Mar, 8. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



185 



standing, to have been unaware that the Christian 

 religion, in however degraded a form, has long been 

 professed in Abyssinia. With respect to the royal line 

 of Mawer I was long distressed, till, by great good 

 fortune, I discovered that it was no other than that of 

 old King Coyl." 



As I happen to feel an interest in tlie subject 

 which disinclines me to rest satisfied with the fore- 

 going hasty — not to say flippant explanation of the 

 learned historian, lam anxious to inquire whether 

 or not any reader of the "Notes and Queries" 

 can throw light on the history, and especially the 

 genealogy, of this worthy and amiable divine ? 

 While I have reason to believe that Dr. Mawer 

 was about the last person in the world to have 

 composed the foregoing eulogy on his own charac- 

 ter, I cannot believe that the allusion to illustrious 

 ancestors "is merely a joke," as AVhitaker seems 

 to imply; while it is quite certain that there is 

 nothing in the inscription to justify the inference 

 that tlie deceased had been " unaware that the 

 Christian religion" had "long been professed in 

 Abyssinia:" indeed, an inference quite the reverse 

 would be quite as legitimate. J. H. 



ilotherfield, Feb. 23. 1851. 



SHAKSPEAEE S '• MERCHANT OF VENICE 



(Act IV. So. 1.). 

 In the lines — 



" The quality of Mercy is not strained. 

 It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven, 

 Upon the place beneath." 



What is the meaning of the word "strained?" 

 Tlie verb to strain is susceptible of two essentially 

 different interpretations ; and the question is as 

 to which of the two is here intended ? On refer- 

 ring to Johnson's Dictionary, we find, amongst 

 other synonymous terms. To squeeze through some- 

 thing ; to purift/ hij filtration; to weaken hy too 

 much violence ; to push to its utmost strength. 

 Now, if we substitute either of the two latter 

 meanings, we siiall have an assertion that " ilercy 

 is not weakened by too much violence (or put to 

 its utmost strength), but droppeth, as the gentle 

 rain from heaven," &c., wlu^-e it would require a 

 most discerning editor to explain the connexion 

 between the two clauses. If, on the other Iiand, 

 we take the first two meanings, the passage is 

 capable of being understood, if nothing else. Be- 

 ginning with to squeeze through something; what 

 would present itself to our ideas would be, that 

 " Mercy does not fall in one continuous stream (as 

 would be the case, if strained) on one particular 

 portion of the earth, but expands into a largo and 

 universal shower, so as to spread its inlhicnce over 

 the entire globe." This, liowever, though not ab- 

 flunl, is, I fear, rather forced. 



To come to the second explanation of to purify ^ 



which in my opinion is the most apt, I take it that 

 Shakspeare intended to say, that " Mercy is so 

 pure and undefiled as to require no cleansing, but 

 tails as gently and unsullied as the showers from 

 heaven, ere soiled by the impurities of earth." 



With these few remarks, I shall leave the matter 

 in the hands of those whose researches into the 

 English language may have been deeper than my 

 own, with a hope that they may possess time and 

 inclination to promote the elucidation of a diffi- 

 culty in one of the most beautiful passages of our 

 great national bard ; a difficulty, by the way, 

 which seems to have escaped the notice of all the 

 editors and commentators. L. S. 



faiuar caucit'e^. 



Was Lord Howard of Effingham, ivho commanded 

 in chief against the Spanish Armada, a Protestant 

 or a Papist? — On the one hand, it is highly im- 

 probable that Queen Elizabeth should employ a 

 popish commander against the Spaniards. 



1. The silence of Dr. Lingard and other his- 

 torians is also negatively in favour of his being a 

 Protestant. 



But, on the other hand, it has been repeatedly 

 asserted, in both houses of Parliament, that lie was 

 a Papist. 



2. It is likely, because \\\s father was the eldest 

 son by his second wife of Thomas, second Duke of 

 Norfolk, and was created Baron Howard of Effing- 

 ham by Queen !Mary. 



3. Whatever his own religion may have been, 

 he was contem]iorary with his cousin, Philip, Earl 

 of Arundel, whom Camden calls the champion of 

 the Catholics, and whose violence v/as the cause of 

 his perpetual imprisonment. 



4. The present Lord Effingham has recently de- 

 clared that by blood he was (had always been ?) 

 connected with the Roman Catholics. 



Under these and other circumstances, it is a 

 question to be settled by evidence. C. H. P. 



Brighton. 



Lord Bexley • — how descended from Cromwell f 

 — In the notice of the late Lord Bexley in The 

 Times, it is stated that he was maternally descended 

 from Oliver Cromwell, the Protector, through the 

 family of Cromwell's son-in-law, Ireton. 



Burke, in his Peerage, mentions that Henry 

 Vansittart, father of Lord Bexley, was governor of 

 Bengal (circa 1770), and that he married Amelia 

 Morse, daughter of Nicolas Morse, governor of 

 Madras. 



It would therefore ap])ear that this said Nicolas 

 Iilorse was a descendant of General Ireton. I 

 wish to ascertain if this assumplion be correct; 

 and, if correct, when and how tin; families of Morse 

 and Ireton became connected Y If any of your 

 correspondents can furni.sh information on this sub- 



No. 71. 



