Lives of Famous London Beggars With Forty Portraits of the Most Remarkable.

"Lives of Famous London Beggars" by John Thomas Smith is a detailed look into the world of London's street beggars in the early 1800s. Through stories and pictures, it shows the lives of different beggars and how people saw them at the time. The book starts by talking about how begging was becoming more common in London, and it was hard to tell who really needed help. The author writes about the cultural interest in beggars, pointing out that even famous artists have painted them. This sets the stage for a closer look into the lives of these people, encouraging readers to think about them as more than just people living on the streets and to consider them as meaningful parts of the wider community.