Our city's institutions, and the terms by sufficiency is meant authority, the power delegated by the duke to Escalus. The plain meaning of the word being this: Put your skill in governing (says the Duke) to the power which I give you to exercise it, and let them work together. Warburton. Sir Thomas Hanmer having caught from Mr. Theobald a hint that a line was lost, endeavours to supply it thus: Then no more remains, But that to your sufficiency you join A will to serve us, as your worth is able. He has, by this bold conjecture, undoubtedly obtained a meaning, but, perhaps, not even in his own opinion, the meaning of Shakspeare. That the passage is more or less corrupt, I believe every reader will agree with the editors. I am not convinced that a line is lost, as Mr. Theobald conjectures, nor that the change of but to put, which Dr. Warburton has admitted after some other editor, [Rowe] will amend the fault. There was probably some original obscurity in the expression, which gave occasion to mistake in repetition or transcription. I therefore suspect that the author wrote thus: Then no more remains, But that to your sufficiencies your worth is abled, And let them work. Then nothing remains more than to tell you, that your virtue is now invested with power equal to your knowledge and wisdom. Let therefore your knowledge and your virtue now work together. It may easily be conceived how sufficiencies was, by an inarticulate speaker, or inattentive hearer, confounded with sufficiency as, and how abled, a word very unusual, was changed into able. For abled, however, an authority is not wanting. Lear uses it in the same sense, or nearly the same with the Duke. As for sufficiencies, D. Hamilton in his dying speech, prays that Charles II, may exceed both the virtues and sufficiencies of his father. Johnson. The uncommon redundancy, as well as obscurity of this verse may be considered as evidence of its corruption. Take away the two first words, and the sense joins well enough with what went before. Then (says the Duke) no more remains to say: Your sufficiency as your worth is able, And let them work. i. e. Your skill in government is, in ability to serve me, equal to the integrity of your heart, and let them co-operate in your future ministry. The versification requires that either something should be added, or something retrenched. The latter is the easier, as well as the safer task. I join in the belief, however, that a line is lost; and whoever is acquainted with the inaccuracy of the folio, (for of this play there is no other old edition) will find my opinion justified. ` Steevens. For common justice, you are as pregnant in, Some words seem to be lost here, the sense of which, perhaps, may be thus supplied: then no more remains, But that to your sufficiency you put A zeal as willing as your worth is able, And let them work.· Tyrwhitt. I agree with Warburton in thinking that by sufficiency the duke means authority, or power; and, if that be admitted, a very slight alteration indeed will restore this passage-the changing the word is into be. It will then run thus, and be clearly intelligible: Then no more remains, But that your sufficiency, as your worth, be able, And let them work. That is, you are thoroughly acquainted with your duty, so that nothing more is necessary to be done, but to invest you with power equal to your abilities. M. Mason. Then no more remains, But that to your sufficiency ** as your worth is able, I have not the smallest doubt that the compositor's eye glanced from the middle of the second of these lines to that under it in the MS. and that by this means two half lines have been omitted. The very same error may be found in Macbeth, edit. 1632: 66 which, being taught, return, "To plague the ingredients of our poison'd chalice instead of 66 which, being taught, return, "To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice "Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice," &c. Again, in Much Ado about Nothing, edit. 1623, p. 103: "And I will break with her. Was 't not to this end," &c. instead of "And I will break with her, and with her father, "And thou shalt have her. Was 't not to this end," &c. The following passage, in King Henry IV, P. I, which is constructed in a manner somewhat similar to the present when corrected, appears to me to strengthen the supposition that two half lines bave been lost: "Send danger from the east unto the west, "So, bonour cross it from the north to south, Sufficiency is skill in government; ability to execute his office. And let them work, a figurative expression; Let them ferment. 5 Malone. the terms ] Terms mean the technical language of the courts. An old book called Les Termes de la Ley, (written in D d VOL. III. As art and practice hath enriched any That we remember: There is our commission, From which we would not have you warp.