View of the interior of a crowded coffee shop in Petticoat Lane, from 'London: a Pilgrimage' by Blanchard Jerrold and Gustave Doré, 1872. Jerrold writes of the difficulties of rising above poverty and crime: "Once they come here [the East End]," said one of our police guides, "the best of them are lost. They cann't help it. Some will struggle for a long time; but unless they are fortunate enough to get away, they are done for. You see ... they fall in with all sorts - except those who could do them any good. That's how it begins with many of them. The rest are born to it."
