The best of both worlds origin?

The expression "the best of both worlds" is first recorded in the late 16th century. It was often used in connection with marriage choices. For example, in his play The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare writes: "If you prize me, let me have the choosing of my husband ... so I may neither choose with mine eyes nor my ears, nor with my heart or my mind, but with all three combined... Then I shall have the one man in whom the right of both is best contained, and that's the way to get the best of both worlds."