56

THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

ee nnn Lae

he wrote many of his verses, when he
was a shepherd’s boy, is somewhat
amusing, and it affords us pretty con-
clusive proof, at the same time, that if
any one is industrious and determined to
make something of himself, he will be
pretty likely to succeed. He says,
“Having very little spare time from my
flock, which was unruly enough, I folded
and stitched a few sheets of paper,
which I carried in my pocket. I had
no ink-horn ; but in place of it, I borrow-
2d a small vial, which I fixed in a hole
in the breast of my waistcoat, and having
a cork affixed by a piece of twine: it an-
swered the purpose just as well. Thus
equipped, whenever a leisure moment or
two offered, I had nothing to do but to
sit down, and write my thoughts as I
found them.”

His first literary effort was in song- |
writing, and in 1801 he published a_
small volume of pieces. He was in-
troduced to Sir Walter Scott by his
master’s son, Mr. William Laidlaw, and
assisted in the collection of old ballads
for the Border Minstrelsy. He soon im-
itated the style of these ancient strains
with great exactness, and published an-
other volume of songs and poems, under
the title of “ The Mountain Bard.” He
now embarked in sheep-farming, and
took a journey to the island of Harris, on
a speculation of this kind; but all he had
saved as a shepherd, or by his publica-
tion, was lost in these attempts. He
then repaired to Edinburgh, and endea-
vored to subsist by his pen. A collec-

. tion of songs, called «The Forest Min-
strel,” was his first effort; his second
was a periodical called “The Spy ;”’ but
it was not till the publication of the
 Queen’s Wake,” in 1813, that the shep-

herd established his reputation as an au-
thor. This “legendary poem” consists
of a collection of tales and ballads sup-
posed to be sung to Mary Queen of
Scots by the native bards of Scotland,
assembled at a royal wake at Holyrood,
in order that the fair queen might prove

“The wondrous powers of Scottish song.”

The design was excellent, and the exe-
cution so varied and masterly, that Hogg
was at once placed among the first of
our living poets. The different produc-
tions of the native minstrels are strung
together by a thread of narrative so
gracefully written in many parts, that
the’ reader is surprised equally at the
delicacy and the genius of the author.
At the conclusion of the poem, Hogg

| alludes to his illustrious friend Scott,

and adverts with some feeling to the ad-
vice which Sir Walter had once given
him, to abstain from his worship of po-
etry. Scott was grieved at this allusion
to his friendly counsel, as it was given
at a time when no one dreamed of the
shepherd possessing the powers that he
displayed in the “ Queen’s Wake.” Va-
rious works now proceeded from his pen.

The worldly schemes of the shepherd
were seldom successful. Though he had
failed as a sheep-farmer, he ventured
again, and took a large farm, Mount
Benger, from the Duke of Buccleuch.
Here he was also unsuccessful; and his
sole support, for the latter years of his
life, was the remuneration afforded by
his literary labors. He livedin a cottage
which he had built at Altrive, ona piece
of land presented to him by the Duch-
ess of Buccleuch. His love of angling
and field sports amounted to a passion,
and when he could no longer fish or