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,