once made apparent, as thus,--

"If it were done when 'tis done then 'twere well.
It were done quickly, if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
With his surcease, success, that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end all here," &c.

but to make use of a paradox, it is _not_ done when it _is_ done; for
this reason, there is the conscience to torment the evil-doer while
living, and the dread of punishment in another world after death: the
"bank and shoal of time" refers to the interval between life and death,
and to "_jump_" the life to come is to _hazard_ it. The same thought
occurs in _Hamlet_, when he alludes to--

"That undiscovered country, from whose bourne
No traveller returns."

But that is clear enough, as in all probability the annotators left the
passage as they found it. I have not the opportunity of consulting Mr.
Collier's edition of Shakespeare, so that I am unaware of the manner in
which he renders it; perhaps I ought to have done so before I troubled
you. Possibly some of your readers may be disposed to coincide with me
in the "new reading;" and if not, so to explain it that it may be shown
it is my own obscurity, and not Shakespeare's, with which I ought to
cavil.

I have witnessed many representations of _Macbeth_, and in every
instance the passage referred to has been delivered as I object to it:
but that is not to be wondered at, for there are professed admirers of