Stephenson: The Ettrick Shepherd 



21 



the other two in the sublimity of the ideas; but, besides being in bad 

 measure, it was often bombastical. The title of it was "Urania's Tour"; 

 that of Laidlaw's, "Astronomical Thoughts"; and that of mine, "Reflec- 

 tions on a View of the Nocturnal Heavens"/'' 



On page 12, 1796 is given as the beginning of Hogg's 

 literary efforts. This is the date given in the Autobiography, 

 but is evidently an error. At the beginning of the first edi- 

 tion of the Autobiography in its permanent form Hogg refers 

 to the fact that the material had already appeared in the form 

 of three letters. No biographer has seemed to think it worth 

 while to look up the origin of this interesting piece of writing. 

 These letters appeared in the Scots' Magazine in the years 

 1804-5, and, as the writer says, are concerned far more with 

 trifles than the later edition. In them 1793 is given as the 

 date of This is the way the World goes on, of Willie and 

 Geordie, and of the address to Buccleugh. Similarly, biogra- 

 phers have followed Hogg's assertion that his first published 

 poem was Donald MacDonald, printed in 1800. Hogg's for- 

 getfulness of material of which he was not afterward proud 

 is proverbial. A little search after truth, however, unearths 

 from the pages of the Scots' Magazine the Mistakes of a Night, 

 published in October, 1794. This poem is unsigned, but is 

 claimed by Hogg in one of the Autobiographical Letters, and 

 on page 624 of the magazine for that issue is the following 

 editorial footnote: 



We are disposed to give the above a place to encourage a young poet. 

 We hope he will improve, for which end we advise him to be at more 

 pains to make his rhymes answer, and to attend more to grammatical 

 accuracy. 



The second autobiographical letter gives us the information 

 that Glengyle (1794) was founded on a story told by an old 

 woman named Cameron who had been interested in the re- 

 bellion of 1745; and that The Happy Swains was another 

 story from the same source and filled 150 pages. 



In 1795 he Hogg"^'' was summoned to Selkirk as a witness against one 

 ■ of his acquaintances for fishing in close time, and, being persuaded by 

 several of his companions interested in that business, that it was both 

 sinful to swear and base and shameful to betray his acquaintance, he 

 either evaded or refused to give direct answers to the questions put to 

 him for some time; at length, seeing there was no alternative, he re- 



^5 Autohiog raphij . 



^^Autobiographical Letters. They ^vel•e written in the third person. 



