Background

James Hogg was born on a small farm near Ettrick, Scotland in 1770 and was baptized there on 9 December, his actual date of birth having never been recorded. His father, Robert Hogg (1729–1820), was a tenant farmer while his mother, Margaret Hogg (née Laidlaw) (1730–1813), was noted for collecting native Scottish ballads.

James was the second eldest of four brothers, his siblings being William, David, and Robert (from eldest to youngest).

Robert and David later emigrated to the United States, while James and William remained in Scotland for their entire lives.

Education

James attended a parish school for a few months before his education was stopped due to his father's bankruptcy as a stock-farmer and sheep-dealer.

He received hardly any school training, and seems to have had difficulty in getting books to read.

Career

His ancestors had been shepherds for centuries.

After spending his early years herding sheep for different masters, he was engaged as shepherd by Mr Laidlaw, tenant of Blackhouse, in the parish of Yarrow, from 1790 till 1799.

He was treated with great kindness, and had access to a large collection of books.

Hogg's first printed piece was " The Mistakes of a Night " in the Scots Magazine for October 1794, and in 1801 he published his Scottish Pastorals.

On Scott's recommendation Constable published Hogg's miscellaneous poems (The Mountain Bard) in 1807.

By this work, and by The Shepherd's Guide, being a Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Sheep, Hogg realized about £300.

In the same year he published a collection of songs, The Forest Minstrel, to which he was the largest contributor.

The scene of the poem is laid in 1561; the queen is Mary Stuart; and the "wake" provides a simple framework for seventeen poems sung by rival bards.

It was followed by the Pilgrims of the Sun (1815), and Mador of the Moor (1816).

In order to obtain money to stock his farm Hogg asked various poets to contribute to a volume of verse which should be a kind of poetic " benefit " for himself.

Failing in his applications he wrote a volume of parodies, published in 1816, as The Poetic Mirror, or the Living Bards of Great Britain.

He took possession of his farm in 1817; but his literary exertions were never relaxed.

Before 1820 he had written the prose tales of The Brownie of Bodsbeck (1818) and two volumes of Winter Evening Tales (1820), besides collecting, editing and writing part of two volumes of The Jacobite Relics of Scotland (1819- 1821), and contributing largely to Blackwood's Magazine. "

Achievements

• He helped Sir Walter Scott in his compilation The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1806 - 1808) and based much of his own writings on local tradition and beliefs.
  
  His early verse attracted Scott and gave rise to a complicated but enduring friendship which taxed them both.
  
  His historical novels ape Scott's but are now attracting scholarly attention.
  
  The wit and mischief of some of his literary friends made free with his name as the " Shepherd " of the Nodes Ambrosianae, and represented him in ludicrous and grotesque aspects; but the effect of the whole was favourable to his popularity.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Collected Works of James Hogg: Novels, Scottish Mystery Tales & Fantasy Stories: Scottish Classics: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified ... The Shepherd's Calendar and Other Tales

    (This carefully crafted ebook: “Collected Works of James H...)

  • Scottish Gothic: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, The City of Dreadful Night, A Beleaguered City (The eClassics Collection)

    (The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner...)

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (Oxford World's Classics)

    (One of the supreme masterpieces of Romantic fiction and S...)

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (Dover Thrift Editions)

    ( In this gripping tale of murder, madness, and demonic p...)

  • The Mountain Bard: Consisting of Ballads and Songs, Founded on Facts and Legendary Tales

    (Trieste Publishing has a massive catalogue of classic boo...)

  • McLean's Welcome

Politics

A man with a highly developed taste for self-dramatization, he cultivated the role of the professional Scot in his popular contributions to the Tory Blackwood's Magazine.

Connections

In 1820 he married Margaret Phillips, a lady of a good Annan- dale family, and found himself possessed of about £1000, a good house and a well-stocked farm.

Father:

Robert Hogg

Mother:

Margaret Hogg (née Laidlaw)

friends:

William Laidlaw

Wife:

Margaret Phillips

References

• James Hogg, A Critical Study
• The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
• The Private Memoirs And Confessions Of A Justified Sinner
• James Hogg: Anecdotes of Sir W. Scott