Stephenson: The Ettrick Shepherd 



29 



published. There is no reference to them in Hogg's Autobiography, and 

 until recently the survivors of the family were not aware of their exist- 

 ence. The letters speak for themselves, and it is unnecessary here to 

 say more than that they appear to have been written by the Shepherd 

 from memory soon after his return home, and some five years before the 

 publication of The Lady Of The Lake.' 



During the tour of 1803 he visited the outer Hebrides and 

 came home full of the idea of migrating to Harris. During 

 the ten years he had spent at Blackhouse he had managed to 

 save some two hundred pounds, which, in conjunction with the 

 capital of a neighbor, he decided to sink in the adventure. A 

 farm was procured and the necessary stock bought, and all 

 preparations made for the departure. Hogg wrote the Fare- 

 well to Ettrick, the tenderest of all his pathetic poems, and 

 was ready to tear up the old ties forever. His partner was 

 actually on his way north with the stock when word came 

 in July, 1804 that, thru some legal flaw in the title they could 

 not have possession of the farm. In consequence, both Hogg 

 and his partner lost all they had and the Shepherd found 

 himself a ruined man. This was the first of many ill-advised 

 ventures that resulted in disaster and temporarily reduced 

 him to beggary. But his flow of spirits was unconquerable 

 and he experienced only a momentary depression. He retired 

 for the summer into Cumberland. He doubtless visited Kes- 

 wick, but on this subject Hogg was always very reticent. On 

 his return to Scotland in the autumn he gave up the notion of 

 farming on his own responsibility and became shepherd to a 

 Mr. Harkness at Mitchel-Slack. 



He remained here till 1807, during which time he met his 

 brother poet, Allan Cunningham, and improved his acquaint- 

 ance with Sir Walter Scott. In 1806 a letter of Scott refers 

 to Hogg's business as a factor in valuing lands, an avocation 

 he foflowed with slight success as late as 1811. While at 

 Mitchel-Slack his constant companion was Hector, the collie 



* The writer of this note has evidently overlooked the fact that these letters are 

 referred to in one of the Autobiographical Letters tho not in the Autobiographii in its 

 later form. "I had meant to give some account of his Journey through the Highlands, 

 and The Mountain Bard; two publications of Mr. Hogg's nearly ready for the press." 

 (Second letter, written after the publication of the first series of letters and before the 

 trip described in the third had been taken.) "He was afterward employed in preparinp.' 

 for the press his first, second, and third journeys through the Highlands ; and in com- 

 posing several pieces, some of which have been published in the Magazine, and which 

 he intends to publish in a volume by themselves as soon as a few illustrations are got 

 ready." (Third letter.) The third journey referred to in the above was similarly described 

 by letters that appeared in the Scots' Magazine from June, 1808, to March, 1809. 



