fruit of "mudlark" research this interesting picture by James Tissot, 1878, the scavenging kids just inches away from the crisp linen--


"The artist has his back to the river and an undisturbed table setting of cutlery, three glasses and cruet before him on the white cloth, with part of another setting visible on the other side of the table. Through the framing open window, he looks towards a group of four top-hatted gentlemen sitting outside in the small balcony of the western bay, and children on the foreshore..."

"The view is through the table in the eastern ground-floor bay window, with a place setting in the foreground. Men sit on the balcony in positions of power in this place of leisure. However Tissot makes social distinctions by contrasting them with the young boys, showing the children, known as mudlarks, on the shore below below. They are scavenging for coal and iron and reflect Henry Mayhew's investigative report in which he starkly illustrated the pestilence and depravity of Thames culture through such mudlarks, sewer-hunters and rat-catchers."