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Indiana University Studies 



longer compositions, in the main, are but collections of epi- 

 sodes strung together on some loosely woven tangle of nar- 

 rative, a method that is well illustrated by the structure of 

 The Queen's Wake. The Siege of Roxburgh consists of but 

 one situation. An English lady commands her lover to cap- 

 ture the castle and hold it till Christmas day to prove his love. 

 The Scottish Princess bids Douglas recapture it — her hand is 

 to be his reward if he is successful. The whole book is occu- 

 pied with the succession of exciting attacks and counter at- 

 tacks, marvelous escapes, and ingenious attempts. Each is 

 well told in itself and they all hang together after a fashion ; 

 but there is no progression, no development, no character ; and 

 the tone is gruesome, cruel, and somewhat depressing from 

 beginning to end. It is not a tale that one cares to read again 

 or to recall when the last page is finished. 



In 1823 Hogg pubhshed The Three Perils of Woman. Tho 

 little known, it is in realitj' his best book. He calls the pro- 

 duction a series of domestic tales, and such they are, not a 

 continuous narrative. The first two volumes contain one tale ; 

 Love, Leasing, and Jealousy are the perils that occupy the third 

 volume. 



Agatha, or Gatty, Bell is a maiden of sixteen who falls 

 desperately in love with a young man who is worthy in every 

 respect to be her husband; but, thru some maidenly notion 

 that it is a sin to be in love at such a tender age, she rebuffs 

 him. She falls into a decline thru the self-imposed renuncia- 

 tion, and she is sent to Edinburgh, where, it is hoped, the 

 change will restore her spirits. To cheer her up, her cousin 

 Cherry, a naive girl, full of spirits, guileless and artless as a 

 flower, is sent to bear her company. M'lon, Gatty's lover, is 

 the most intimate friend of her brother Joseph, hence they are 

 brought into daily contact. Thru misunderstanding after 

 misunderstanding, M'lon finally believes that Gatty, who is 

 really almost dead from love, despises him. In the reaction 

 from his despair he falls in love with Cherry, asks her to 

 marry him, and is accepted. Then the truth of the whole 

 situation comes out, Cherry renounces her lover in favor of 

 Gatty, the two are married, and Cheriy dies of a broken heart. 



Soon afterward a change comes over Gatty. She grows 

 daily worse, has no bodily ill, but has frequent premonitions 

 of her death at a certain hour on a certain day. At that 

 very hour, with all the family about her, she dies. She is 



