3-046-997 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

An artist of the pavement, 1872. 'The ingenious devices of that queer class of shifty people about town who get their living by diverse plausible evasions of the law against simple downright begging, afford to the observant Londoner a subject of frequent remark...An old soldier, with a stump of arm or leg and the rags of a scarlet uniform; an old sailor, with a picture of a shipwreck...may reckon upon earning five shillings a day, without causing too much annoyance. These well-contrived impersonations of human misery are in some degree tolerated because they do not make a noise or persecute the incredulous passer-by with repeated demands. They are not allowed, however, to offend the eyes of delicacy by the uncovering of painful mutilations or disgusting sores. As a matter of taste, if we have once convinced ourselves that all these persons are regular impostors, the least disagreeable form of displaying their skill is found in the ornamentation of the street pavement with coloured crayon drawings. Our Illustration...shows an artist of this class engaged in his customary vocation...The worst that can be said of these "Pencillings by the Way" is that they are an idle man's substitute for honest useful work'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.