-Call hither, For you must know, we have with special soul Henry the Eighth's time) was in Shakspeare's days, and is now, the accidence of young students in the law. Blackstone. For common justice, you are as pregnant in,] The later editions all give it, without authority, the terms Of justice, and Dr. Warburton makes terms signify bounds or limits. I rather think the Duke meant to say, that Escalus was pregnant, that is ready and knowing in all the forms of the law, and, among other things, in the terms or time set apart for its administration. Johnson. The word pregnant is used with this signification in Ram- Alley, or Merry Tricks, 1611, where a lawyer is represented reading: "In tricessimo primo Alberti Magni ""Tis very cleare-the place is very pregnant." i. e. very expressive, ready, or very big with apposite meaning. Again, 66 the proof is most pregnant." Steevens. 7 For you must know, we have with special soul Elected him our absence to supply;] By the words with special soul elected him, I believe, the poet meant no more than that he was the immediate choice of his heart. A similar expression occurs in Troilus and Cressida: 66 with private soul, "Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me." Again, more appositely, in The Tempest: 66 for several virtues "Have I lik'd several women, never any "With so full soul, but some defect," &c. Steevens. Steevens has hit upon the true explanation of the passage; and might have found a further confirmation of it in Troilus ane Cressida, where, speaking of himself, Troilus says, ne'er did young man fancy To do a thing with all one's soul, is a common expression. M. Mason. we have with special soul] This seems to be only a translation of the usual formal words inserted in all royal grants :-"De gratia nostra speciali, et ex mero motu —.” Malone. Lent him our terror, drest him with our love; To undergo such ample grace and honour, Duke. Enter ANGELO. Look, where he comes. Ang. Always obedient to your grace's will, I come to know your pleasure. Duke. Angelo, There is a kind of character in thy life, That, to the observer, doth thy history Fully unfold: Thyself and thy belongings" Are not thine own so proper,1 as to waste Thyself upon thy virtues, them on thee. There is a kind of character in thy life, That, to the observer, &c.] Either this introduction has more solemnity than meaning, or it has a meaning which I cannot discover. What is there peculiar in this, that a man's life informs the observer of his history? Might it be supposed that Shakspeare wrote this? There is a kind of character in thy look. History may be taken in a more diffuse and licentious meaning, for future occurrences, or the part of life yet to come. If this sense be received, the passage is clear and proper. Johnson. Shakspeare must, I believe, be answerable for the unnecessary pomp of this introduction. He has the same thought in Henry IV, P. II, which affords some comment on this passage before us : "There is a history in all men's lives, Figuring the nature of the times deceas'd: "The which observ'd, a man may prophecy "With a near aim, of the main chance of things On considering this passage, I am induced to think that the words character and history have been misplaced, and that it was originally written thus: There is a kind of history in thy life, That to the observer doth thy character This transposition seems to be justified by the passage quoted by Steevens from the Second Part of Henry IV. M. Mason. thy belongings] i. e. endowments. Malone. 9 1 Are not thine own so proper,] i. e. are not so much thy own property. Steevens. 2 them on thee.] The old copy reads-they on thee. The emendation was made by Sir T. Hanmer. Steevens. Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do; As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd, The smallest scruple of her excellence, Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speech 3 -for if our virtues, &c.] "Celata virtus." HOR. Theobald. Again, in Massinger's Maid of Honour: "Virtue, if not in action, is a vice, 66 And, when we move not forward, we go backward.” Thus, in the Latin adage-Non progredi est regredi. Steevens. to fine issues:] To great consequences; for high purposes. Fohnson. 5 nor nature never lends ] Two negatives, not employed to make an affirmative, are common in our author. So, in Julius Cæsar: "There is no harm intended to your person, she determines Herself the glory of a creditor, Steevens. Both thanks and use.] i. e. She (Nature) requires and allots to herself the same advantages that creditors usually enjoy,thanks for the endowments she has bestowed, and extraordinary exertions in those whom she hath thus favoured, by way of interest for what she has lent. Use in the phraseology of our author's age, signified interest of money. Malone. 7 I do bend my speech, To one that can my part in him advértise;] This is obscure. The meaning is, I direct my speech to one who is able to teach me how to govern; my part in him, signifying my office, which I have delegated to him. My part in him advertise; i. e. who knows what appertains to the character of a deputy or viceroy. Can advertise my part in him; that is, his representation of my person. But all these quaintnesses of expression, the Oxford editor seems sworn to extirpate; that is, to take away one of Shakspeare's characteristic marks; which, if not one of the comeliest, is yet one of the strongest. So he alters this to, To one that can, in my part me advertise. A better expression indeed, but, for all that, none of Shakspeare's. Warburton. |