We commence our third epoch with the year 1721, and with the fact that there was at that period but one Life Assurance Office in existence in Great Britain—the Amicable, founded 1706. That too, so far as we have the means of knowing, was the only Life Assurance Association in the world. It was very defective in its mode of working, at the best; but it stood alone. The Society had at this date an accumulated fund of about £50,000; it had distributed in death claims £118,000. Thus it had obtained a solid hold upon public confidence, but I suspect its business suffered considerably from the general shock to public credit. The days of Mutual Contribution Life Assurance Associations, as such, were gone for ever in England. This Society had to take steps to mitigate the element of uncertainty, or it would most probably have died out. Solidity was now the one thing sought for.