In December 1688, during the Glorious Revolution, England and parts of Wales were swept by a mass panic known as the Irish Fright. False rumors spread that Irish soldiers, loyal to the deposed King James II, were burning and massacring English towns in revenge for his overthrow. At least nineteen counties were affected, with thousands of citizens arming themselves to resist non-existent groups of marauding Irishmen.

The Irish Fright underscores the power of rumor and ethnic fear in times of political upheaval, a theme explored by poets and playwrights of the Restoration and early eighteenth century. The panic reflects the deep-seated anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiments that permeated English literature of the period, influencing works that grappled with national identity and religious conflict. It stands as a cautionary tale about the destructive potential of xenophobic hysteria.