LUCK.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1365, 31 March 1881, Page 3

LUCK.

Of' course everyone is aware tW a belief in "luck" or "fortune/* us obuaed among <Vulgar error* ibjr all properly educated people. No one like* U own his faith in auoh an exploded doctrine, and yet nearly everyone has a secret clinging to the idea that some people succeed in life better than others; for «o reason anyone .can detect unless one falls .back on the theory of "luck." Hood marrels how it is : — " , ; "That one little craft is cast away ; i On its very fir.st trip to Babblcombe Bay ; While another rides safety to"Port NaUl." And it is certainly difficult to explain why two men, starting with equal advantages, should differ so widely in the amount of success they win. Of course id some cases the explanation is simple.' John and Charles begin life with equal ebances,,but John works and Charles idles; John saves and Charles •quanderfl— it needs no theory of "luck" to account for the faot that twenty years after they started for themselves John is a rich and successful man, ; while his quondam associate is in the workhouse, Fortune kn6cked !'< at both ' doors, but; 5 only one opened to her. But how' are we to account for the success that comes to people, without their working for it P' Most of us must be acquainted with men who are what is popularly^ called •' lucky .;>. ;> They nearly always hold good hands, at cards; their investments always prosper. If they bny foreign "bonds, theirs are .sure I to be drawn for earliest payment! /They buy land cheaply in out-of-the-way 10- ! c'alities, and straightway a railway oompany offers them double what they gave for the property. Legacies are always falling to their share. Explain it how, we may, some individuals apppear to be' born " with a silver spoon in their mouths," and to be more favoured by fortune than i their fellows. Our ancestors firmly believed in good and bad luck. Wise kings and sage counsellors carefully selected "fortune " generals to lead their armies ; j soldiers like Wallenstein, monarch, , like Louis XL and Catherine of 1 Medicis, did not blush. to acknowledge j that they studied the stars to -discover fortunate days and hours, on which to undertake enterprises. Even Napoleari believed in his " star of destiny." -It is curious, by the way, that the people who most firmly believe in " luck " or " fortune " are^ generally individuals little troubled with, religious belief of any kind, A recent case in the police-courts showed a burglar carrying a piece of coal "for luck in his pocket. Avowed atheists have been slaves to popular superstitions. The idea of "lucky" : and "unlucky" days and hours is an extremely ancientone. Eastern fiction turns chiefly upon it. Classic writers tell us how carefully the Greeks and Romans studied omens and ' auguries. Our medieval ancestors were no less credulous. Ancient calendars mark days on which " it is most unfortunate to begin 'any notable work ( ,'\ k also others which are " most fortunate." The first Monday in April and the first Monday in August are marked under the first head in an an ancient MSS., the reason given being that the former is the auni-' versary of the birth of Cain, the 'latter that of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah ! The idea that May is an unlucky month for matrimony is said to be as old as ' the time of O v id, but no, reason is given for the superstition. Strange fatalities certainly appear to be associated with , certain dates. Perhaps this is the best explained by Lord Bacon's theory that we note the coincidences and not the misses. Twenty old predictions and superstitions pass unf ulfilfcd, and we regard them not, but the twenty-first is verified, and^ we cry " a miracle.". At the same time the coincidences do occur. The death' of the lamented Princess of Hesse on the same day of the month and week as that of the Prince Consort attracted general attent J on but it may not have been so universally observed, that Saturday has been a fatal day to the Royal Family of England for the last 167 yeais :— William 111. died Saturday, March 18, 1702. Bueen Anne died Saturday, August 1, I^l4. corgc I. died Saturday, Juno id, 1727. George 11. died Saturday, October, 23 1760. Geoige 111. died Saturday, January zg f 1820, George IV. died Saturday, June 26, 1830. The Duchess of Kent died batui day, March 16. 1861 ._ Prince Consort died Saturday, December 14, 1861. Princess Alice died Saturday, December 14, 1878. Thursday was a fatal day to our Tudor sovereigns, Henry VIII. and his three children, Edward, Mary," and Elizabeth, all dying on that day of the week, The fact that Columbus sailed on his great voyage of discovery on Friday, August 21, 1492, sighted the' shores of the New World on Friday, October. 12, 1492,, set sail for Spain: on a 'Frlda^y ' in' the" following January, and reached his destination safely on another Friday, has done nothing to redeem this unlucky day, from its evil reputation With Amoricahsand sailors. The former should' certainly have: a better opinion < Of ! ityf Wit is day in their national history. The ,, Mayflower arrived in the harbour of Provence Town on Friday, November 20, 1620, and on a Friday in the' following /month the pilprims landed at Plymouth. George Washington was born, and ,the victories of Beecher Hill; Saratoga," and Torkstown were gained on Fridays. Buf the day is marked still as one or evil omen on both sides of the Atlantic. Few people are entirely free from some trace of superstition regarding "luck." Sitting down thirteen to table, spilling salt,;laying knives cross-wise, are things carefully avqided .by. many .educated people. THer dread , pf witphes has died away, but we find 'the horseshoe still nailed over many a barn and cottage door, Careful housewives yet treasure the fragment of a Good Friday bun as a safeguard against fire. 'We once read of a clergyman who was greatly edified' by' the : urgency with which an aged woman in his parish desired, to be admitted to the right of confirmation^ Until heiearned her desire wag not on religious grounds, but because she had 'been, told that "the bishop's ( touch , wa.pt sovereign " against the rheumatics "—^probably a confused remnant of the old superstition of, tha efficacy, of the Royal touch Jo afflicted children, . It is curjoup, by the way, that the •» Office for (^eajb'ngf by the touch, of the Sovereign kept its place .in pur aer-i vice books till the eighteenth century, * and that Dr,, Johnson's parents brought him from Liphfield to London to be thus "enred" by Queen Anne. That the great Jexicographer hjmeelf by no mean% discredited this method of treatments*, shown by his reply whe^n Bo^weJJ ventured to hiiiiftKatltitne doctor's ease the remedy had been ineffectual. "Sir," whispered the stout old Jacobite,- 84 "my parents brought me to London, but^they should I have taken mefartne'ri -!Thoy should have j taken me to. Rome"— j,<s., to the exiled ! Stuarts. The Hanoverian sovereigns, ceased'to '{[touch for th* 'evil," a'fact ! greatly glonpjLoy.M by Jaoobite -writers, who chose to consider it as a confession 'Of , lack of the htaling powers only vested in the, true and Jawfut monarch, j 'Despite Lord Bacon's dictum that " my, judgment is that these things ought to be despised and serve but for winter talk/by .the' fireside," the majority of us cling to a belief tha.t certain ,aofcs and; events bring, goqd;OK bid " ,lfwk. J "//^Mi, ijein, ,of superstition ifi| the linn between the anoient and t^omp-/ dem worl<J >:f bej/j^ny .the "savage wad trembles before nisftftspjipa theoivilixed man' WnolB"voie4 'that he has upset the