Poor Boys of London

1865*The Poor Boys of London; or, Driven to Crime a Life Story for the People* 41 nos. 45, Essex-street, Strand. (Published and probably authored by William Emmett Laurence).

“The ‘Poor Boys of London, a life Story for the People,’ is a tale of loftier pretensions, in the course of which the author displays his acquaintance with casual wards, thieves kitchens, and criminal resorts generally, and uses such descriptive and dramatic powers as he possesses to extenuate the offences of the ‘poor boys’ who, in his own phrase, are ‘driven to crime.’” -- Frances Hitchman, “Penny Fiction” 1890