Allas, why pleynen folk so in commune
On purveiaunce of God, or of Fortune,
That yeveth hem ful ofte in many a gyse
Wel bettre than they kan hemself devyse?
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Why do people complain about the providence of God, or of Fortune, that gives them something better than they can themselves imagine, Arcite asks? He is referring to the fact that when he was a prisoner in Theseus’s tower he could see the woman he loves Emily, but now that he has freedom and is banished from Athens he cannot see her.