THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

 

 

The Ettrick Shepherd.

amzs Hoge, more commonly known

by his poetical name of the “ Ettrick
Shepherd,” was born at Ettrick, in
Scotland, on the 25th of January,
1772. The house where he was born, and
where he spent his early years, is repre-
sented in the engraving. When he was

a mere child, he was put out to service,,

acting first as cowherd, until he was ca-
pable of taking care of a flock of sheep.
Few, if any men of modern times
have attained so high a rank among the
world’s poets, with so great obstacles to
contend with in early life, as Hogg. His
father was poor, and unable to give his
son the advantages of an education at
schoo). He had in all only about half
a year’s schooling. He had to undergo
a great many hardships, when he was a
boy. He tells about some of them:

“Time after time,” says he, “I had but
V. ae

two shirts, which grew often so bad,
that I was obliged to quit wearing them
altogether ; for when I put them on, they
hung in long tatters at my heels. At
these times, I must have made a very
grotesque figure.”

When eighteen years of age, he en-
tered the service of Mr. Laidlaw. He
was then an eager reader of poetry and
romances, and he subscribed to a circu-
lating library in Peebles, the miscellane-
ous contents of which he perused with
the utmost avidity. He was a remark-
ably fine-looking young man, with a pro-
fusion of light brown hair, which he wore
coiled up under his hat or blue bonnet.
An attack of illness, however, brought on
by over-exertion on a hot summer day,
completely altered his countenance, and
changed the very form of his features.

Hogg’s account of the manner in which.

FY