A boy with a cut finger is treated by his mother, while two other siblings hold him as he resists. Line engraving by F.S. Goulu after D. Wilkie.

"'The cut finger' tells the misfortune of a boy who cuts his finger while fitting the mast in a boat, to which a basin of water performs the part of a lake. Nothing can exceed the rueful visage of the blubbering boy save the matronly anxiety of an old woman, who, with all her cottage skill, and rustic appliances, is binding the wounded finger up. A young sister looks anxiously over the matron's shoulder; while a handmaid is taking the delinquent's knife from his right hand, which he seems to hold hard, seeking in the grip relief from the pain of his finger. This picture was, when it appeared first, called 'The young navigator' by the purchaser, Mr. Whitbread, who desired to see in its story the maritime glory of England in the dawn ; but a boy who cried at the sight of his own blood was not considered a true representative of our conquering tars, and the picture soon took the humbler name which the great painter at first bestowed upon it" (Cunningham. loc. cit.)