It is reported, that being trepanned into a marriage with this lady, by a stratagem of the celebrated Lionel, Duke of Dorset, Lord Allen refused, for some time, to acknowledge her as his wife. But the lady, after living some time in close retirement, caused an advertisement to be inserted in the papers, stating the death of a brother in the East Indies, by which Miss Margaret Du Pass had succeeded to a large fortune. Accordingly, she put on mourning, and assumed an equipage conforming to her supposed change of fortune. Lord Allen’s affairs being much deranged, he became now as anxious to prove the marriage with the wealthy heiress, as he had formerly been to disown the unportioned damsel; and succeeded, after such opposition as the lady judged necessary to give colour to the farce. Before the deceit was discovered, Lady Allen, by her good sense and talents, had obtained such ascendance over her husband, that they ever afterwards lived in great harmony.
Lord Allen was, at the time of giving offence to Swift, a privy-counsellor; and distinguished himself, according to Lodge, in the House of Peers, by his excellent speeches for the benefit of his country. He died at Stillorgan, 1742. [S.]
Swift did not allow Lord Allen to rest with this “advertisement.” In the poem entitled “Traulus,” Allen is gibbetted in some lively rhymes. He calls him a “motley fruit of mongrel seed,” and traces his descent from the mother’s side (she was the sister of the Earl of Kildare) as well as the father’s (who was the son of Sir Joshua Allen, Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1673):
“Who could give the looby such
airs?
Were they masons, were they butchers?
* * * * *
This was dexterous at the trowel,
That was bred to kill a cow well:
Hence the greasy clumsy mien
In his dress and figure seen;
Hence the mean and sordid soul,
Like his body rank and foul;
Hence that wild suspicious peep,
Like a rogue that steals a sheep;
Hence he learnt the butcher’s guile,
How to cut your throat and smile;
Like a butcher doomed for life
In his mouth to wear a knife;
Hence he draws his daily food
From his tenants’ vital blood.”
[T. S.]
[113] See note on page 66 of vol. vi. of present edition. The patent to Lord Dartmouth, granting him the right to coin copper coins, provided that he should give security to redeem these coins for gold or silver on demand. John Knox obtained this patent and Colonel Moore acquired it from Knox after the Revolution. [T. S.]
[114] Of ten pence in every two shillings. [F.]
[115] But M’Culla hath still 30l. per cent. by the scheme, if they be returned. [F.]
[116] Faulkner’s edition adds here: “For the benefit of defrauding the crown never occurreth to the public, but is wholly turned to the advantage of those whom the crown employeth.” [T. S.]


