The meaning and origin of the expression: This is the short and the long of it

This is the short and the long of it

What's the meaning of the phrase 'This is the short and the long of it'?

The substance; the plain truth.

What's the origin of the phrase 'This is the short and the long of it'?

From Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1600:

MISTRESS QUICKLY: Marry, this is the short and the long of it; you have brought her into such a canaries as 'tis wonderful. The best courtier of them all, when the court lay at Windsor, could never have brought her to such a canary.

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