Perseus · Tufts
Bolles London collection
Collections: Classics · Papyri · Renaissance · London · California · Upper Midwest · Chesapeake · Boyle · Tufts History
Configure display · Help · Tools · Copyright · FAQ · Publications · Collaborations · Support Perseus
Bolles London:
Bolles collection contents
About the Bolles collection
London maps
Plot:
  • sites on this page
  • sites in this document
  • dates in this document
    Contents:
  • Introductory.
  • Amongst the Poor.
  • Parochial Relief.
  • A London Workhouse.
  • Land Rats and Water Rats.
  • The Never Silent Highway.
  • Tiger Bay.
  • Weasels Asleep.
  • The House of Correction.
  • The Gaol of Newgate.
  • The Convict in Penal Servitude: Millbank.
  • Pentonville Prison.
  • The Convict Establishment at Portland.
    		•

    Thomas Archer, The Pauper, The Thief and The Convict

    Your current position in the text is marked in red. Click anywhere on the line to jump to another position.
    page=1 page=3 page=5 page=8 page=9 page=11 page=13 page=16 page=18 page=20 page=23 page=25 page=27 page=30 page=32 page=33 page=36 page=38 page=40 page=43 page=45 page=47 page=50 page=52 page=55 page=57 page=59 page=62 page=63 page=65 page=67 page=70 page=72 page=75 page=77 page=79 page=82 page=83 page=85 page=87 page=87 page=88 page=88 page=88 page=88 page=88 page=89 page=92 page=94 page=97 page=99 page=100 page=102 page=105 page=107 page=109 page=112 page=114 page=117 page=119 page=121 page=124 page=126 page=128 page=129 page=132 page=134 page=135 page=137 page=140 page=142 page=145 page=147 page=149 page=150 page=153 page=155 page=157 page=160 page=162 page=164 page=167 page=169 page=172 page=173 page=175 page=177 page=180 page=182 page=184 page=187 page=189 page=190 page=192 page=195 page=197 page=200 page=202 page=204 page=207 page=208 page=210 page=212 page=215 page=217 page=220 page=222 page=223 page=225 page=228 page=230 page=232 page=235 page=237

    Table of ContentsGo to Next

    [p. 1]

    Introductory.

    In London, there is little of the picturesque in poverty, still less of the romantic in crime. The records of the one are but monotonous recitals of sordid misery and destitution, which soon fail to interest the sentimentalist, and before the appalling extent of which even philanthropy too often shrinks dismayed: the annals of the other disclose that the criminal has about him nothing that is heroic, and that his life is for the most part a wretched mistake, full of poor shifts and expedients, while he himself is either a slinking pilferer or a cowardly though desperate ruffian, to whom any poor honest calling would afford, on the whole, a better hope even of physical comfort than a career which, while it gives him the opportunity for an occasional debauch, often includes long periods of suffering and want, and is attended with a constantly haunting fear which only a repeated experience of the gaol can convert into a temporary bravado.

    Poverty and vice having been carefully tabulated, entered in statistical tables, analysed, totalled, and reported on with a scientific accuracy perfectly marvellous,


    This text is based on the following book(s):
    Thomas Archer. The Pauper, The Thief and the Convict. 1865.

    This text was converted to electronic form by optical character recognition and has been proofread to a medium level of accuracy.

    Next