[CROCKER (John Wilson)]. A Sketch of the State of Ireland, Past and Present.1808

London: Printed for James Carpenter, and M. N. Mahon, Dublin. Second edition, [8], 64, [6, adverts for books published by Carpenter]pp., with the initial blank leaf and the half-title, and, tipped in before title, a 3, [1,] page prospectus for Bryan's Dictionary of Painting, and, tipped in opposite front endpaper, cont. half calf, worn, rubbed and wanting backstrip, uncut. Supporting Catholic Emancipation. Croker's Sketch (1808) went through twenty editions (it was reprinted as late as 1884) and gained him further notice. It advocated catholic emancipation, a system of national education for all sects, and the payment of the catholic clergy by the state to undermine the influence of Rome. He was harshly caricatured in several fictional works : as the contemptible Rigby in Disraeli's Coningsby; as Wenlan in Thackeray's Pendennis, and as Counsellor Con Crawley in Lady Morgan's Florence MacCarthy.