It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's, And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The rendering of the first line of Portia's 'Mercy Speech' has been much discussed. Alfred Ayres (Essentials of Elocution, page 29,) delivers himself thus: Thoughtless readers, who comprise fully forty-nine in every fifty, are sure to make either 'quality' or 'mercy', or possibly both, emphatic, while the thoughtful reader sees that the making of either of these words emphatic puts a meaning into the line not intended. To say that the quality of mercy is not strained, is to say that some other attribute of mercy is, or may be, strained the quantity, for example. And to say that the quality of mercy is not strained, is to say that the quality of something else is, or may be, strained. The thoughtful reader sees that Portia says simply this: 'Mercy doesn't come by compulsion, it comes of itself, it is spontaneous,' and, having seen this, he has no difficulty in deciding how the line should be emphasized. And again (pages 127, 128): I say, and à la Meddle, I say it boldly: Nobody reads this line correctly. There is but one emphatic word in it-'strained.' All the other words should be tripped over quite lightly; yet, all the many Portias I have heard save one of my own coaching-made at least two, and usually three, words in the line emphatic. To make any word in the line emphatic but 'strained' is to suggest a meaning not intended. The first three words add nothing to the sense, nothing. They are there simply as padding, to fill out the line, or as rhetorical embellishment; yet the majority of readersgood, easy souls!-make 'quality' quite as emphatic as any other word in the line, and often more emphatic than the word that alone should be emphasized. Strange that so few readers deem it at all necessary to think! There is more in the art of reading than the mere firing of sound at words, few as there are that seem to think so. If it were anywhere said that mercy is strained, we should properly emphasize 'not', and should not emphasize 'strained.' Mr. Ayres was never diffident in the expression of his opinions; and there is no doubt that, as verbal critic and as elocutionary censor of the New York stage, he did much good. Most of his criticisms were just in the main, even if somewhat harshly put at times. Once in a while, however, he drove to a wrong conclusion, and having once adopted it, it was, for him, thenceforth and forever right: he could not or would not-see the force of anybody's judgment against his own. Collating the line in question with the two short speeches, Portia's and Shylock's, immediately preceding, we find in 'must,' 'compulsion,' and 'strained,' the same essential idea. It is also clear that Portia uses 'must' in its ethical sensethat of moral obligation; while Shylock willfully or mistakenly interprets it as legal restriction or compulsion. Portia's purpose in the clause, 'The quality of mercy is not strained,' and indeed in the whole speech following, is, to explain the 'must' of her former speech to Shylock's comprehension, and so to touch his heart with human gentleness and love' that he may look upon Antonio as a brother man, instead of as a Christian, an enemy, and a lawful victim of lex talionis. Her thought is: 'Shylock, the "must" I spoke just now is the must of your own conscience, of your own humanity, of your own heart and will. Even this strict court of Venice cannot compel you to be merciful; the quality of mercy is not strained.' As I read the line, 'strained' is not the only, or the principal emphatic word. Were it not for Shylock's misunderstanding, 'strained' would be merely repetitious and not emphatic at all, as its meaning would already have been conveyed in 'must,' 'compulsion,' 'must.' 'Is,' or, rather, 'is not,' is the central idea, and 'strained' should be emphasized negatively and referentially, in due subordination. The quality of mercy' is properly read in plain diatonic melody; 'is not' should receive a moderate falling-wave contour, 'is' bearing a falling-wave inflection of the third, with gentle expulsive stress on the falling constituent, and 'not' unaccented, but completing the contour with the falling concrete of the second; 'strained,' a doublewave-rising inflection, lightly stressed,-pointing back to 'must' and 'compulsion,' and forward to the statement of the next line and a half: The quality of mercy is not strained. As the speaker's attitude is persuasive, not combative, 'not' should receive no emphasis, nor even accent, but should be spoken as enclitic to 'is.' In the line, His scepter shows the force of temporal power,— Mr. Ayres marks 'scepter' and 'temporal' as emphatic, leaving 'power' unmarked. To my thinking, 'power' is the principal emphasis of the line, and 'temporal' should be but slightly, if at all, emphatic. Power is 'the attribute to awe and majesty, wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings'; not because the power is 'temporal', or secular, as opposed to sacred or eternal, but because it can compel, rebuke, and punish. 'Power'-'the sceptered sway'-is great, but mercy is greater; and power is greatest, is likest God's, when it is merciful. Mr. Ayres further says: 'Care should be taken not to run 'awe and majesty' and 'dread and fear' together, as it greatly lessens the effect.' (Meaning, that each of the four nouns, in its place, should be itemized-separately emphasized.) Each of these phrases, however, presents but a single idea, and should be presented as a group-massed,with the latter noun only emphatic. That Shakespeare so construed the second phrase, at least, is clearly proved, by his putting the predicate in the singular,-'doth sit.' Mr. Ayres's last paragraph (second quotation) illustrates his occasional failure or refusal?-to see the obvious. Was it not anywhere said that mercy is strained?' The whole speech is based on the fact that Shylock so understood Portia's 'Then must the Jew be merciful.' 11. FROM DORA. Tennyson. After the climax-Farmer Allen's outburst of remorse and grief of Tennyson's beautiful pastoral poem, 'Dora,' the narrative is resumed, and finished in a single sentence, of which the first clause is, So those four abode I have heard this clause read, with the culmination of sense sometimes on 'one house', and sometimes on 'together.' These readings might pass as sufficiently good, if there were not a better: a reading that renders the story more coherent, by recognizing and disclosing relationship between separated incidents. Before going together to the Farm for a last appeal to And I will have my boy, and bring him home; Then thou and I will live within one house, And work for William's child, until he grows Of age to help us.' Read the clause first quoted, so that it recalls and supersedes the line italicized, just above, and 'those four' becomes the central idea, and ‘abode within one house together' is repetitious and unemphatic. In the italicized line, in pursuance of the same principle, I make 'will' the central idea. Just before, Dora has petitioned Mary, 'But, Mary, let me come and live with you: But the practical Mary proposes to negotiate a reconciliation between Allen and Dora: should that fail, 'Then thou and I will live within one house.' The same, or nearly the same, thought would be conveyed, by letting Then' bear the burden of emphasis, instead of 'will.' MOTIVE AND MELODY: MISCELLANEOUS EXAM 1. PLES. From particles of dust, which, Aunder the microscope, could scarcely be distinguished from each other, | are all the varied forms of nature created. |