Actually, Colonel Allyn would have liked his daughter to marry a man of royal descent, as he himself was a direct descendant of the ‘belted earls’, meaning that he was of royal descent. He felt that if John was also of royal descent, he could agree to the marriage immediately. So, he mentioned the name of Sir Courtenay Pescud, a man of a royal family, to find out if John was related to him in any manner.