The Ettrick Shepherd: A Biography 



By Henry Thew Stephenson, Professor of English in Indi- 



ana University 



CHAPTER 1 

 YOUTH OF THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD 



Perhaps no man's character has ever been so much the off- 

 spring of environment and heredity as that of the Ettrick Shep- 

 herd. The bald, green hills of Ettrick ; Lone St. Mary's Loch 

 with its hillside church so closely linked to the history of Sir 

 William Wallace ; the Yarrow — source of poetic inspiration for 

 centuries ; the lonely life of a shepherd on the Border hills in 

 the bleak winter when he takes his life in his hands on be- 

 half of his flock, or during the soft summer when he is alone 

 upon the braes with nature for days and weeks at a time — 

 all this tells half the story of the Shepherd's genius. And 

 heredity tells the rest, for of education he had none. 



Of his father, Robert Hogg, little need be said. In later 

 life the poet loved to trace his family to some bold North Sea 

 rover by the name of Haug. Suffice it to say here that all 

 such connection is wholly fancy-born.^ The Hoggs for gener- 

 ations had been shepherds in the Ettrick Valley. Robert 

 Hogg had so far risen above his forbears as to become a ten- 

 ant farmer on a small scale, a social rank, however, which he 

 was unable to maintain; and while the poet was but a tiny 

 lad the farmer returned once more to his former occupation. 

 Robert Hogg was a plain, honest, sober shepherd, and his tale 

 is told. 



It w^as from the maternal side that James Hogg received 

 whatever of his character is due to heredity. In the secluded 

 'churchyard of Ettrick Kirk the grave of his mother's father is 

 marked by the following inscription: 



Here lyeth William Laidlaw, the far-famed Will o' Phaup, who for 

 feats of Frolic, Agility and Strength Had no Equal in his day; He was 

 born at Craik A.D. 1691, And died in the 84th year of his age. 



^ In shepherd's parlance a hog is a young- sheep that has not yet been shorn. 



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