l'Amerique se rapproche au nord-ouest du continent de l'Asie, et il
devina ainsi l'existence du detroit qui, longtemps apres, a fait la
gloire de Bering et de Cook."--Chateaubriand, _Genie du Christianisme_,
Partie 4., Livre 4., Chap. 1.

Yet, with all deference to the edifying letters of this missionary jesuit,
it is difficult to make such distant ends meet. It almost requires a copula
like that of the fool, who, to reconcile his lord's assertion that he had
with a single bullet shot a deer in the ear and the hind foot, explained
that the deer was scratching his ear at the time with his foot.

Subjoined is one more _proof_ of the communication which once existed
between America and the Old World:

Colomb disoit meme avoir vu les restes des fourneaux de Salomon dans
les mines de Cibao."--Chateaubriand, _Genie, Notes, &c_.

MANLEIUS.

_Deck of Cards._--

"The king was slily finger'd from the _deck_."
_Henry VI._, pt. iii. Act v. Sc. 1.

It is well known, and properly noted, that a pack of cards was formerly
called a _deck_; but it should be added that the term is still commonly
used in Ireland, and from being made use of in the famed song of "De Night
before Larry was stretched,"

"De deck being called for dey play'd,
Till Larry found one of dem cheated,"

it seems likely to be preserved. I may add, that many words and many forms
of expression which have gone out of vogue in England, or have become
provincial, are still in daily use in Ireland.

J.M.B.

_Time when Herodotus wrote._--The following passage appears to me to afford
strong evidence, not only that Herodotus did not complete his history till
an advanced age, but that he did not _begin_ it. For in lib. i. 5. he
writes: "[Greek: ta de ep' emou en megala, proteron en smikra]," "those
cities, which in my time _were_ great, were of old small." This is
certainly such an expression as none but a man advanced in years could have
used. It is perhaps worth observing, that this passage occurring in the
Introduction does not diminish its weight, as the events recorded in it,
leading naturally into the history, could not well have been written
afterwards. As I have never seen this passage noticed with this view. I
shall be glad to see whether the argument which I have deduced from it
appears a reasonable one to your classical readers.

A.W.H.

"_Dat veniam corvis," &c._--There were two headmasters of the school of