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life for a considerable sum, and might be deemed lucky in-
asmuch as he had received the money without demur from
the insurance company, though he had only paid two pre-
miums.
I have just said that the jury found the prisoner guilty.
When the judge passed sentence, I was struck with the way
in which the prisoner’s counsel was rebuked for having re-
ferred to a work in which the guilt of such misfortunes as
the prisoner’s was extenuated to a degree that roused the
indignation of the court.
‘We shall have,’ said the judge, ‘these crude and subver-
sionary books from time to time until it is recognised as an
axiom of morality that luck is the only fit object of human
veneration. How far a man has any right to be more lucky
and hence more venerable than his neighbours, is a point
that always has been, and always will be, settled proximate-
ly by a kind of higgling and haggling of the market, and
ultimately by brute force; but however this may be, it stands
to reason that no man should be allowed to be unlucky to
more than a very moderate extent.’
Then, turning to the prisoner, the judge continued:- ‘You
have suffered a great loss. Nature attaches a severe penalty
to such offences, and human law must emphasise the de-
crees of nature. But for the recommendation of the jury I
should have given you six months’ hard labour. I will, how-
ever, commute your sentence to one of three months, with
the option of a fine of twenty-five per cent. of the money you
have received from the insurance company.’
The prisoner thanked the judge, and said that as he had

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