At the same time as Parsons went on his way to Rome, Guise despatched to England Charles Paget, who, with Thomas Morgan, had been sent by Mary Stuart to serve as assistants or secretaries to Beton, his mission being to ascertain from the English Catholics what force they could join to Guise’s invading army. Paget, although an Englishman, was ostensibly a devout Guisan, but in strong opposition to the interference of Parsons and the Jesuits in political affairs.[250] From the first he had been a spy in Walsingham’s pay, and to him was owing the perfect knowledge possessed by Elizabeth’s Government of the whole of the present intrigue. The instructions given to him by Guise display more clearly than any other document the utter incompatibility of the views respectively of Philip and Guise with regard to England, and of themselves are sufficient to account for the subsequent exclusion of Guise from all the Spanish plans relating to it. Paget is instructed to discover which port will be most convenient for Guise’s landing, and what strength will join him there. Guise would come with 4,000 or 6,000 men, and desired a port within fifty leagues of Dover. He wished to know what provisions and arms would be ready for him, and much other information was sought. To all of this Philip scattered on the margin when he read the dispatch satirical exclamations at the unreadiness and uncertainty that these inquiries demonstrated; but what finally convinced Philip that Guise was no fit confederate for him was the concluding portion of Paget’s instructions. “Assure the English Catholics, on the faith and honour of Hercules [_i.e._, Guise], that the enterprise is being undertaken with no other object or intention than to re-establish the Catholic religion in England, and to place the Queen of Scotland peacefully on the English throne, which of right belongs to her. When this is effected the foreigners will immediately retire from the country, and if anyone attempts to frustrate this intention, Hercules [Guise] promises that he and his forces will join the people of the country to compel the foreigners to withdraw.”[251] No wonder that Philip underscored these lines, and that he thenceforward found the whole plan insufficiently matured. Once more he primly deprecated undue haste, and gently put the plan aside with vague professions of sympathy.