seized, after a meeting of the conspirators in London. No hint was given at the time that the government had information against any other member of the band, but Babington had been for some days previously thoroughly alarmed, and had already applied to Walsingham for a passport to France, where he promised to act as a spy upon Elizabeth's enemies. He had told his friends at the same time that his visit to France was necessary to supervise the final arrangements for a foreign invasion. But no passport was given him, and with unpardonable cowardice he subsequently sent word to Walsingham that he could reveal, if he chose, a dangerous conspiracy. Still Walsingham made no sign, but his servants were ordered to keep a careful watch upon Babington. One night the young man was invited to sup with them, but while in their company he caught sight of a memorandum concerning himself in Walsingham's handwriting. He hurried from the room on a trivial pretence, changed clothes with a friend who lived at Westminster,and hid himself in the thickest part of St. John's Wood. There he was joined by some of his associates. Babington disguised himself by cutting off his hair and staining his skin with walnut-juice, and travelled to Harrow, where he was sheltered by one Jerome Bellamy, a recent convert to Catholicism. But before the end of August he was discovered and taken to the Tower. All the other conspirators were captured a few days later. On 13 and 14 Sept. Babington, Ballard, and five other yonng men (Chidiock Titchbourne, Thomas Salisbury, Robert Barnewell, John Savage, and Henry Donn) were tried before a special commission. Babington did not attempt to conceal his guilt: he declared all 'with a mild countenance, sober gesture, and a wonderful good grace;' but he laid the blame on Ballard. Ballard acknowledged the justice of the rebuke, and told Babington, before the court, that he wished the shedding of his blood could save his young companion's life. Two days later, seven more of the conspirators (Edward Abington or Habington, Charles Tilney, Edward Jones, John Charnock, John Travers, Jerome Bellamy, and Robert Gage) were tried. Sentences of hanging and quartering were passed on all the band. On 19 Sept. Babington wrote to Elizabeth, imploring her to work upon him 'a miracle of mercy,' if not for his own sake for that of his distressed family. To a friend he offered, on the same day, 1,000l. if his release could be procured. The next morning—on the day appointed for his execution—he explained the cipher which had been used in the letters to and from Mary.
Babington's prayers for pardon were not entertained, and on Tuesday 20 Sept. he and Ballard, with five of their companions, were drawn on hurdles 'from Tower Hill, through the cittie of London, unto a fielde at the upper end of Holborne, hard by the high way side to S. Giles, where was erected a scaffolde convenient for the execution' (The Censure of a Loyall Subiect, 1587). A great crowd collected to see the conspirators die. Babington declared from the scaffold that no private ends had influenced him, but that he honestly believed himself engaged in 'a deed lawful and meritorious.' Ballard suffered first, and Babington witnessed his barbarous death. According to an eye-witness he showed to the last 'a signe of his former pride' by standing, instead of praying on his knees, 'with his hat on his head as if he had been but a beholder of the execution' (The Censure). He himself followed Ballard, and underwent diabolical tortures. He was still alive when taken down from the gallows, and exclaimed, 'Parce mihi, Domine Jesu,' while the executioner was using the knife upon him (cf. Mendoza's account sent to Philip II 20 Oct. in Papiers d'Etat, iii. 481). When Elizabeth was informed of the revolting cruelty of his death, she directed that the other conspirators, who were to be executed on the following day, should hang till they were dead.
Babington expressed anxiety on the scaffold as to the fortunes of his property. By law the crown confiscated it all; but the entailed estates of Dethick, Derbyshire, and Kingston, Nottinghamshire, his largest manors, were allowed to pass to his brothers Francis and George. Some of his lands, and almost all his personal property, were granted by Elizabeth to Sir Walter Raleigh. Elizabeth herself took a valuable clock. At Dethick were found many books on theological controversies, and 'papers of prophecies' foretelling Elizabeth's downfall. According to the evidence of some of his tenants, examined previous to his death, Babington had been a hard landlord, and had systematically raised his rents. Shortly before his arrest he sold a large house in Derby, called Babington Hall, which was pulled down about 1822. Its site is still marked by Babington Lane. A cenotaph in Kingston Church, Nottinghamshire, among the tombs of other members of Babington's family, bears no inscription, and is locally believed on doubtful evidence to have been erected to the conspirator's memory (Gent. Mag. new ser. vii. 287). By his wife Margery, Babington had an only daughter, who died at the age of eight, in all probability before her father (Harl. MS. 1537, f. 115 b).
