About this artwork

This drawing illustrates a verse from Burns’s epic Poem ‘Tam O’Shanter’ that recounts the events after a night spent drinking and Tam’s journey home. Here, Faed shows the scene where a drunken Tam regretfully leaves the Ayrshire tavern and attempts to mount his horse Meg: “Nae man can tether time or tide; / The hour approaches Tam maun ride; / That hour, o' night's black arch the key-stane, / That dreary hour he mounts his beast in”. Faed shows Tam accompanied by his drinking companions, one of which steadies his horse. This drawing was engraved and published in an illustrated edition of Burns’s work.

Updated before 2020

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John Faed

John Faed