A Defence Of The Missionaries Arts : Wherein The Charge Of Disloyalty, Rebellions, Plots, And Treasons, Asserted Page 76 Of That Book, Are Fully Proved Against The Members Of The Church Of Rome, In A Brief Account Of The Several Plots Contrived, And Rebellions Raised By The Papists Against The Lives And Dignities Of Sovereign Princes Since The Reformation - By The Authour [sic] Of The Missionaries Arts. by Wake, William - 1689

printed for Richard Wilde, at the Map of the World in St Paul's Church-yard, London, 1689. 1st edition.. Disbound. Disbound, VG. tp+[vi]+[ii]+96pp, complete with the initial blank, but lacking the rear blank, occasional light soiling to the paper, small tear to the last page of 'to the reader' not affecting the legibility of the text, margins occasionally shaved close by the binder just affecting the printed marginal side notes but the meaning obvious from the context, the book contains publishers advertisments at the foot of page 96 and on the leaf (A4) between the 'to the reader' and the start of the text proper. Attributed to William Wake [ 1657 - 1737 ] Archbishop of Canterbury from 1716 until his death & a clergyman who Gilbert Burnet, in his 'History' saw as the most important of the many who rallied to the Anglican church's defence in the years of Catholic Controversy following James II's accession to the throne & the new King's ecclesiastical policies. In this work Wake ghives a history of Catholic plots - 'Yet nothing is more obvious in the whole course of History than those diabolical Machinations and hellish Conspiracies of Priests & Jesuites, especially within these last hundred and fifty years'. The book then gives details of the many Catholic plots, including the Gunpowder Plot, The Throckmorton Plot etc etc. The marginal notes giving Wake's sources. The book is often erroneously attributed to George Hickes. Wing W238.