Series 3 > Mary Queen of Scots and the Babington plot

INTRODUCTION
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‘ Upon this the said John Ballard, Gilbert Gifford and
Anthony Babington afterwards on the seventh day of the said
June, in the aforesaid twenty-eighth year of our said lady the
Queen now, at St. Giles aforesaid, treasonably, feloniously, and
wickedly, fixed, concluded, and absolutely resolved, mutually,
one to the other, that they could not effectuate and complete
this except by the killing and final destruction of our said
lady the now Queen, their supreme and natural lady.
•' Upon this the said Anthony Babington on the same seventh
day of June at St. Giles aforesaid, and at divers other days
and times before and after, both at St. Giles aforesaid, as else¬
where in the said county of Middlesex, feloniously, wickedly,
and treasonably devised, consented, and concluded, with the
said John Ballard and Gilbert Gifford that our aforesaid lady
Elizabeth, now Queen of England, their supreme and natural
lady, should be most wickedly, unspeakably and treacherously
killed, and that the said Mary late Queen of Scots, treasonably
and by force should be torn away and delivered from the afore¬
said custody, and that the auxiliaries, and assistencies and
reliefs, both for the deliverance of the said Mary, late Queen of
Scots, as for the said foreigners and aliens enemies of our said
lady the present Queen and as it is said, about to invade this
realm of England as enemies, should be received, and provided
for. And that all these things should be done and effected
simultaneously, as it were in the same instant time, and
together.’1
Extraordinarily cumbersome as the legal style is, it was
necessary to quote the passage in full, in order that it
may clearly appear that the government originally wished
it to be believed, that Gilbert was among the plotters
from the first. But later on Gilbert’s name was entirely
omitted from the corresponding passage published in the
1 The original Latin is written in words so much abbreviated, that the
five paragraphs above occupy less than seven lines, which however are
very long. There are no paragraphs, and no punctuation in the MS.
The official summary is given immediately. The original is membrane 18,
in Pouch xlviii. of the Baga de Secretis, for Elizabeth, at the Record Office.
It was found ‘ a true bill,’ on 7 September, but proceedings had begun
on the 5th.
h