Portal:United Kingdom/Featured picture/43

Beer Street	Gin Lane

Beer Street and Gin Lane are 1751 engravings by William Hogarth published partly to support the 1751 Gin Act. Beer Street shows a happy city drinking the 'good' beverage of English beer, whereas Gin Lane claims to show what would happen if people started drinking gin, a harder liquor. People are shown as healthy, happy and hard working in Beer Street, while in Gin Lane they are scrawny, lazy and acting carelessly, including a drunk mother accidentally sending her baby tumbling to its doom.