Lloyd's : Yesterday and To - day. By Henry M. Grey. (John
Haddon and Co.)—Sometime in the latter half of the seventeenth century, a Mr. Edward Lloyd had a coffee-house in Tower Street, frequented by seafaring men. We find advertisements for lost property or runaway slaves dated from the place. In 1692, Lloyd moved his establishment to the corner of Lombard Street and A bchurch Lane. It became a celebrated place of affairs ; sales of property took place there ; and the runaway-slave business went on. In 1710, Addison wrote a paper about it in the Spectator. Before this, Lloyd's News had been published,—a journal which has lasted, under one name or another, down to the present time. The insurance business sprang up early in the eighteenth century. The present abode of the institution dates from 1774, John Julius Angerstein, otherwise known as a patron of art, being the moving spirit in the transaction. All kinds of business is done there; in 1813, Napoleon's life was insured at a premium of £3 3s. per cent. (for one month, it must be understood). In 1891, the Baring Guarantee was largely insured at a premium of 10 per cent., and the famous racehorse, Orme,' was insured against being scratched for the Derby. But marine insurance is the chief employment of the place. Mr. Grey's narrative will be found to be of no little interest.
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