Babington had already applied for a passport…
August 1586 CE
Babington had already applied for a passport abroad, for the ostensible purpose of spying upon the refugees but, in reality, to organize the foreign expedition and secure his own safety.
The passport being delayed, he had offered to reveal to Walsingham a dangerous conspiracy, but the latter sent no reply, and meanwhile the ports are closed.
Shortly afterward, Babington is said to have observed a memorandum of Walsingham's concerning himself while in the company of the minister's servants.
Thereupon he flees to St. John's Wood and, after disguising himself, succeeds in reaching Harrow, where he is sheltered by a Roman Catholic convert.
He is discovered toward the end of August hand imprisoned in the Tower of London.