INTRODUCTORY 25 



prevision, but they are within the knowledge of Omni- 

 science. In a world governed by law there is no room 

 for the miraculous. Nature is not "all in favour of 

 certainty in great laws and of uncertainty in small 

 events." The most trivial incident is inevitable ; hap- 

 pens of necessity ; could not happen otherwise. It is 

 but a link in an infinite chain of cause and effect. 



" With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man's knead. 

 And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed : 

 Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote 

 What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read." 



The Mohammedan is justified in his belief in Kismet, 

 and the doctrine of Predestination is in harmony with 

 scientific thought. What shall be must be. 



The luck of the tyro is proverbial. His friend, 

 wearied of the fruitless application of his art, invites 

 him to attempt a cast, and he complies. In the hands 

 of the angler the rod is a simple implement of sport ; 

 in his, it becomes a magic wand ; he waves it over the 

 water, and the fish rush to his call. He throws a 

 glamour o'er the trout, and to their enchanted eyes 

 his flies, artlessly as he casts them, appear in the 

 semblance of the most delectable of dainties. 



Fortune, too, with customary fickleness, showers 

 her favours on the undeserving stranger. He pays 

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