Holt went back to Scotland with a promise from Mendoza, which he certainly was not authorised by Philip to give, that the two thousand men asked for should be sent to their aid, and the English Catholics, or such of them as were still at liberty, were conciliated by means of Lord Henry Howard, who was very heavily bribed by Philip, and thenceforward became the principal Spanish agent at Elizabeth’s Court. The plot looked, indeed, a promising one under the sole guidance of Mendoza; and all were in high hopes that Mary Stuart’s fortune was at last to take a turn, when Father Creighton arrived in Paris directed to Tassis, the Spanish ambassador, with a letter from the Duke of Lennox. “Understanding,” he says, “from the missioners that the Pope and the King of Spain desire to make use of him for the design they have in hand to restore the Catholic faith in Scotland and release the Queen ... he is prepared to employ his life and estate in carrying out the same, on condition that he is supplied with all things set forth in the statement taken by Father Creighton.” This letter was dated early in March, 1582, and reached Tassis in May, having been brought to him by Creighton and Parsons.[240] The plan was a perfectly new one to Tassis, as Mendoza in London had been the sole intermediary purposely chosen by Mary and the originators of the plot, in order to exclude any probability of French participation; and Philip, to his surprise, was now informed of the affair by his ambassador in Paris, as if for the first time. Why Lennox should have chosen to send his adhesion to Paris instead of to Mendoza is not quite clear; but, being naturally attached to Guisan interests, it is probable that he wished to ensure that his French patrons should not be excluded. In any case, it does not need much knowledge of Philip’s character to foresee that such inept management as this would upset the whole business as far as he was concerned. The demands of Lennox, as stated by Creighton, were ridiculous. The Scottish Lords had promised Mendoza through Holt that if two thousand foreign troops landed they would be able to effect the revolution, and this was a number that Philip could have provided; but here was Lennox demanding twenty thousand men paid for eighteen months and a large quantity of munitions of war of all sorts. He must have, he says, twenty thousand crowns in money sent to Scotland immediately for fortifications, &c., and a further subsidy to raise Scottish troops; he asks that the troops should be of various nationalities and placed under his command, and if the attempt failed and he lost his Scottish estate in consequence, he wanted a guarantee from the Pope and Philip that an estate of equal value should be given to him elsewhere. He proposes himself to leave Scotland at the most critical juncture, and to go to Paris to make final arrangements, as soon as he hears that the Pope and the King of Spain are pledged to the enterprise.