Research point - Gin Lane and Beer Street

Hogarth issued these prints in 1751 as propaganda to discourage gin drinking which was causing many social problems.  At the time beer drinking was considered to be more desirable, clean drinking water wasn't generally available and beer didn't have a  very high alcoholic content.
The Gin Street print shows children being neglected and murdered by their parents. One child is being fed gin and there is even a child on a skewer. The crowd are dressed in ragged clothes, a group of them are fighting and one of the figures in the foreground has sores on her legs. There is a body hanging in one of the dilapidated houses and a corpse being put into a coffin whilst a child sits beside it.  One of the figures appears to be fighting with a dog over a bone. The message is aimed at an illiterate audience, gin will ruin you, your health, your family and your surroundings. I'm sure that there are many references that I didn't spot. The couple on the left are apparently pawning a saw and cooking utensils for money to buy gin and there is a snail on the wall which symbolises sloth.
In contrast the inhabitants of Beer Street are well fed and appear happy healthy and feel dressed. The Pawn brokers is in disrepair because there is little trade but the other houses of Beer Street are well maintained, there is scaffolding and active workmen. It's odd that there are no children, the prints were intended to be sold and displayed together, Beer Street first to emphasise the depravity of Gin Lane, but does that imply that it is more desirable not to have children running around? There are 2 versions of Beer Street,the earlier version has a darkly dressed figure who is apparently a Frenchman being lifted by the blacksmith. In later versions he is replaced by a joint of meat and a couple cuddling. I guess that this is in response to issues at the time but it is interesting that he was able to change just part of the engraving, everyone else seems to be in the same place in both versions. The dark figure is looking at the sign painter rather than the man who is holding him. Also the blacksmith is staring strangely into space in both versions of the print. Wonder if this would make sense to a contemporary viewer but I can't find an explanation in my research.
The issues that I find easy to understand, as a viewer more than 250 years after the print was published, are denotation. The state of the inhabitants and buildings in both streets denote prosperity for the beer drinkers and depravity of the gin drinkers. Connotation requires some understanding of the issues of the time, Wikipedia tells me that the woman with sores in the foreground of the Gin Street image is a prostitute suffering from syphilis, Hogarth's contemporary audience would probably have grasped this immediately.

Whilst researching Ralph Steadman I found this post discussing Hogarth's prints and more recent interpretations of them.