of his defects, especially of his loquaciousness. He himself was far from being blind to this defect, and many times he related the following anecdote.
One day after a dinner at which Dr. Challoner was present, and a select party of priests, and during which Father Allen had in a great measure engrossed the conversation, the Bishop just as he was taking leave tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Friend Allen, in multiloquio non deerit peccatum."
From London he went to the seat of Lord Dillon, where, however, he did not remain long. Indeed Bishop Challoner soon perceived that the difficulties arising from his religious scrupulosity, rendered the performance of Missionary duty too severe a task. He, therefore, kindly recommended him to the Superiors of Douay College to be received and treated by them as a guest, till circumstances should permit him to return to Lisbon. At Douay, Allen did not remain inactive. His literary reputation which had preceded him induced several young men to apply to him for instruction in that department of education, and this lead to the establishment in the College, with the full consent of the President, of a kind of Academy in which, in vacant hours, he gave lectures on Rhetoric to several who afterwards became highly distinguished members of the Mission.
In 1777 took place the death of Joseph I, King of Portugal, which event was immediately followed by the fall of the Marquis of Pombal, and a total change of measures in the Government. The prisons were opened, and some of Allen's principal friends were suddenly transferred from a state of danger and disgrace, to the first offices of trust and dignity in the Kingdom. On this the Superiors of the College immediately invited him to return, desiring him, however, previously to use his influence with Dr. Challoner in order to obtain some succour towards raising the College from the deplorable state of poverty and debt in which it had so long lain. The earnest appeal he made on this occasion, joined to the great personal esteem entertained for him, induced
