1808, Daniel Defoe, The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Minerva Press for Lane and Newman, page 311:
And thus I have given the first part of a life of fortune and adventure, a life of Providence's chequer-work, and of a variety which the world will seldom be able to shew the like of: beginning foolishly, but closing much more happily than any part of it ever gave me leave to much as to hope for.