36 



Indiana University Studies 



Hogg had many amiable characteristics and some that were 

 less commendable. He was extremely careless, not only in 

 business affairs but also in the details of his literary work. 

 We have already seen how improvidently he embarked in the 

 emigration scheme to Harris, and the deplorable waste in 

 Dumfrieshire of what little money he had realized from The 

 Mountain Bard and the book on sheep. Later in life when 

 the Duke of Buccleugh kindly presented Hogg with the small 

 farm of Altrive Lake rent free for life, nothing would do but 

 he must embark in further ventures that brought again ruin 

 upon him and his family. He rented the neighboring farm 

 of Mount Benger on the hillside above where nov/ stands the 

 Gorden Arms. He rented it against the advice of all his 

 friends, sunk in it every penny he had, and, after a few years 

 of struggle, returned to Altrive, once more a bankrupt. Still 

 later, towards the end of his life, just after a publisher had 

 failed, carrying v/ith him what little hope of remuneration 

 Hogg entertained at the time from a new literary venture, 

 the Shepherd trusted the same publisher with a second work, 

 and, had he lived a few months longer, the careless poet would 

 have experienced another financial failure that practically 

 threw the survivors of his family into temporary poverty. 

 Many of these misfortunes were quite due to Hogg's mis- 

 guided confidence in his own wisdom and to his arrogant 

 refusal to take the friendly advice of those who were far bet- 

 ter qualified to judge. But it should be said to his credit that 

 his buoyancy of spirit rose superior to all calamity. Some- 

 times he was momentarily cast down, but depression with 

 him was always short-lived. He generously blamed himself 

 and never others, even when others were to blame. He would 

 take the bull by the horns in a sturdy, robust fashion, set to 

 work anew, and never wasted his time in vain lamentation 

 over what could not be helped. 



It is said that when he gave directions to the architect who 

 planned the cottage at Altrive Lake he stipulated that the 

 flues should be so constructed as to pass all the smoke out of 

 one chimney. But this ruse, commendable in theory- for the 

 man who wished to convince his inquisitive neighbors that 

 no one was at home save the occupant of the kitchen and 

 thus preserve his time in quiet for literary work, was not 

 successful in practice. Like Daft Jock, they found him out. 



