ol. i. p. 234., says:

"This extraordinary personage, who may seem to have been qualified for
the office of universal interpreter to all the nations upon earth,
appears, {185} notwithstanding, 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 the subject which disinclines me to rest
satisfied with the foregoing hasty--not to say flippant explanation of the
learned historian, I am 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 character, I cannot believe that
the allusion to illustrious ancestors "is merely a joke," as Whitaker seems
to imply; while it is quite certain that there is nothing in the
inscription to justify the inference that the 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.

Rotherfield, Feb. 23. 1851.

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE'S "MERCHANT OF VENICE"

(Act IV. Sc. 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?" The verb _to strain_ is
susceptible of two essentially different interpretations; and the question
is as to which of the two is here intended? On referring to Johnson's
Dictionary, we find, amongst other synonymous terms, _To squeeze through
something; to purify by filtration; to weaken by too much violence; to push
to its utmost strength_. Now, if we substitute either of the two latter
meanings, we shall have an assertion that "Mercy is not weakened by too
much violence (or put to its utmost strength), but droppeth, as the gentle
rain from heaven," &c., where it would require a most discerning editor to
explain the connexion between the two clauses. If, on the other hand, we
take the first two meanings, the passage is capable of being understood, if
nothing else. Beginning