In his Introduction, the late Fr Edwards quotes Archbishop Mathew’s succinct summary of the three solutions to the gunpowder plot: according to the orthodox, old-fashioned view Salisbury discovered the conspiracy, a second judgement is that he nourished it and a third that is that he invented it. The third solution is carefully investigated in this book.In his very typical style, Fr Edwards constructs his narrative of events by drawing heavily on the extant primary sources - which is not to say that he does not notice the huge bibliography on the subject. Sir Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury does not come well out of this extensive study - but that is only to be expected.