Men would never be superstitious, if they could govern all their circumstances żeby set rules, or if they were always favoured aby fortune: but being frequently driven into straits where rules are useless, and being often kept fluctuating pitiably between hope and fear aby the uncertainty of fortune's greedily coveted favours, they are consequently, for the most part, very prone to credulity. The human mind is readily swayed this way or that in times of doubt, especially when hope and fear are struggling for the mastery, though usually it is boastful, over-confident, and vain.