The Cottar's Saturday Night, Verse 2

Category

Library Item

Item no

24760

Title

The Cottar's Saturday Night, verse 2

Description

A labourer walks through a rural landscape. He wears a hat and necktie. His coat is slung over the tools which he carries over one shoulder. He carries a bag made from a piece of cloth in his other hand. He is pictured against a large cloudy sky and a mountainous horizon.

Artist / maker

Faed, John

Date

1853

Size

17.4 x 24.8 cm

Type

Engraving

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

A cottar, or cotter, is an old scots word meaning a married farm labourer who lives in a cottage provided by his employer. This image illustrates verse 2 from Robert Burns' The Cotter's Saturday Night:
November chill blaws loud wi' angry sugh;
The short'ning winter-day is near a close;
The miry beasts retreating frae the pleugh;
The black'ning trains o' craws to their repose:
The toil-worn Cottar frae his labour goes,
This night his weekly moil is at an end,
Collects his spades, his mattocks, and his hoes,
Hoping the morn in ease and rest to spend,
And weary, o'er the moor, his course does hameward bend.

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Related subjects

Landscape > Land > Hills

Landscape > Land > Mountains

Natural phenomena > Weather > Clouds

People > Adults > Men

Places > United Kingdom > Scotland

Sport and leisure > Activities > Walking

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