Stephenson: The Ettrick Shepherd 



43 



possessed especially the power of grasping for expression the 

 crucial single detail of a scene, and his greatest descriptive 

 power was in setting forth graphically such large changing 

 scenery as is involved in the description of a lasting storm. 

 The narrative of the great snow described in Storms, and of 

 the terrible deluge of a cloudburst set forth in M7-. Adamson of 

 Laverhope merit to be set side by side with the storms in 

 Copperfield and The Antiquary. 



He was crude but not rude in conversation. 



. . . . a strange compound of boisterous roughness and refine- 

 ment in expression, and these odd contrasts surprised strangers such 

 as Moore and Ticknor. The former was shocked and the latter said 

 his conversation was a perpetual contradiction of the exquisite delicacy 

 of Kilmeny.^ 



Says Mrs. S. C. Hall, writing of Hogg late in life: 



I can recall James Hogg sitting on the sofa — his countenance flushed 

 with the excitement and the "toddy" — (he had come to us from a dinner 

 with Sir George Warrender, whom some wag spoke of as Sir George 

 Provender) expressing wild earnestness, not, I thought, unmixed with 

 irascibility. He was then, certainly, more like a buoyant Irishman, than 

 a sturdy son of the soil of the thistle, as he shouted forth in an un- 

 tunable voice, songs that were his own especial favorites, giving us some 

 account of each at its conclusion. One I particularly remember — "The 

 Women Folk". "Ha, ha!", he exclaimed, echoing our applause with his 

 own broad hands, "that song, which I am often forced to sing to the 

 leddies sometimes against my will, that song never will be sung so well 

 again by anyone after I am done wi' it." .... I remember Cun- 

 ningham's comment, "That's because you have the nature in you." 



The Shepherd's love of children and of animal pets was 

 so unbounded that one is instinctively reminded of Southey. 

 His writings are full of tender tributes to dogs, and he was 

 a keen sportsman, both fisher and hunter. He knew the Bible 

 thoroly and possessed an abiding and trusting faith in the 

 Almighty. He was superstitious, and certainly more than half 

 believed the wild, mysterious tales in which he took such great 

 delight. Dreams especially seemed to interest him and many 

 of his best stories turn upon a vision during sleep. So much 

 has been quoted in this brief description that sounds in print 

 detractive, that the chapter may fittingly end with a few gen- 

 eral opinions that drop the unusual and often amusing 

 vagaries of his character and tell what general impression 

 this remarkable man made upon his contemporaries. 



•'■ Scott's Journal, page 448. footnote. 



