serious effect on the two chartered companies. It is probable that they had been “rigging the market,” as the directors were ordered to attend the authorities, in order that they might receive a fitting rebuke; and it must have been a very impressive, though not a very picturesque sight, to see a body of respectable, square-toed, elderly gentlemen, with brown coats and cocked hats, listening with subdued awe, as they were sternly cautioned “to keep strictly to the limitation of their respective charters, _or it would be the worse for them_.” That they took warning from this caution may be deduced from the circumstance already stated, that when they petitioned to be released from the payment of so much of the 300,000_l._ as was not paid[9], the Chancellor of the Exchequer signified his consent, and a clause was inserted to that effect in a bill then passing through the House. It must not be supposed that any more scientific system than that adopted by the Amicable Society guided these companies. On the contrary, whether an applicant were 12 or whether he were 45, one premium was asked. The policy was granted for a single year, and renewed without reference to age or to health. The earliest document possessed by either of these companies is dated 25th November, 1721. It was granted by the London Assurance to Mr. Thomas Baldwin, on the life of Nicholas Bourne, for 100_l._, five guineas being the premium for twelve months; and this was the annual per centage paid for many years. With such a system, it is not to be wondered that the success of the company was slow. FOOTNOTE: [9] The total amount paid by each company was 150,000_l._ CHAP. VI. SKETCH OF DE MOIVRE.--HIS DOCTRINE OF CHANCES.--KERSSEBOOM.--DE PARCIEUX.--HODGSON.--DODSON.--FIRST FRAUD IN LIFE ASSURANCE--ITS ROMANTIC CHARACTER.--THOMAS SIMPSON.--CALCULATIONS OF DE BUFFON.