Stephenson: The Ettrick Shepherd 



47 



tion for his character. We must remember, while reading 

 the following extracts, that they were written by a man al- 

 most wholly unlearned, wholly undrilled, one who had edu- 

 cated himself, one who was suffering from actual privation 

 and trial, not to speak of the bitter disappointment of futile 

 hopes. Yet he wrote nearly every word of a weekly journal 

 that ran successfully for a year, and which, had he but pos- 

 sessed a little more tact, would probably have developed into 

 a successful venture. 



He had much difficulty in getting started. No publisher 

 would lend his name to the undertaking, and Hogg found it 

 almost impossible to obtain a printer. At last he did secure 

 one with whom he used to make his business arrangements 

 over a glass of whisky in a mean tavern in the Cowgate. 

 Hogg soon fell into bad habits, and his paper began to go 

 down rapidly ; but he had the good sense to see that this sort 

 of thing would not do. He made a sudden resolve to break 

 with his printer. Luck for once seemed to be with him. He 

 immediately found another and, after No. XIV., we find the 

 imprint of A & J Aikman, at The Star Office. 



The paper sold for fourpence, and almost immediately Hogg 

 possessed a subscription list that made his journal profitable. 

 A perusal of The Spy would not only have saved one of Hogg's 

 recent biographers from an amusing blunder in which he 

 acknowledges never having heard of one of the Shepherd's 

 most attractive fictions, but also affords the reader much en- 

 tertainment and a complete insight into the mechanical de- 

 tails of much of Hogg's writing. There we find many papers 

 often republished under different titles in later volumes ; mere 

 sketches that were later expanded into stories; and a succes- 

 sion of amusing adventures, quite disconnected and episodi- 

 cal in character, which were subsequently joined together in 

 one long story. It is true, however, that The Love Adventures 

 of Mr. George Cochrane, that thus came into existence, showed 

 little, if any, constructive improvement. 



The first number of The Spy contained a full and detailed 

 account of the editor, an account, however, which is wholly 

 fictitious, for Hogg was concerned to keep his connection with 

 the paper an utter secret. With the fourth issue Hogg got 

 into trouble. In one of the stories, a farmer, who tells his 

 own adventures in a gay, trifling manner, seduces his serving- 

 maid and continues to live with her as his mistress. The com- 



