The Mock-Patriot, for 1753. To which is added, the Case of John Atherton, Bishop of Waterford in Ireland, who was convicted of Beastiality with a COW and other Creatures, for which he was hang'd at Dublin; with a full Account of his Behaviour after Condemnation, and the Letters he left before his Execution: By N. Barnard dean of Ardagh, at the Command of the Primate of Ireland.

Bookseller Notes

Loosely inserted is a long, and rather amusing, typed letter, apparently from someone in the John Rylands Library, to the former owner of this pamphlet, giving the historical background to it. It relates to the unexpected surplus of revenue to the Irish Parliament in 1753/4 and the subsequent wranglings between Dublin and London as to what should be done with it, and the faction struggle in Ireland that lay behind the manoeuverings. 'The case of John Atherton' was first published as 'The penitent death of a woful sinner, John Atherton', Dublin, 1641: this is all we have here, in spite of the sensationalism of the title-page (there was a verse The Life and Death of John Atherton - Wing L2000 - which goes into some detail, though without any mention of a COW). The new Preface to The Case here dismisses the idea that reprinting it will 'Asperse the Episcopal Order.'