Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/765

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are the remains of a very ancient fortress, the Castell Dinas Brân. The beautiful abbey of Valle Crucis, in a neighbouring dell, is one of the finest ecclesiastical ruins in Wales. Near it there is an ancient British monument, the "Pillar of Eliseg." The principal secular buildings of the town are the town-hall and the court-house. The industries include the manufacture of linen and wool, and in the vicinity there are collieries, lime-works, and iron works. The population of the urban sanitary district in 1871 was 2798, and in 1881 it was 3124.

LLORENTE, Juan Antonio (1756-1823), the historian of the Spanish Inquisition, was born March 30, 1756, at Rincon do Soto, near Calahorra, Aragon, studied at Tarragona and Saragossa, received (by dispensation) priest's orders in 1779, and became vicar-general to the bishop of Calahorra in 1782. In 1785 he became commissary of the Holy Office at Logroño, and in 1789 its general secretary at Madrid. In 1805 he obtained a canonry at Toledo, and in 1806-8 his Noticias Historicas sobre las tres Provindas Vascongadas appeared. In the crisis of 1808 Llorente identified himself with the Bonapartists, and from 1809 onwards he was engaged in superintending the execution of the decree of suppression of the monastic orders, and in examining the archives of the Inquisition for his History, a work which appeared in 1817-18 at Paris, where its author had been residing since the return of Ferdinand VII. to Madrid in 1814, under the title Histoire critique de l'Inquisition d'Espagne, depuis l'époque de son établissement par Ferdinand V. jasqu' au règne de Ferdinand VII., tirée des pièces originales du Conseil de la Suprême et de celles des tribunaux subalternes du Saint Office. Translated within a few years into German, English, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish, it attracted much attention throughout Europe, and involved its author in considerable persecution and hardship, which, on the publication of his Portraits politiques des Papes in 1822, culminated in a peremptory order (December 1822) to quit France. His death, caused, or at least hastened, by the fatigues of the hasty journey to Spain, took place at Madrid on February 5, 1823. Both the personal character and the literary trustworthiness of Llorente have been very bitterly assailed; but, although he was very imperfectly equipped as an exact historian, there is no reason to doubt that he made an honest use of documents (now no longer extant) relating to the Inquisition, to which he had access at Madrid. An English (abridged) translation of the History appeared in 1826. A full list of the numerous writings of Llorente is given in the Biographie Générale.

LLOYD'S, an association of merchants, shipowners, underwriters, and ship and insurance brokers, having its headquarters in a suite of rooms in the north-east corner of the Royal Exchange, London. Originally a mere gathering of merchants for business or gossip in a coffee-house kept by one Edward Lloyd in Tower Street, London, the earliest notice of which occurs in the London Gazette of 18th February 1688, this institution has gradually become one of the greatest and most perfect organizations in the world in connexion with commerce. The establishment existed in Tower Street up to 1692, in which year it was removed by the enterprising proprietor to Lombard Street, in the very centre of that portion of the old city of London most frequented by merchants of the highest class. Shortly after this event Mr Lloyd gave another proof of his enterprise and intelligence by the establishment of a weekly newspaper furnishing commercial and shipping news, in those days an undertaking of no small difficulty. This paper took the name of Lloyd's News, and, though its life was not a prolonged one, it was destined to be the precursor of the now ubiquitous Lloyd's List, the oldest existing paper, the London Gazette excepted, of the present day. In Lombard Street the business transacted at Lloyd's coffee-house steadily grew in extent and importance, but it does not appear that throughout the greater part of the 18th century the merchants and underwriters frequenting the rooms were bound together by any rules, or acted under any organization. By and by, however, the rapid increase of marine insurance business made a change of system and improved accommodation absolutely necessary, and accordingly, after finding a temporary resting-place in Pope's Head Alley, the underwriters and brokers finally settled down in the Royal Exchange in March 1774. One of the first improvements in the mode of effecting marine insurance springing out of this new state of things was the introduction of a printed form of policy. Hitherto various forms had been in use; and, to avoid the numerous disputes consequent on a practice so loose and unsatisfactory, the committee of Lloyd's proposed a general form, which was finally adopted by the members on the 12th of January 1779, and which remains in use, with only a few slight alterations, to this day. The two most important events in the history of Lloyd's during the present century are the reorganization of the association in 1811, and the passage of an Act in 1871 granting to Lloyd's all the rights and privileges of a corporation sanctioned by parliament. According to this Act of Incorporation, the three main objects for which the society exists are first, the carrying out of the business of marine insurance; secondly, the protection of the interests of the members of the association; and thirdly, the collection, publication, and diffusion of intelligence and information with respect to shipping. In the promotion of the last-named object, obviously the foundation upon which the entire superstructure rests, an intelligence department has been gradually developed which for wideness of range and efficient working has no parallel among private enterprises in any country.

The rooms at Lloyd's are available only to subscribers and members. The former pay an annual subscription of five guineas without entrance fee, but have no voice in the management of the institution. The latter consist of non-underwriting members, who pay an entrance fee of twelve guineas, and of underwriting members, who pay a fee of one hundred pounds. Underwriting members are also required to deposit securities to the value of £5000 to £10,000, according to circumstances, as a guarantee for their engagements. The management of the establishment is delegated by the members to certain of their number selected as a "committee for managing the affairs of Lloyd's." With this body lies the appointment of all the officials and agents of the institution, the daily routine of duty being entrusted to a secretary and a large staff of clerks and other assistants. The mode employed in effecting an insurance at Lloyd's is very simple. The business is done entirely by brokers, who write upon a slip of paper the name of the ship and shipmaster, the nature of the voyage, the subject to be insured, and the amount at which it is valued. If the risk is accepted, each underwriter subscribes his name and the amount he agrees to take or underwrite, the insurance being effected as soon as the total value is made up. The sum paid by the insured to the underwriters is denominated the premium, a tax upon the profits of the merchant which the progress of science, of the art of shipbuilding, and of navigation has in these days reduced to a very moderate figure. (W. P. H.)

LOACH. The loaches (Cobitidina) are small fishes of the Carp family (Cyprinidæ), with a generally cylindrical body, with very small or without any scales, with six or more barbels round the mouth, with a short dorsal and anal fin, and with the pharyngeal teeth in a single series. The air-bladder is double, as in other carps, the two divisions lying side by side, or one behind the other; but