Stephenson: The Ettrick Shepherd 



31 



1804, is unsigned. That of June 8, 1805, and that of Septem- 

 ber 15, 1805, are signed ''Z". They are all written in the 

 third person. These letters were revised into the connected 

 narrative of 1807 prefixed to The Mountain Bard. Many 

 minor details were stricken out and the whole rewritten in 

 the first person. This memoir reappeared in 1821 when the 

 third edition of The Mountain Bard was called for, and again 

 in 1832 as part of Volume I of the Altrive Tales. Each 

 version was brought down to the date of issue and differed 

 from the former in the periods covered by each. The last 

 contains several passages that are of a personal nature con- 

 cerning the Shepherd's quarrel with Mr. Blackwood that have 

 been omitted from editions published since the author's death. 

 The Autobiography thruout is written in a bright, entertain- 

 ing style, is full of trivial errors due to a faulty memory and 

 the habit of exaggeration, and, of course, treats personal mat- 

 ters from the author's biased standpoint, and is colored 

 everywhere by his inordinate vanity. 



It is worth while to note that none of Hogg's best poetry 

 was written deliberately for publication. His most memor- 

 able verse is always that which he ''had by him at the time". 

 The Mountain Bard, The Forest Minstrel — a complete failure 

 and deservedly so — and his greatest work. The Queen's Wake, 

 were volumes made up out of what he had already written, 

 merely edited for the purposes of publication. Thus was com- 

 posed the forgotten volume of the Pastorals, and all of them 

 except parts of The Forest Minstrel show that natural spon- 

 taneity and flow of genius which is altogether absent from 

 the longer poems composed after the poet became known as 

 a man of letters. 



This first important volume of Hogg's verse contains poetry 

 of a very high order. It deals with personal matters or local 

 legends which it treats in the ballad style ; and Hogg's efforts 

 in this form of imitation permit favorable comparison with 

 Scott's. Sir David Graem is the best of this kind in the vol- 

 ume and is only not quite so good as Kilmeny and The Witch 

 of Fife in The Queen's Wake. The telling effect of the refrain, 

 The dow flew east, the dow flew west, 



and such ghastly images as that contained in the stanza: 

 There wasna sic e'en on the Border green, 

 As the piercing e'en o' Sir David Graem; 

 She glisked wi' her e'e where these e'en should be, 

 But the raven had been there afore she came. 



