acquired the art upon the hill-side by copying the Italian alphabet,
using his knees as his desk, and having his ink-bottle suspended from
his button. In his twenty-sixth year he first essayed to write
verses,--an effort attended, in the manual department, with amusing
difficulty, for he stripped himself of his coat and vest to the
undertaking, yet could record only a few lines at a sitting! But he was
satisfied with the fame derived from his verses, as adequate
compensation for the toil of their production; he wrote for the
amusement of the shepherd maidens, who sung them to their favourite
tunes, and bestowed on him the prized designation of "Jamie the Poeter."
At the various gatherings of the lads and lasses in the different
homesteads, then frequent in this pastoral district, he never failed to
present himself, and had golden opportunities of winning the chaplet of
applause, both for the strains of his minstrelsy, and the music of his
violin. These _réunions_ were not without their influence in stimulating
him to more ambitious efforts in versification.

The Shepherd's popularity, while tending the flocks of Mr Laidlaw at
Blackhouse, was not wholly derived from his skill as a versifier, and
capabilities as a musician, but, among the fairer portion of the
creation, was perhaps scarcely less owing to the amenity of his
disposition, combined with the handsomeness of his person. As a
candidate for the honour of feminine approbation, he was successful
alike in the hall and on the green: the rumour of his approach at any
rural assemblage or merry-meeting was the watchword for increased mirth
and happiness. If any malignant rival had hinted aught to his prejudice,
the maidens of the whole district had assembled to vindicate his cause.
His personal appearance at this early period is thus described by Mr
William Laidlaw:--"About nineteen years of age, Hogg was rather above
the middle height, of faultless symmetry of form; he was of almost