3-039-164 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Belated Traveller," by Heywood Hardy, 1871. 'This vigorous drawing which we have engraved from the exhibition at the Dudley Gallery, has a capitally managed effect of evening, with man and horse, trees and hedgerow, relieved against a still, luminous sky. Nor is the draughtsmanship in the action of the figures a whit less admirable. The powerful horse dashes along at a pace which, for his hulk, is tremendous; doubtless he has his own private reasons for putting on the steam; and the man is made to sit him perfectly - a thing more easy to do in nature than in a picture. The night promises to be bitterly cold, for it is winter; the trees are leafless; the sky is clear. And to find oneself straying from the road, perhaps stumbling about over a moor on a frosty night, with only starlight to direct, would be awkward as well as romantic. But supposing there is no danger of losing the way, one might guess at various other reasons why the traveller should quicken his pace, without supposing him liable to a rencontre with Dick Turpin, or to be pursued by the imaginary terrors of Tam o'Shanter. The jolly farmer may have a very important engagement to keep; or, more serious still, he may be expecting a warm reception from a scolding wife'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.