Rocque: Map of London (1747)

In 1747 London was a dirty, overcrowded warren of streets and alleys. The new and fashionable areas to the west were laid out in elegant squares and terraces. Westminster was marshy, vermin-infested and cholera-ridden.  It was a dangerous place to live, and the haunt of criminals and highwaymen. There was a lock hospital in Tothill Fields to try and curb the alarming rate at which the French Pox (Syphilis) was spreading.
The middle picture, which dates from the era, shows the brutal reality of a mob in Charing Cross. Note the general raggedness of the people, and all the shit and filth in the ditch. These people didn't muck about. If they were upset they knew how to show it, and en masse.
The painting at the bottom is Horse Guards Parade (1753) by Canaletto. He chooses to paint his picture from the safety of St James' Park. His Londoners are dolled up to the nines and engaged in elegant intercourse. They stand there completely static, and arranged across the canvas with rococo informality. There is no hint of the violence of the people who live just the other side of the park, or of the wretched, stinking hovels in which they lived. Canaletto clearly didn't want his patron offended by the realities of daily life.