Series 3 > Mary Queen of Scots and the Babington plot

Ixvi MARY STUART AND THE BABINGTON PLOT
had grown accustomed to their parts, a good many letters
were written which have been preserved ; and we shall
then be able to follow the story in the very words of the
principal agents.
To be frank, we do not know precisely when the plot did
begin. We know that in the months of January, February,
March 1586, the various conspirators and provocateurs
approached each other, and that intrigues began, which,
with certain modifications, afterwards developed into the
plot. But the circumstances of the first meetings never
transpired, and our attention must in this chapter be
concentrated on the movements of the suspects ; for if we
follow them closely, we shall pick up clues, that will leave
little doubt as to the objects they have in mind.
First then as to Gilbert Gifford, we find from Barnes’s
confession1 that these two were lodging together about
the beginning of March, and that Gilbert then had a cipher
to correspond with Savage; and from this we infer
that he did not relax his hold on his college friend. Of
George Gifford himself we hear nothing, but from the
confessions of the Babington conspirators, we know that
Savage’s conspiracy (i.e. the later phase of George Gifford’s
plot) was strengthened about this time by the accession of
Thomas Salisbury, and also of Ballard, and as the latter ,
becomes from that time onwards its most active member,
it will be well to go back, and to put together such informa¬
tion as we possess about his previous career.
1. The Previous History of Ballard and Tyrrell.
John Ballard, according to the Douay Diaries, was born
in the diocese of Ely. He was educated at Cambridge,
where he had, on 14 June 1574, taken the degree of
1 Below, p. 3.