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Indiana University Studies 



songs— a coterie famous because doubtless these early scenes 

 gave rise to that inborn taste which at a later date led the 

 Ettrick Shepherd to reproduce the same scenes at his own 

 cottage of Altrive Lake on Yarrow banks, where the places 

 of shepherd svraiiis were taken by such men as *'Shirra" Scott, 

 'Willie" Laidlaw, Dominie Russell, and ''Christopher North". 

 Says Mrs. Garden : 



Robert Hogg, the poet's father, was not a man in any way remark- 

 able. A hard-working shepherd, a well-meaning, well-living man, he 

 had saved a little money, and having married, he came to entertain the 

 wish, and to indulge the very natural ambition of becoming a farmer 

 himself. He accordingly took a lease of the farms of Ettrickhouse and 

 Ettrickhall, residing at the time of our poet's birth at the humble home- 

 stead of Ettrickiiall. Prosperous for a time, success did not seem to 

 follow his footsteps, and Robert Hogg was compelled to relinquish his 

 farms, and to resume the calling of a shepherd. Mr. Bryden of Cross- 

 lea took the farm of Ettrickhouse, and until his own death provided 

 Robert Hogg employment as a shepherd, and his family with a home.^ 



The poet, the second of four sons, was born at Ettrickhall, 

 probably in November or December, 1770. From the hour of 

 his birth, Hogg seems inseparately linked with the fairy folk 

 of whom he sang. His personal friend, Allan Cunningham, 

 thus relates the anecdote : 



He was born on the 25th of January, 1772, thirteen years after the 

 birth of Burns; nor was his appearance on the birthday of the poet the 

 only circumstance that marked that something remarkable was given to 

 the world. A midwife was wanted and a timid rider was sent for her, 

 who was afraid to cross the flooded Ettrick; his hesitation was per- 

 ceived by an elfin spirit — the kindly Brov/nie of Bodsbeck, who unhorsed 

 the tardy rustic, carried home the midwife with the rapidity of a rocket, 

 and gave a wild shout when the new born poet was shown to the anxious 

 parents. 



Page 10. 



^ Biographical and Critical History oj the British Literature of the last Fifty Years, 

 by Allan Cunning-ham, 1834. 



It will be noticed that this account was published before the death of Hogg, who 

 contradicted neither the facts nor the circumstance narrated in connection with his 

 birth, nor the date, which is incorrect. Hogg was an enthusiastic admirer of Burns, 

 and it was his lifelong wish to emulate his literary hero. Hogg repeatedly asserts that 

 he was born cn the above date, and some writers have sug'g-ested that he purposelj' 

 altered the date of his birth to coincide with the anniversary of the birth of Burns. 

 This explanation would not account for the change in year, and any one who is familiar 

 with the Shepherd's character finds it difficult to entertain such a supposition. It is a 

 fact that Hogg was unusually careless about dates. In two family Bibles he recorded 

 the birth of one of his children as occurring in different months. (Mrs. Garden, page 4.) 

 In different editions of his Autohiocjraphy he mentions inconsistent dates. In another 

 place he mentions something as having occurred in 1801, and immediately afterward 



