FORTUNE.

A Romance of Life.

BY D. T. COULTON, ESQ.

"Je rends au public ce qu'il m'a prêté: j'ai emprunté de lui la matière de
cet ouvrage; il est juste que, l'ayant achevé avec toute l'attention pour la vérité
dont je suis capable, et qu'il mérite de moi, je lui en fasse la restitution."

LA BRUYERE.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED FOR HENRY COLBURN,

BY HIS SUCCESSORS, HURST AND BLACKETT,

13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.

1853.

249. v. 303.

OTHE

LONDON:

Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street.

T

MINA

O Diva, gratum quæ regis Antium,
Præsens vel imo tollere de gradu
Mortale corpus, vel superbos

Vertere funeribus triumphos!
Te semper anteit sæva Necessitas,
Clavos trabales et cuneos manu
Gestans aëna; nec severus

Uncus abest, liquidumque plumbum.

Te Spes, et albo rara Fides colit
Velata panno; nec comitem abnegat,
Utcunque mutata potentes
Veste domos inimica linquis.

HORACE.

Vostro saver non ha contrasto a lei;
Ella provvede, giudica, e persegue
Suo regno, come il loro gli altri Dei.
Le sue permutazion non hanno triegue:
Necessità la fa esser veloce;

Si spesso vien chi vicenda consegue.
Quest' è colei, ch'è tanto posta in croce

Pur da color, che le dovrian dar lode,
Dandole biasmo a torto e mala voce.
Ma ella s'è beata, e ciò non ode:
Con l' altre prime creature lieta
Volve sua spera, e beata si gode.

DANTE.

Like Sylla, I have always believed that all things depended on Fortune, and nothing on ourselves. I am not aware of any one thought or action worthy of being called good, either to myself or others, which is not to be attributed to the good goddess, "Fortune."—Byron's Diary.

TO THE READER.

It has long been a question whether Fortune or Conduct exercises the greatest influence over life. The ancients, we know, leant to the divinity of Fortune, and the greatest of orators esteemed her the supreme mistress of human affairs. But in modern times Prudence is placed above her, and it is held that every man can shape his destiny as he pleases.

Perhaps, as is commonly the case, Truth lies somewhere between the extremes. Fortune, or Fate, or Accident, or Providence, fixes for each one at birth his capacity and his aptitudes-his position and circumstances. And, with the particular talents and station,

VOL. I.

A