436 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 132. 



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, how- 

 ever, 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, ' Suffi- 

 ciency' is adequate authority." 



Mr. Knight says : 



" We encounter at the onset one of the obscure pas- 

 sages 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 ad- 

 ditions 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 sc\iiv\ce) 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 th'to" were thus written, and the compositor 



mistook "th'" for " th* ;" 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 tliera 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 Winters 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 t 

 " 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 suf- 

 ficient authority (?'. 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 correc- 

 tions lately given in The Athenaum, for instance : 

 who can doubt that in Coriolanus, Act III. Sc. 1., 

 " Bosome-multi^lied " should be " Bissom-multi- 

 tude :" or that, in AlVs Well that Ends Well^ 

 Act V. Sc. 3., " infuite comming" should be " in- 

 finite cunning ? " A glance at the passages as they 

 stand in the old print of the first folio would con- 

 vince the most sceptical. A list of mere printer's 

 errors in that book would be not a little astound- 

 ing. S. W. Singer- 



[It may be proper to observe, that this Note by Ma. 

 Singer had been in the Editor's possession at least a 

 fortniglit previous to the appearance of that by our es- 

 teemed correspondent at Leeds in our last Number.] 



FOLK LORE. 



Sites of Buildings mysteriously changed. — It may 

 be amusing to the readers of "N. & Q.," and 

 attended with some useful result, to record a few- 

 popular traditions respecting the mysterious oppo- 

 sition to the building of certain edifices on the spot* 

 originally designed for them by their founders. I 

 will introduce the subject with the local traditions 

 about the building of three churches well known 

 to myself. 



1. The church of Breedon, in Leicestershire, 

 stands alone on a high hill, the village being at it& 

 foot. The hill is so steep on the side towards the 

 village, that a carriage can only ascend by taking^ 

 a very circuitous course ; and even the footpath 

 winds considerably, and in some parts ascends 

 by steps formed in the turf. The inconvenience 



