3-016-917 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"John of the Syde", by F. Weekes, in the Exhibition of the British Institution, 1864. Engraving of a painting. 'Mosstroopers and Border freebooters, with their adventures, offer endless subjects for the artist, yet they have been almost entirely neglected except by the rising painter one of whose works, from the British Institution, we have engraved...Mr. Frederick Weekes (son of the distinguished sculptor) has made a kind of specialty by his frequent representations of these marauding gentry...The "John of the Syde" here represented was a notorious marauder of the Scottish border. Like many others, he enjoyed a "to-name," or nom-de-guerre, in addition to his own proper name...We see in the picture that he is not this time "lifting" cattle, but he has been contented with sheep tied to the crupper of his saddle. His jaded, overburdened horse can scarcely do more than walk; night threatens to overtake him; there are indistinguishable objects on the dark horizon; but John is alert and ready for any emergency, as far as a dauntless heart, the contents of a carbine, and a good stout sword can make him'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.