children, Jacob, Elizabeth, and Anne. Jacob Damin and his children settled in Geneva; Elizabeth was, in 1721, the widow and relict of Charles Brunier, and a refugee at the Hague, having a son, Charles Brunier, who lived in Paris; Anne married Pierre Joly, and was resident in Paris in 1721, but her daughter, Margaret Joly, was a refugee at the Hague.
On the death of Queen Mary, King William III. continued him in office, and probably, as a testimony to his fidelity to the deceased Queen, he gave him a reversion of part of the estates of the Duchy of Lancaster held for life by the then Queen Dowager, Catherine of Braganza. In the Patent Rolls there is a grant dated 18th May 1697, unto Abel Tassin D’Allonne, Esq., “for, and in consideration of, the good and acceptable services unto his said Majesty performed, and also in consideration of the rent and covenants hereinafter contained,” of the Castle of Pickering, the Manor or Lordship of Pickering and the Park of Blandesby, the Bailiewick of Soke and Liberty of Pickering, the Manor and Lordship of Scalby, also “those lands or tenements there concealed and lately found out by force of a commission, and then or lately in the tenure or occupation of John Carpenter, gentleman, now deceased,” all which premises are called the Honour of Pickering, in the county of York. The rent of this estate and its perquisites amounted to £234, 10s. 2d., but the clear income was only £187, 13s. 103/4d. This was granted to D’Allonne for a yearly rent to his Majesty of £10, for ninety-nine years after the death of the Queen Dowager, (Catherine of Braganza, who survived till 21st December 1705). It is probable that he sold this grant.
In December 1697 D’Allonne went to Paris to make preparations for the reception of the Earl of Jersey, as British Ambassador, and was there for some months as a chargé d’affaires, along with Mr. Secretary Prior. In November 1698, on the suggestion of the former French Ambassador, the Earl of Portland, he received a definite appointment in the English court, as the King’s Secretary for Dutch correspondence.
The last notice of D’Allonne in Macpherson’s State Papers, is dated after the death of his Royal Master; he wrote (2d September 1702) as one who felt his connection with England broken up, congratulating Robethon on his settlement, and thanking him for having employed him to make a communication to the Earl of Portland and Secretary Heinsius. His letter is dated from the Hague, where he is expecting to receive employment as an envoy to some foreign court; he wishes it may be at Hanover, considering how much Holland is connected with that country, and is interested in the Protestant Succession, and for himself how agreeable it would be to be near his friend Robethon. He does not mention, either there or in his will, the Castle of Pickering.
D’Allonne, on retiring to Holland, aspired to employment as a Foreign Ambassador. But Rapin de Thoyras’ biographer informs us that he received the office of Secretary of State for War, and that Rapin was much indebted to him for access to valuable books bearing on English History. [I do not believe the scandal, alluded to by that biographer, that D’Allonne was an illegitimate half-brother of William III.] He kept up a connection with England, by continuing to receive his annuity of £200 from the Comité Laicque,[1] until his death, which happened on the 14th October 1723.
I present my readers with a copy of his English will (omitting a few sentences only):—
In the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.
In the name of God, Amen. I, Abel Tassin D’Allonne, of the Hague, in Holland, being sensible of the frailty of human life, and uncertain when it shall please God to call me out of this world, and being at present, thanks be to God, of sound and perfect mind, memory and understanding, do make this my last Will and Testament as to the estate which I have in England in the form and manner following, intending to dispose of what estate and effects I have in Holland by another Will made in the Dutch language, and according to the style and manner used in Holland.
My Will and intention therefore is, that my whole estate, real and personal, which I now have, or may have in England at the time of my decease, be divided into five equal shares or portions. As to the first share or portion, I give and bequeath one-half or moiety of the same unto Elizabeth Damin, the widow and relict of Charles Brunier, daughter of Elizabeth Tassin, my father’s sister by her husband Nicholas Damin, for the term of her natural life, she, the said Elizabeth Damin, being now living at the Hague, in Holland, as a refugee. The other moiety or half of the said- ↑ Burn’s MSS.
