3-056-383 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Moving On": a sketch in St. James's Park by L. Wagner, 1873. 'As we sit by the warm fireside...we do not much like to think of anybody wanting to stay all night upon a damp bench...Yet there are such desolate and destitute persons loitering there...and it is the duty of a policeman to bid them "move on;" for serious dangers to the peace and safety of her Majesty's liege subjects might be feared if people of every vagrant class were allowed to lurk in any numbers...and to remain long after dark. Such accommodation would be most convenient for the amiable pursuits of the garotter, the burglar, and the treacherous companions, male or female, who might beset the homeward path of a careless reveller to decoy and rob, perhaps even to kill, the unwary prey they would accost with civil or seducing talk...it is [therefore] needful that all should be turned out and that the gates should be closed at nightfall. Some of these reluctant exiles from the inclosed public garden...might no doubt appeal to compassion by pleading that...know not where to choose their place of rest. The...workhouses, indeed, are open for them till a certain hour; and the lock-up cells of the police stations...will be available at any time of the night'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.