The Duke of Guise, determined not to lose hold of the business if he could help it, tried to graft a plan of his own upon that of the English Catholics, who were in such dead earnest and had no object in view but the conversion of England. He was willing to abate his demands considerably, and Tassis thought that if he were flattered enough he would agree to whatever Philip ordered. Guise eventually managed to upset the businesslike plans of Dr. Allen and his friends by forcing upon them his undesired and impractical co-operation. Father Parsons, who had recently returned from Spain, was to go to Madrid (July, 1583) to represent to Philip the English view of the case and to crave Spanish support; but before he left Paris in August, Guise managed to enlist him as an advocate of his new combined plan, which he was to submit, not to Philip, but to the Pope. Parsons travelled under the name of Melino—one of his many aliases—and was instructed by Guise to say that if Philip would send 4,000 good soldiers and contribute money to raise and pay 10,000 more, with arms for 5,000 Englishmen, the affair could be carried through successfully. Parsons was to go to Rome first and earnestly beg the Pope in Guise’s name to provide money liberally, and to leave the whole management of the affair to the King of Spain. Ports, he was to assure the Pope, had already been secured, especially that of Fouldrey, on the Lancashire coast, and troops could be sent from Flanders to join Guise’s force of 6,000 men to land in the South of England. The whole of the North of England and Catholic Scotland was ready to rise, the nobles prepared, and even James of Scotland had now freed himself from the custody of the Ruthvens and smiled upon the enterprise. The Pope was to be asked to issue a Bull approving of the expedition, giving indulgences to all who aided it, and to appoint Dr. Allen Nuncio and Bishop of Durham. This was the message that Parsons, under the name of Melino, took to Rome; and to any one who knows Philip’s methods it spells failure on the face of it. When the King heard that Parsons had in Guise’s name settled with the Pope what Rome’s contribution was to be, without reference to him, he expressed his annoyance with unwonted energy, for he had no intention of allowing his hands to be forced by priestly meddling or French interference. He had, indeed, by this time, as we shall see presently, gradually allowed himself to entertain the vast project for the conquest and domination of England on his own account, towards which he intended the Pope to contribute, not the comparative trifle demanded by Guise, but the lion’s share of the expense.