Green’s Dictionary of Slang

bad luck, misfortune; thus easy lines, good fortune.

1837		A. Greene Glance at N.Y. I iii: harry: Mose, dispense with your tobacco for the present, or you’ll betray us. mose: Them is hard lines, but I suppose I must.
1838		‘Paul Pry’ Oddities of London Life I 48: ‘[I]t’s gallus hard lines as ve should be hobbligated to have sitch a muck’.
1843		W.L. Rede Our Village II ii: It’s hard lines, isn’t it, to save a man with one hand, and shackle him with the other of ’em.
1850		F.E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh (1878) 31: It will be ‘hard lines’ upon him if he does.
1864		B. Hemyng Eton School Days 59: This is rather hard lines.
1874		E.K. Wood Johnny Ludlow I 273: ‘It’s hard lines,’ he said humbly, ‘when the lad’s of a’ age to be a earning, and the master can’t be got to take him on.’.
1883		H. Smart Hard Lines II 29: It seems awful hard lines that a fellow who has simply been awfully sold should be accused of being a leg and a robber and all that.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 219: It must be hard lines for a woman to stand by [...] and see the man she loves given away [...] buckled hard and fast to another woman.
1892		H. Nisbet Bushranger’s Sweetheart 137: I don’t think a regular sundowner would have easy lines on this track.
1906		C. M’Govern Sarjint Larry an’ Frinds 65: You’ve got to stay an’ bunk with us right here on the bare ground. Hard lines.
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 4 Oct. 4/3: Hard lines, Tom, old boy, cheer up.
1914		C. Holme Lonely Plough (1931) 180: I’m sorry Jimmy. It’s hard lines on you.
1921		Star Green ’Un (Sports Special, Yorks) 5 Nov. 5/2: Johnny Lowry [...] was rather unlucky in his contest [...] ‘Hard Lines, Lowry!’.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 448: Now I am defunct, the wall of the heart hypertrophied. Hard lines.
1926		Z. Grey Fighting Caravans (1992) 131: Buff, it’s tough lines. Tom is dyin’.
1930		L. Lower Here’s Luck 11: It would be pretty hard lines if he wasn’t useful to his poor old father in a job like that.
1933		S. O’Casey Within the Gates Act ii: Never saw my real father; don’t even know who or what he was. Hard lines, isn’t it?
1942		Whizzbang Comics 66: That’s dashed hard lines on Podger and the rest.
1959		A. Sillitoe ‘The Match’ Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (1960) 113: What hard lines [...] Would you believe it?
1963		C. Wood ‘Prisoner & Escort’ in Cockade (1965) I iii: Hard lines.
1973		A. Bennett Habeus Corpus Act II: Tut, tut, tut. Hard lines, Perce.
1983		Beano 1 Oct. 17: Hard lines, Biffo!