Though believing at heart that Shane would have to be subdued by force, Elizabeth hesitated to act on her conviction. Sidney implored Cecil to persuade her at least to spare her own purse, 'though there be little care of this country and less of me.... I will give you all my land in Rutlandshire to get me leave to go into Hungary, and think myself bound to you while I live. I trust there to do my country some honour, here I do neither good to Queen, country, nor to myself.' Cecil worked hard to persuade his mistress, and at last she yielded, slowly and ungraciously, grumbling at the expense, and magnifying the objections to the course which she knew to be inevitable. To avoid the difficulty of provisioning an army in winter, it was resolved to make a permanent settlement in the extreme North. Three hundred seasoned soldiers from Berwick, 100 men from London, and 600 more from the Western counties, were to be placed under the experienced guidance of Colonel Randolph, and furnished with proper supplies. O'Donnell should be replaced in his country, and a naval expedition should secure the coast against any invasion from Scotland. All this was in strict accordance with the advice of Sidney and Knollys. An agent was sent to Scotland with friendly messages to Mary, and complaints of aid given to Shane. He was directed to sound Argyle, and to impress him and his friends with the idea that the Papists were Shane's real supporters. This was true enough, for he had begged for French troops, styling himself defender of the faith in Ireland, and offering the Crown of Ireland to the most Christian King, when the English schismatics should be driven out. Nor had he omitted to send a representative to the Scots Court, impudently informing Sidney that he had sent him at the request of Argyle, and that he had gone thither only 'to show the monstrous glibbe that he wore upon his head.'[116] [Sidenote: Insolence of Shane. Mission of Randolph.]