By many a happy accident.

The phrase suggests that favorable outcomes often arise not from careful design but from chance—serendipitous turns, coincidences, or unforeseen opportunities. Read in a Middletonian dramatic context, it can carry an ironic edge: characters may attribute success, survival, or social advancement to “happy accident” while the audience recognizes the role of human scheming, moral compromise, or theatrical contrivance. More generally, it captures a Renaissance awareness of fortune’s volatility—how lives and plots alike can be redirected by contingency rather than merit or intention.