Complex sentence: The number order does not represent the way they were exhibited (the first scene was shown in the centre), but rather an implied conventional Hogarthian progress of social decline from middle-class proserty, to poverty and finally destitution.
Split into simpler sentences: The number order does not represent the way they were exhibited. The first scene was shown in the centre, but rather an implied conventional Hogarthian progress of social decline from middle-class proserty, to poverty and finally destitution.