this did not dissuade some from continuing to claim cecil's involvement in the plot. in 1897 father john gerard of stonyhurst college, namesake of a jesuit priest who had performed mass to some of the plotters, wrote an account called "what was the gunpowder plot?", alleging cecil's culpability. this prompted a refutation later that year by samuel gardiner, who argued that gerard had gone too far in trying to "wipe away the reproach" which the plot had exacted on generations of english catholics. gardiner portrayed cecil as guilty of nothing more than opportunism. subsequent attempts to prove cecil's responsibility, such as francis edwards's 1969 work "guy fawkes: the real story of the gunpowder plot?", have similarly foundered on the lack of positive proof of any government involvement in setting up the plot. there has been little support by historians for the conspiracy theory since this time, other than to acknowledge that cecil may have known about the plot some days before it was uncovered.