And laste of all, her staffe with prickes aboundes:
Which showes her wordes, wherewith the good shee woundes.”
The dramatist speaks of the horrid creature with equal power. Among his phrases are,—
“Thou makest thy knife keen; but no metal can,
No, not the hangman’s axe, bear half the keenness
Of thy sharp envy.”
Merchant of Venice, act iv. sc. 1, l. 124
“And for we think the eagle-winged pride
Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts,
With rival-hating envy, set on you