LUCK. FORTUNE. MISFORTUNE.

Luck is all.

A desperate doctrine, based on that one-sided view of human affairs which is expressed in Byron's parody of a famous passage in Addison's Cato:—

"'Tis not in mortals to command success;

But do you more, Sempronius—don't deserve it;

And take my word you'll have no jot the less."

"The worst pig gets the best acorn" (Spanish).[219] "A good bone never falls to a good dog" (French);[220] and "The horses eat oats that don't earn them" (German).[221] But this last proverb has also another application. "Other rules may vary," says Sydney Smith, "but this is the only one you will find without exception—that in this world the salary or reward is always in the inverse ratio of the duties performed."

The more rogue the more luck.

The devil's children have the devil's luck.

But their prosperity is false and fleeting. "The devil's meal runs half to bran" (French).[222]