BABINGTON, an English gentleman of the county of Derby, head of a con spiracy in favor of Mary Stuart of Scotland. The rivalry between queen Mary and queen Elizabeth of England was at the same time a contest between Catholicism and Protestantism. Accordingly, the various plots for rescuing Mary from the power of her enemy were of the same character, and have been misrepresented and judged of accord ing to the ecclesiastical prejudices of each historian, B., young, rich, a zealous Catho lic, and on that account already an enthusiastic admirer of the unfortunate Mary, was induced, through the agents of a determined conspirator, Morgan, who had been arrested in France at the instance of the English court, to put himself at the head of a plot that had for its object the murder of queen Elizabeth, and the rescue of Mary. The execu tion of the murder was undertaken by one Savage, in which he was to be assisted by a number of the Catholic nobility, as circumstances might require. The day of action was fixed for the 24th of Aug., 1586. B. reserved the deliverance of Mary for his own share, entered into correspondence with her, and received letters purporting to be from her in return, approving of the assassination of Elizabeth. The secretary, Walsingliam,
not only had all the threads of the plot in his hand, but contributed, through his emissa ries, to spur on the conspirators to the execution of their plans. When the right moment was come, B. and his accomplices were arrested, and condemned. B. made no denial, acknowledged the letters to Mary to be his, and, Sep. 20, 1586, laid his head on the block. Savage, Barnwell, Bollard, Abington, Ticliburne, and Tilnec, had a like fate. Mary Stuart herself had, four months later, to ascend the bloody scaffold ; and her con demnation was justified chiefly on the ground of those letters received by Babington. Mary, however, denied to the last moment that the letters were written by her hand, or with her knowledge; and her friends constantly maintained that they were the work of Walsingham himself, in order that the unhappy queen might be got rid of with a show of justice. The rest of Walsingham's conduct in this affair, as well as the way in which he was in tire habit of supporting Elizabeth's views in general, give at least a high degree of probability to the accusation.