Gallows speeches from eighteenth-century Ireland

"This book collects the 'gallows speeches' of over a hundred offenders from late 17th-and early 18th-century Ireland. In these, a series of fascinating and ill-documented life histories emerge from an under-explored era in Irish history. They cover the full range of ages (Edward Fox, a boy of 14, to James Casady, 80 years of age), social class (John Audouin, surgeon, to Sarah Grew, serving girl) and crimes committed (William Dickson for counterfeiting coin, to Ellinor Sils for murdering her own child). This collection presents the texts of those speeches that survive in the holdings of the main research libraries in Ireland, Great Britain and the United States." "Crime narratives provide one of the most vivid means of accessing the reality of life and criminality in the early modern period. With an extended introduction setting the narratives in their social, national and international context, this collection should appeal as much to students of law, crime and society, as to those with an interest in the history of printing, publishing, language and reading."--Jacket.