The affairs of the office are managed by twenty-four Directors, without any salary or reward, who are chosen by balloting for three years, from amongst, and by the persons insured, in the way of an annual rotation, eight new ones every year, on the three days immediately preceding the general meeting in November. They meet at the office in Angel court on Snow hill, to transact business, every Tuesday at three in the afternoon. Every house before it can be insured, must be surveyed by a person employed by the office, and in case of a loss or damage, is to be put into the condition it was in before the fire, allowing not more than three shillings a yard for painting, nor above thirty pounds for any chimney piece; or else the whole sum insured is to be paid to the sufferer without any deduction. Nothing is more evident than that the profits of insurance, which in the offices insuring for gain are divided on their capital stock, are here, together with the salaries of the Directors, applied to the benefit of the insured. The consequence of which is, that this office having paid above two hundred and fifty thousand pounds for losses; the charge to the injured from its beginning in the year 1696, has been at a medium under nine-pence a year for one hundred pounds insured on brick houses. The surveyors are to survey houses with all convenient expedition after directions are left, without any fee or reward. The clerks give constant attendance at the office, from eight in the morning to six in the evening. _The proposals delivered by the Office, October 10, 1758._ This company keep in their service thirty firemen, who are annually clothed, and have each a badge, on which are two hands joined and a crown over them. HAND IN HAND _yard_, Old Horselydown lane.* HAND _yard_, Thames street.* HANGING LION _yard_, Nightingale lane, East Smithfield.* HANGING SWORD _alley_, 1. Quaker street.* 2. Water lane, Fleet street.* HANGING SWORD _court_, Water lane, Fleet street.* HANGMAN’S _acre_, King David’s fort, near Bluegate fields. HANGMAN’S GAINS, St. Catherines. Mr. Strype observes, that the towns of Calais, Hammes, and Guisnes, being lost in the reign of Queen Mary, many of the inhabitants fled to England, and wanting habitations, a part of St. Catharine’s where this lane is now built, was allowed them, which from the countries whence they came was called Hammes and Guisnes, which at length by a vulgar corruption was changed to Hangman’s gains. HANGMAN’S GAINS _alley_, St. Catharine’s. HANNOWAY _street_, Tottenham Court road.† HANOVER _court_, 1. Grub street. 2. Houndsditch. 3. In the Minories.