ore leave England for the third time
for France, Germany, and Italy.

The entry this day refers to something which happened to him seventeen
years previously (1806), (for obvious reasons I do not give the name,
which is written in full in the diary):--"N. N. robbed me of all and
more than I had. Blessed be the Almighty, that He has not suffered my
enemies to triumph over me."

On their arrival at Rome they find Mr Abraham Montefiore very ill;
much worse, Mr Montefiore says, than they had expected. His critical
state induces them to remain with him to the end of the year.

About the same time, his brother Horatio was elected an elder in his
synagogue: "affording him many opportunities," Mr Montefiore observes,
"to make himself useful to the congregation."

1824 (5584 A.M.).--His brother Abraham continues very ill, but
Montefiore can remain with him no longer, his presence being much
required in London.

_February 13th._--Mr and Mrs Montefiore arrive in London, and on the
17th he again goes to the Stock Exchange, this being the first time
for more than a year that he has done so.

_July 28th._--The deed of settlement of the Alliance Life Assurance
Company is read to the general court. On August 4th he has the
gratification of affixing his name to it. "On the same day," he says,
evidently with much pleasure, "I have received many applications for
shares of the Imperial Continental Gas Association."

The diary introduces the subject of Insurance Companies by quoting the
words of Suetonius.

"Suetonius conjectures," Mr Montefiore writes on the first page of the
book, "that the Emperor Claudius was the original projector of
insurances on ships and merchandise."

"The first instances of the practice recorded in modern history," he
observes, "occur in 1560, in consequence of the extensive wool trade
between England and the Netherlands; though it was probably in use
before that period, and seems to have been introduced by the Jews in
1182."

"It is treated of in the laws of Oleron, relating to sea affairs, as
early as the year 1194."

"About the period of the great fire in London, 1666, an office was
established for insuring houses from fire."

This information is probably no novelty to the reader, but my object
in quoting it is to show how attentively Mr Montefiore studied every
subject connected with his financial and other pursuits. We have in
the College library a great variety of books bearing on insurance