a virtue that inspires us with compassion for our brethren, and which inclines us to give them assistance in their necessities. Mercy is also taken for those favours and benefits that we receive either from God or man, particularly in the way of forgiveness of injuries or of debts. Nothing can be more beautiful than the description of mercy given us by Shakespeare, in the pleading between Portia and the Jew:

Por. Then must the Jew be merciful. Shy. On what compulsion must I? tell me that. Por. The quality of mercy is not strain'd; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heav'n Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blest him that gives, and him that takes. 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown: The sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this scepter'd sway, It is enthroned in the hearts of kings; It is an attribute to God himself, And earthly power doth then show likest God's, When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That in the course of justice none of us Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. Merchant of Venice, act iv.