Thieves gambling

An illustration from 'London: a Pilgrimage' by Blanchard Jerrold and Gustave Doré, 1872, from chapter XVII 'Under Lock and Key'. Jerrold writes: 'I should, however, recommend those gentlemen who are anxious to get at a true idea of the causes of crime; of the influences which foster it; of the natures pronest to it; and of the surest means of reducing its extension and its gravity, to put themselves in the hands of an intelligent, a reflective, and courageous professional student of the criminal classes like Sergeant Meiklejohn of the detective service. In his company they will see the policeman's bull's-eye turned on extraordinary faces and figures such as we marked in a card-playing scene; while they will listen to very instructive stories of the devious ways by which men and women reach Newgate'.