disguise of a soldier,
and assumed the name of Captain Fortescue; and he bent his endeavors to
effect at once the project of an assassination, an insurrection, and an
invasion.[**]

* Murden's State Papers, p. 517.

* Camden, p. 515

The first person to whom he addressed himself was Anthony Babington,
of Dethic, in the county of Derby. This young gentleman was of a good
family, possessed a plentiful fortune, had discovered an excellent
capacity, and was accomplished in literature beyond most of his years
or station. Being zealously devoted to the Catholic communion, he had
secretly made a journey to Paris some time before, and had fallen into
intimacy with Thomas Morgan, a bigoted fugitive from England, and with
the bishop of Glasgow, Mary's ambassador at the court of France. By
continually extolling the amiable accomplishments and heroical virtues
of that princess, they impelled the sanguine and unguarded mind of young
Babington to make some attempt for her service; and they employed every
principle of ambition, gallantry, and religious zeal, to give him a
contempt of those dangers which attended any enterprise against the
vigilant government of Elizabeth. Finding him well disposed for their
purpose, they sent him back to England, and secretly, unknown to
himself, recommended him to the queen of Scots, as a person worth
engaging in her service. She wrote him a letter, full of friendship
and confidence; and Babington, ardent in his temper and zealous in his
principles, thought that these advances now bound him in honor to devote
himself entirely to the service of that unfortunate princess. During
some time, he had found means of conveying to her all her foreign
correspondence; but after she was put under the custody of Sir Amias
Paulet, and reduced to a more rigorous confinement, he experienced so
much difficulty and danger in rendering her this service, that he had
desisted from every attempt of that nature.

When Ballard began to open his intentions to Babington, he found his
zeal suspended, not extinguished: his former ardor revived on the
mention of any enterprise which seemed to promise success in the cause
of Mary and of the Catholic religion. He had entertained sentiments
conformable to those of Paget, and represented the folly of all attempts
which, during the lifetime of Elizabeth, could be formed against the
established religion and government of England. Ballard, encouraged
by this hint, proce