Card, playing card

Playing cards were often used to spread propaganda in this period. This card features an etching depicting Sir William Waller, an anti-Catholic Justice of the Peace in London during the fictitious Popish Plot of 1678. The Plot was invented by Titus Oates, who alleged that Jesuits planned to kill Charles II.

This card, the seven of diamonds, is taken from a pack produced as anti-Catholic propaganda. It shows Waller overseeing the burning of Catholic icons, books and relics. This event actually took place publicly on 11th February 1679 and lasted between eleven in the morning and one in the afternoon. Waller was elected an MP in the same year.