Stephenson: The Ettrick Shepherd 13 



biographer, tho an enthusiastic admirer of the Ettrick Shep- 

 herd, does not wish to stultify him unduly by placing him upon 

 a pedestal where he cannot sit with grace. But any reader 

 who has softened to that beautiful lyric which begins 



Bird of the v/ilderness 

 Blithesome and cumberless 

 Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea, 



or who has wept over the pathetic character of Cherry in 

 The Three Perils of Woman should not forget that the writ- 

 er's whole education was comprised within six months spent 

 at school while but yet a lad of six or seven, or that he taught 

 himself to write at the age of twenty by copying letters from 

 the pages of a printed book. 



Hogg's earliest ambition was the humble one of writing 

 verses good enough for the maids to sing at the milking ; and 

 he always had a tender spot in his heart for the lasses. He 

 writes the following naive description of his first introduction 

 to the grand passion : 



But that summer, when only eight years of age, I was sent out to 

 a height called Broad-heads with a rosy-cheeked maiden to herd a flock 

 of new-weaned lambs, and I had my mischievous cows to herd besides. 

 But, as she had no dog and I had an excellent one, I was ordered to keep 

 close to her. Never was a master's order better obeyed. Day after day 

 I herded the cows and the lambs both, and Betty had nothing to do but 

 to sit and sew. Then w'e dined together every day at a well near to the 

 Shiel-sike head, and after dinner I laid my head down on her lap, cov- 

 ered her bare feet with my plaid and pretended to fall sound asleep. 

 One day I heard her say to herself, "Poor laddie, he's just tired to 

 death", and then I wept till I was afraid she would feel the warm tears 

 trickling on her knee. I wished my master, who was a handsome young 

 man, would fall in love with her and marry her, wondering how he could 

 be so blind and stupid as not to do it. But I thought if I were he, I 

 would know well what to do.*° 



Of the next ten years of his life little need be said. An 

 anecdote told by his brother William shows that James was 

 a delicate child; but he soon outgrew this condition and, like 

 his grandfather. Will o' Phaup, became noted in his manhood 

 ' for strength and skill in athletic contests. During this period 

 of ten years he served in different capacities under a dozen 

 different masters. He is careful to note that this frequent 

 changing from place to place was not due to a failure to give 

 satisfaction, but to the fact that his increasing age enabled 



Autobiography. 



