"But now, Sir," writes Cecil, "I am to deliver you his Majesty's pleasure concerning a matter of more importance, though for mine own part it is so tender as I could have wished I had little dealt in it; not that the King doth not most prudently manage it, as you see, but because envious men suspect verity itself." Parry, Cecil went on to say, was to offer to the Nuncio a Latin translation of the King's letter, and also to give him a copy of the instructions formerly given to Sir James Lindsay. The object of this was to prevent Lindsay from going beyond them. Cecil then proceeds to hint that Lindsay, who was now at last about to start from Italy, would not have been allowed to meddle further in the business but that it would disgrace him if he were deprived of the mission with which he had formerly been intrusted. The main negotiation, however, was to pass between Parry and the Nuncio, though only by means of a third person; and, as a matter of fact, Lindsay did not start for many months to come. So far as concerns us, the King's letter accepts the Pope's objections to the sending of a 'legatus,' as he would be unable to show him proper respect; and then proceeds to contrast the Catholics who are animated by pure religious zeal with those who have revolutionary designs. With respect to both of these he professes his readiness to deal in such a way that neither the Pope nor any right-minded or sane man shall be able to take objection. In an earlier part of the letter he had assumed that the Pope was prepared actually to excommunicate those Catholics who were of an unquiet and turbulent disposition. Whether this were justified or not by the Nuncio's words, it was an exceedingly large assumption that the Pope would bind himself to excommunicate Catholics practically at the bidding of a Protestant king. On or about December 4/14, 1604, the King's letter was forwarded by the Nuncio to Rome.[238] Nor did James confine his assurances to mere words. A person who left England on January 11,[239] 1604, assured the Nuncio that peaceful Catholics were living quietly, and that those who were devout were able 'to serve God according to their consciences without any danger.' He himself, he added, could bear witness to this, as, during the whole time he had been in London, he had heard mass daily in the house of one Catholic or another.[240]