My introduction to Francis Edwards came with a warning—like a pack of cigarettes. But it was not the surgeon general who cautioned me but another American Jesuit, Dennis Linehan. I was a scholastic, visiting Farm Street for the first time in June of 1977, as I investigated British doctoral programmes in history. Before Father Linehan introduced me to Francis, he advised me to avoid certain subjects: the identity of the author of the Shakespearian plays, the Cecils, William and Robert, and, most

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... important, the Gunpowder Plot! Anyone who believes that events from four centuries ago can no longer arouse emotions, never sat at dinner with Francis Edwards and Kempie Webb as the conversation inevitably turned to the plot! Each defended his position with passion and certainty.