that long ere this, the paternal government of Peru kept a register of all the births and deaths throughout the country; exact returns of the population being made every year by officers appointed by the state. CHAP. II. PRACTICE OF ASSURANCE BY THE ROMANS.--SAXON APPROXIMATION TO FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.--MARINE ASSURANCE.--DANGER OF NAVIGATION, AND ITS EFFECT ON LIFE ASSURANCE.--ASSURANCE FOR PALMERS AND PILGRIMS TO THE HOLY LAND.--BULMER’S OFFICE OF ASSURANCE.--ASSURANCE OF NAVIGATORS, MERCHANTS, AND CORPORATIONS.--ASSURERS.--UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE.--ANNUITIES.--AUDLEY THE USURER--HIS HISTORY--ANECDOTES CONCERNING HIM.--THE USURER’S WIDOW. It has been the endeavour of most writers to trace the practice, if not the principle, of assurance as far back as possible; but in doing this, trifles have been exaggerated into matters of importance. Some authors contend, on the authority of Livy, that it was in use during the Second Punic War: others, arguing from a passage in Suetonius, refer to the Emperor Claudius, as the first insurer; because, in order to encourage the importation of corn, he took all the loss or damage it might sustain upon himself. These cases are, however, entirely exceptional, and certainly indicate no settled plan, as the very fact that the Emperor guaranteed the contractor against damage, is a proof that there was no other mode of doing so. Cicero is also quoted, because, in one of his epistles, he expresses a hope of finding at Laodicea, security by which he could remit the money of the republic without being exposed to danger in its passage.