Illustrated by Grim Details of Popish Plot Lord Birkenhead, delving into some stories of famous trials, has been reviewing that associated' with the murder "of Sir Edmundbury, Godfrey, who was supposed to have been a victim of the "Popish plot" in 1678. As a result of the trial certain Jesuits were hanged, but Lord Birkenhead reaches the con clusion that. the evidence against them was by no means unimpeachable. Those were days in which few prisoners got the benefit of the doubt, especially when they were arraigned on a charge that stirred popular passions. There is, in the Guildhall Library a curious illustre tion of the appeal which the Popish plot "and. this particular murder made to the passions of the time, Playing cards were printed to illu trate various phases of the affair, anda pack of these, dated 1079, is among the very valuable collec: tion preserved at the Guildhall Each card bears a quaint, drawing, and the complete pack tells the then "big story" in serial form, At the beginning you are shown the "ope and the Cardinals in Rome hatching the plot." The nine of spades—why the nine of spades none can teil—shows Sir Edmund bury Godfrey being caught and strangled. 'The five of clubs—a more sinister choice this, even if the deed was done with a searf—shows five Jesuits on a gibbet, Tt must have boon' a ghoulish taste that "played" with cards bearing such designs, but one must remember that it Was the taste of a day delighted to make "the fruiting of the leafless. tree" an occasion for high festival.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.