Heaven save us from the wild Irish

Posted by James Briggs on December 16, 2002

A friend has asked me about the above saying. I can't say that I've ever heard it, but he gives a little background:
"my maternal grandmother, when things were going awry used to say, "Heaven save us from the wild Irish!" Now in both my parents' families we have many Huguenot ancestors and I wonder if you have any knowledge of the origin of that saying. It may of course have come from the civil war when Charles proposed to bring Irish troops to England."
Any ideas?