Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/379

 EXPULSION OF MENDOZA. 363 distinctly in the field. Father Allen, who was present, recommended strongly that the force employed should be Spanish and Italian, and not French. The Pope might gratify France by appointing the Duke of Guise to the command. The King of Spain need not appear, but must keep the control of everything in his hand. Four thousand men, Allen thought, would be sufficient, with arms for those who would join them, and money to pay their way, that they might not have to prey upon the country. Volunteers would crowd to the standard. Allen himself offered to go first and take possession of the See of Durham, to which the Pope had appointed him. God, he thought, could be relied upon for the rest. As Allen drew the picture, de Tassis admitted that it was a tempting one. Guise was ready to sacrifice his own scheme, if the other was preferred. The invasion it was thought ought not to be postponed beyond the coming September at latest, but 4000 men might be sent off with no great difficulty. In the interests of England, of France, of Flanders, of all Europe, de Tassis recommended Philip to consent, at all events he pressed for an immediate answer. All were agreed on the danger of delay. If Allen's plans were disliked, Guise and Mayenne were ready to fall back upon their own. 1 Promptitude was an element of human success which Philip II. neither commanded nor understood. The fitness of the Duke of Guise to conduct the English in- 1 Tassis to Philip II. April 24 May 4, June 1424 : TEULBT, vol. v.