"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, {485} But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,-- We'd jump the life to come." Now, I think by altering the punctuation, the sense of the passage is at 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 Shakspeare among actors who read him _not_ as if they understood him, but who are-- "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." G. BLINK. * * * * * MINOR QUERIES. _As throng as Throp's Wife._--As I was busy in my garden yesterday, a parishioner, whose eighty-two years of age render her a somewhat privileged person to have a gossip with, came in to speak to me. With a view to eliciting material for a Note or a Query, I said to her, "You see I am _as throng as Throp's wife_;" to which she replied, "Aye, Sir, and _she_ hanged herself in the dishcloth." The answer is new to me; but the proverb itself, as well as the one mentioned by "D.V.S." (No. 24. p. 382.) "As lazy as Ludlum's dog, &c.," has been an especial object of conjecture to me as long as I can remember. I send this as a pendant to "D.V.S.'s" Query, in hopes of shortly seeing the origin of _both_ these curious sayings. J.E. Ecclesfield, Sheffield, April 19. 1850. _Trimble Family._--In a MS. account of the Fellows of King's I find the following:--