Serendipity language was by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to his friend Horace Mann, Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made about a (lost) painting of Bianca Cappello by Giorgio Vasari by reference to a Persian fairy tale, "The Three Princes of Serendip". The princes, he told his correspondent, were "always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of". The name comes from "Serendip", an old name for Sri Lanka (Ceylon), hence "Sarandib" by Arab traders. It is derived from the Sanskrit "Siṃhaladvīpaḥ" (Siṃhalaḥ, Sri Lanka + dvīpaḥ, island).
For the Term of His Natural Life the Term of His Natural Life" was adapted for the stage by Charles MacMahon prior to 1903, with which the Majeroni dramatic company toured New Zealand and some States of Australia in 1903 and 1904, starring George Majeroni as Dawes, and Mario Majeroni as Rae. MacMahon also used the novel as the basis for one of the first full-length motion picture films, produced in Australia in 1908 (22 minutes).There was another version in 1911, "The Life of Rufus Dawes", based on Alfred Dampier's popular stage adaptation of the novel. The best-known film version came in 1927, featuring silent screen stars