_Coincident Criticisms._--I shall be obliged if you will allow me through your pages to anticipate and rebut two charges of plagiarism. When I wrote my Note on a passage in _The Winter's Tale_ ("N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 378.), I had not seen the _Dublin University Magazine_ for March last, containing some remarks on the same passage in some respects much resembling mine. I must also declare that my Note on a passage in _All's Well that ends Well_ ("N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 426.) was posted for you some time before the appearance of A. E. B.'s Note on the same passage ("N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 403.). The latter coincidence is more remarkable than the former, as the integrity of the amended text was in both notes discussed by means of the same parallel passage. _Apropos_ of A. E. B.'s clever Note, permit me to say, that though at first it appeared to me conclusive, I now incline to think that Shakspeare intended Helen to address the _leaden messengers_ by means of a very hyperbolic figure: "wound the still-piecing air that sings with piercing" is a consistent whole. If, as A. E. B. rightly says, _to wound the air_ is an impossibility, it is equally impossible that the air should utter any sound expressive of sensibility. The fact of course is, that the cannon-balls _cleave_ the air, and that by so cleaving it a shrill noise is produced. The cause and effect may, however, be metaphorically described, by comparing air to Bertram. I believe it is a known fact that every man who is struck with a cannon-ball cries out instinctively. Shakspeare therefore might, I think, have very poetically described the action and effect of a cannon-ball passing through the air by the strong figure of _wounding the air that sings with the piercing which it is enduring_. In concluding this Note, I beg to express what is not merely my own, but a very general feeling of disappointment in respect of MR. COLLIER'S new edition of Shakspeare. To it, with a new force, may be applied the words of A. E. B. in "N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 296.: "But the evil of these emendations is not in this instance confined to the mere suggestion of doubt; the text has absolutely been altered in all accessible editions, in many cases _silently_, so that the ordinary reader has no opportunity of judging between _Shakspeare_ and his improvers." That MR. COLLIER should be the greatest of such offenders, is no very cheering sign of the times. C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY. Birmingham. _Dogberry's Losses_ (Vol. vii., p. 377.).--I do not know whether it has ever been suggested, but I feel inclined to read "lawsuits." He has just boasted of himself as "one that knows the _law_;" and it seems natural enough that he should go on to brag of being a rich fellow enough, "and a fellow that hath had _lawsuits_" of his own, and actually figured as plaintiff or defendant. Suppose the words taken down from the mouth of an actor, and the mistake would be easy. JOHN DOE.