12 a vin. MABCH 20, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 251 REPOSITORIES OF WILLS. I should be
- glad to know the several places where wills
are deposited in the different states of Europe and in the United States of America. Have China and Japan an institution analogous to Somerset House ? E. R. . PASTORINI'S PROPHECY. A Colour -Ser- geant of the 19th Foot, whose diary I possess, when serving in Ireland in 1825 states that it was circulated through the country that Protestantism was to be entirely done away .with. This belief, he states, was grounded on Pastorini's prophecy, which was put into 1:he hands of the lower orders with the priests' explanation of it. Who was Pastorini, and what was the prophecy above referred to ? M. L. FERRAR, -Major (Retd. Pay). Torwood, Belfast. INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE. Is it a fact that the blood of Europeans becomes " thin " as a result of several years' residence in a hot climate ? ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN.
- GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE LIBRARY,
.1731-1868 ' : edited by G. L. Gomme, 30 vols., 1883-1902. This well-known pub- lication deals categorically with various items comprised in the original Magazine, but zoology does not appear to have been thus treated. I once wrote to the editor asking him if ornithological extracts had been compiled from the Magazine, and my recollection is that he replied this had been done in manuscript and that only a few days before receipt of my letter he had given the manuscript to a third party. If a manu- script catalogue to the zoological references In The Gentleman's Magazine, 1731-1868, is in existence I should be much interested to know its present owner and his, or her, address. HUGH S. GLADSTONE. Capenoch. Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. DEFOE AND AFRICA. Wilfred Whitten in the ' Westminster Biographies ' (Kegan Paul & Co.), under 'Daniel Defoe,' quotes from a paper entitled ' A Recent Discovery 'in Eastern Africa and the Adventures of Captain Singleton (Defoe) ' read in 1863 by Dr. Birdwood before the Royal Geographical Society, and says : " He showed that Defoe's geographical insight into those regions had "been remarkable." , The atlas published by Abraham Ortelius
- at Antwerp in 1574, of which a copy is in
my possession, shows, on the map of Africa, though not in their right places always, many of the tributaries of the Nile, Niger and Congo, and of the great lakes. It would be interesting to know whether this might not be considered to be the source of Defoe's inspiration ? CHAS. E. NAISH. . THE GALLIC ERA " EIGHTY -EIGHT." I wish to draw upon ' N. & Q.' for explana- tion of an allusion in Byron's ' Vision of Judgment.' In stanza 1, he says: But since the Gallic era " eighty- eight," The Devils had ta'en a longer, stronger pull. What is the meaning of the reference to the " Gallic era " ? The Bastille did not fall until 1789. HENRY LEFFMANN, ASMODEUS. Emerson in his works al- luded at least thrice to the Asm o dean task of weaving ropes of sand. Conway's ' De ' Demonology ' has copious references to Asmodeus as a favourite name in the literature of the world, but does not connect him with the Emersonian feat. Has any other author used this name in the same way ? THOMAS FLINT. CAPT. CHARLES MORRIS. Thackeray, in his ' Essay on George IV.' (at p. 109 of the Smith, Elder & Co. edition of 1869) after misquoting sadly a few of Capt. Charles Morris's lines, says of him : " This delightful boon companion of the Prince's found a reason fair to forego filling and drinking, saw the error of his ways, gave up the bowl and chorus and died religious and retired." Capt. Morris's 'Lyra Urbanica ' contains verses written by him ' On the Verge of Ninety Years,' in which he praises the " bowl," and says : I am cheered by the drop that I lift. He died at ninety-three. I shall be pleased to know what founda- tion, if any, there is for Thackeray's state- ment. It seems possible that he may have been as careless in this as he was in his quotations. CHARLES E. STRATTON. 70 State Street, Boston. SIR THOMAS GREENE. I should like to have the date of death of Sir Thomas Greene, whose daughter Elizabeth married Sir William Raleigh of Farnborough. C. B. A. MONTHLY PERIODICAL, ' PENNY POST.' Who was founder and editor of this Church publication ? When was it started and when did it cease to appear ? ANEURIN WILLIAMS. Menai View, North Road, Carnarvon.
