Lord Burghley, Elizabeth's principal minister, who has…

Lord Burghley, Elizabeth's principal minister, who has never approved of Drake or his methods, is forced to concede that “Sir Francis Drake is a fearful man to the king of Spain.”

Hatton meanwhile plays a prominent role in the examinations of various Catholic plotters against the queen, notably the twenty-five-year-old Anthony Babington.

The son of Henry Babington of Derbyshire, he had been brought up secretly a Roman Catholic and as a youth had served at Sheffield as page to the Earl of Shrewsbury, keeper of Mary Stewart, for whom he early felt an ardent devotion.

He had gone in 1580 to London, attended the court of Elizabeth, and joined the secret society supporting the Jesuit missionaries.

After the execution of Edmund Campion in 1582, he had withdrawn to Derbyshire, later going abroad.

He had become associated at Paris with Mary's supporters, who were planning her release with the help of Spain, and on his return he had been entrusted with letters for her.

He had been joined in May 1586 by the priest John Ballard in the plot which generally bears his name.

The conspiracy, in its general purpose of destroying the government, includes many Roman Catholics and had ramifications all over the country.

Philip II of Spain had promised immediate assistance with an expedition after the assassination of the queen was effected.

Babington wrote to Mary explaining his plans, but his letters and her reply were intercepted by the spies of Walsingham.

Ballard is seized on August 4, and betrays his comrades, probably under torture.