Dr. Johnson long since observed that "there is perhaps not one of
Shakspeare's plays more darkened than this by the peculiarities of its
author, and the unskilfulness of its editors, by distortions of phrase,
or negligence of transcription."
Under these circumstances we cannot be surprised that we are favoured
with three pages of notes on the following passage, which occurs in the
opening scene:
"_Duke._ Escalus.
"_Escal._ My lord.
"_Duke._ Of government the properties to unfold,
Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse:
Since I am put to know, that your own science
Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice
My strength can give you: Then no more remains
But that to your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work."
I must refer those who are desirous of seeing the various attempts to
extract a meaning from this passage to the Variorum Edition, and content
myself with those of the two latest editors, Mr. Collier and Mr. Knight.
Mr. Collier says:
"This passage is evidently corrupt, as is shown both by the metre
and the sense. The latter will be cleared by the omission of the
preposition 'to:' 'then no more remains [to be said], but that
your sufficiency, as your worth is able, and let them work.' This
change, however, will only partially cure the defective measure;
and even were we to omit 'that,' as well as 'to,' the line would
not be perfect without reducing 'sufficiency' to a trisyllable. It
has been thought best, therefore, to leave the text as it stands
in the first folio. 'Sufficiency' is adequate authority."
Mr. Knight says:
"We encounter at the onset one of the obscure passages for which
this play is remarkable. The text is usually printed thus:
"'Then no more remains
But that to your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work.'
"It is certainly difficult to extract a clear meaning from this;
and so Theobald and Hanmer assume that a line has dropped out,
which they kindly restore to us, each in his own way. The
emendation which Steevens proposes is much less forced: 'Then'
(says the Duke), 'no more remains to say,
"'But your sufficiency as your worth is able,
And let them work.'
"It is not our purpose to remove obscurities by additions or
omissions, and therefore we leave the passage as in the original,
excepting a slight alteration in the punctuation. We believe it
may be read thus, without much difficulty. '_Then no more remains_
(to say on government) _But that_, (your science) _to your
sufficiency_, (joined to your authority) _as your worth_ (as well
as your virtue) _is able_ (equal to the duty), _and let them work_
(call them into action).'"
I cannot say that this exposition (paraphrastic as it is) is clear to
me; and I feel confident that our great poet never wrote the words "But
that," following as they do "Exceeds in that." What does "But that"
refer to? It cannot refer to "science," as Mr. Knight imagines. The
remedy lies in a very trifling correction of the press. In the MS. from
which the play was printed, the words "But thrto" were thus written, and
the compositor mistook "thr" for "tht;" there is no comma after _that_
in the old copies. Replace "thereto" and the passage is perfectly clear
as to sense.
"Then no more remains
But _thereto_ your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work."
It may be necessary to show that the word I propose would be used by the
poet just in the sense required here. The following passage from the
_Winter's Tale_, Act I. Sc. 2., will, I think, place it beyond doubt:
"Camillo,
As you are certainly a gentleman, _thereto_
Clerk-like experienc'd, which no less adorns
Our gentry, than our parents' noble names,
In whose success we are gentle," &c.
I take the sense of the whole passage thus: "Since I must acknowledge
that you are better skilled in the nature of _government_ than I am, it
would be idle in me to lecture you on the subject. Then nothing more is
wanting but _thereto_ your sufficient authority (_i.e._ to govern), as
you have the ability, and let them (your skill and authority) come into
operation."
_Sufficiency_, as Warburton long ago observed, is _authority_, but may
possibly be here used in the Latin sense of _substitution_. Escalus is
to be Vice-gerent. The very slight change necessary, and the great
probability of the occurrence of the error, strongly recommend this
simple emendation.
Daily experience is manifesting how large a portion of the difficult
passages are errors of the printer of the first folio, the two happy
corrections lately given in _The Athenæum_, for instance: who can doubt
that in _Coriolanus_, Act III. Sc. 1., "Bosome-multi_p_lied" should be
"Bissom-multitude:" or that, in _All's Well that Ends Well_, Act V. Sc.
3., "infuite comming" should be "infinite cunning?" A glance at the
passages as they stand in the old print of the first folio would
convince the most sceptical. A list of mere printer's errors in that
book would be not a little astounding.