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 ên megala, proteron ên 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