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Indiana University Studies 



Laidlaw is an old name in that country, and the WilHam of 

 the above inscription a man of such local note that the follow- 

 ing quotations might find place here even if they were not in- 

 serted because they body forth so truly the boisterous, ath- 

 letic shepherd who used to distinguish himself at the St. 

 Ronan's games, and the poet who eclipsed even Sir Walter 

 Scott as one who portrayed the supernatural lore pertaining 

 to the country of his birth. 



Will o' Phaup, one of the genuine Laldlaws of Craik, was born in 

 that place in 1691. He was shepherd in Phaup for fifty-five years. For 

 feats of frolic, strength, and agility he had no equal in his day. In the 

 hall of the laird, at the farmer's ingle, and in the shepherd's cot. Will 

 was alike a welcome guest; and in whatever company he was, he kept 

 the whole in one roar of merriment. In Will's days, brandy was the 

 common drink in this country; as for whisky, it was, like silver in the 

 days of Solomon, nothing accounted of. Good black French brandy was 

 the constant beverage; and a heavy neighbor Will was on it. Many a 

 hard bouse he had about Moffat, and many a race he ran, generally for 

 wagers of so many pints of brandy; and in all his life he never was 

 beaten.- 



Hogg himself wrote so much about the fairies, and wrote so 

 earnestly that, tho he sometimes doubts, he is more often sin- 

 cere, and we cannot fail to attribute to him far more than 

 the average belief in the folklore of the supernatural. He re- 

 lates many anecdotes of his grandfather, but considers him 

 most noteworthy because he was the last inhabitant of the 

 Ettrick Valley who held personal intercourse with the fairy 

 folk. He thus describes the incident : 



When Will had become a right old man, and was sitting on a little 

 green hillock at the end of his house one evening, resting himself, there 

 came three little boys up to him, all exactly like one another, when the 

 following short dialogue ensued between Will and them: — 



"Goode'en t'ye. Will Laidlaw," 



"Goode'en t'ye, creatures. Whare ir ye gaun this gate?" 

 "Can ye gie us up-putting for the night?" 



"I think three siccan bits of shreds o' hurchins winna be ill to put up. 

 Where came ye frae?" 



"Frae a place that ye dinna ken. But we are come on a commission 

 to you." 



"Come away in, then, and tak sic cheer as we hae." 

 Will rose and led the way into the house, and the little boys fol- 

 lowed; and as he went he said carelessly without looking back, "What's 

 your commission to me, bairns?" He thought they might be the sons of 

 some gentleman, who was a guest of his master. 



' The Shepherd's Calendar, Chapter XVIII, Odd Characters. 



