HOGG. 



521 



ticipated a livelihood, had all failed; harassed and 

 disappointed, poor, and comparatively friendless 

 that hour when mediocrity sinks, and genius over- 

 comes the expectations of his few steady ad- 

 mirers were destined to be fully realised in the pro- 

 duction of the " Queen's Wake ;" a work which, 

 overlooking a few defects of style, is one of the 

 finest poetical attempts in the language. From 

 the cold shade of neglect that had settled around 

 him, he thus, by one bold effort, extricated him- 

 self, and emerged into the full sunshine of popu- 

 larity and fame. The different tales that intersect 

 the poem evince his complete mastery over the 

 muse ; whether stirring up the reader with the 

 wild and hurried measures of " Young Kennedy," 

 singing to him of the exploits of the Fairy Queen 

 and her attendant sprites, with silver bells at each 

 horse's mane, in the fine ballad of "Old David, "de- 

 scending to the queer and ludicrous in the "Witch 

 of Fife," or in his unequalled poem of " Kilmeny " 

 transporting him to another and a lovelier world, 

 enriching the descriptions with an imagery a\most 

 supernatural, and presenting to his gaze landscapes 

 of a beauty so surpassing, that earth, with all its 

 tame realities, fades and grows dim before the sun- 

 shine of that heavenly dream. Altogether, this 

 remarkable production emanating from a source so 

 unexpected, produced at the time a great sensation 

 in the literary world. 



In 1815, Mr Hogg again appeared before the 

 public in the "Pilgrims of the Sun;" a work of 

 unequal merit, although possessing some splendid 

 passages, well worthy of the now established fame 

 of the poet. Its success at home was compara- 

 tively trifling; but in America two successive re- 

 prints were made of it, and ten thousand copies 

 circulated through that country. Soon after the 

 date of the " Pilgrims of the Sun " appeared 

 " Mador of the Moor," a work in the Spenserian 

 stanza, but greatly inferior to its predecessor, both 

 in conception and in execution. The success of 

 this work not being very satisfactory, the Shepherd 

 now set himself down to collect pieces from the 

 great living bards of Britain; but the refusal of 

 Sir Walter Scott, coupled with other untoward 

 circumstances, determined him on changing his ori- 

 ginal plan, and venturing on the bold step of writ- 

 ing imitations of the whole himself. Thus origi- 

 nated " The Poetic Mirror," a singular work, 

 comprising many pieces of first-rate excellence ; 

 more especially the imitations of Wordsworth, 

 Wilson, and Coleridge. This work passed into a 

 second edition, and altogether was highly successful. 



" Dramatic Tales," in two volumes, succeeded 

 " The Mirror ;" but, with the exception of " The 

 Hunting of Badlewe," the volume contains little 

 surpassing the ordinary standard. Not so, how- 

 ever, thought the author ; who, laying the fault at 

 the door of the public, and ascribing its failure en- 

 tirely to bad taste on their part, abandoned poetry 

 for the time, and set himself down seriously to ex- 

 cel in prose. " The Brownie of Bodsbeck and 

 other Tales" was the result of this attempt. In 

 1819, he published the first volume of " The Ja- 

 cobite Relics," a work of great talent, and consi- 

 derable research. The second volume of this col- 

 lection did not come forth until 1821 ; but in 

 every point it fulfilled the expectation created by 

 its predecessor: in the latter part of it, composed 

 of modern imitations of Jacobite ballads, there are 

 some of Mr Hogg's best lyrics. Very shortly after 

 the publication of this last volume, " Winter 



Evening Tales" made their appearance. This 

 work, comprising all his earlier efforts in prose, and 

 here and there sprinkled with a legendary ballad, 

 was one of his mosfsuccessful publications. The 

 stories of "Donald Campbell'' arid "Basil Lee" 

 are among the best prose tales we know ; especially 

 the latter, which contains in the episode of the 

 "Widow of Loch Kios " passages in the terrible 

 and sublime to which we have no equal but in 

 " Wandering Willie's Tale," by far the finest piece 

 of diablerie in modern literature. 



On the occasion of the king's visit to Scotland 

 in 1822, Hogg welcomed his sovereign in " The 

 Royal Jubilee, a Scottish Masque." In this poem 

 there is an absurd blending of the serious with 

 the ludicrous ; but there are some fine touches, 

 and not a few of his best songs are scattered 

 throughout its pages. The Shepherd now took 

 it into his head to become a novelist in right 

 earnest ; and in that capacity commenced writing 

 for the London market. He now produced the 

 " Three Perils of Man" and the " Three Perils of 

 Woman," both in three vols. each, and other 

 smaller prose tales. Turning from prose to poetry, 

 Hogg came forth in an epic entitled " Queen 

 Hynde:" not one of his happiest efforts, however, 

 the story being too confused, and shrouded in a 

 mystery from beginning to end, from which the 

 reader never gets fairly cleared. Notwithstanding 

 the fine bursts of imaginative feeling, and the 

 scattered passages of high poetical excellence that 

 here and there enrich the poem, we must still con- 

 sider it as, on the whole, more in the light of a 

 failure, than as any addition to his literary repu- 

 tation. About this time he published in Black- 

 wood's Magazine, a series of prose sketches unde 

 the title of " The Shepherd's Calendar ;" by far the 

 most finished and interesting, with the exception 

 of the " Queen's Wake," of all his works. There 

 the Shepherd was at home ; recounting the deeds 

 of his early days ; or the credulous chronicler of 

 past events, stamping with the rich impress of his 

 genius the most homely human episodes, and en- 

 dearing them to our recollection by many fine 

 passages of quiet pastoral beauty. 



In 1832 Mr Hogg visited London ; and during 

 his short sojourn there was the lion of the day. 

 He was dined, and be-praised, and flattered by the 

 great ; every one exhibiting more anxiety than an- 

 other how to show his kindness, and extend his 

 patronage. He died at his residence at Altrive 

 Lake, on the Yarrow, on the 21st Nov. 1835, 

 leaving a widow and five children. A beautiful 

 uniform edition of his prose and poetical works 

 has since been brought out at Glasgow, with a Life 

 by Professor Wilson, to his intimacy with whom 

 he owed a popularity, beyond his own fame as an 

 author, by being made to figure in the " Nodes Am- 

 brosiance " of Blackwood, sometimes as the buffoon, 

 but at the same time always as the man of genius 

 of honest, warm-hearted feeling, and prolific fancy. 



In personal appearance Mr Hogg was a well- 

 built, active, and muscular man ; about the middle 

 height ; with a sharp, lively gray eye, an expan- 

 sive forehead, and sandy hair ; with a fresh and 

 ruddy colour on his cheek, the concomitant of a 

 sound constitution and good health. At times 

 when he doffed the plaid, and visited the city in 

 his new suit of sables, he had something in his 

 appearance akin to the homely and benevolent 

 minister of some quiet country parish, far away 

 among the hills : but when in his yellow vest and 



