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 large and universal shower, so as
to spread its influence over the entire globe." This, however, though not
absurd, 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 falls 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 difficulty 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.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Was Lord Howard of Effingham, who commanded in chief against the Spanish
Armada, a Protestant or a Papist?_--On the one hand, it is highly
improbable that Queen Elizabeth should employ a popish commander against
the Spaniards.

1. The silence of Dr. Lingard and other historians 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 he was a Papist.

2. It is _likely_, because his _father_ was the eldest son by his second
wife of Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk, and was created Baron Howard of
Effingham by Queen Mary.

3. Whatever his own religion may have been, he was contemporary with his
cousin, Philip, Earl of Arundel, whom Camden calls the champion of the
Catholics, and whose _violence_ was the cause of his perpetual
imprisonment.

4. The present Lord Effingham has recently declared 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?_--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