His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing.”
In far briefer phrase, but with a similar comparison, in reply to the charge of having “too much respect upon the world,” Antonia (Merchant of Venice, act i. sc. 1, l. 77, vol. ii. p. 281) remarked,—
“I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;
A stage, where every man must play a part,