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To: Salvation
“Whereto serves mercy, but to confront the visage of offence?” asks Portia in The Merchant of Venice.

Bnnnnnkkkkk. Thanks for playing. That's Claudius in Act 3, Scene 3 of Hamlet. Portia's speech in Act 4, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice begins, as we all remember ( cough cough ):

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless'd;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His 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 sceptred 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. ...

6 posted on 01/25/2011 11:49:28 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: dr_lew

Guess you will have to jot a note to the author of this piece. LOL!


7 posted on 01/25/2011 11:55:37 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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