Shakspeare; clear and prompt, he might have stood up against Dr Johnson
in close and peremptory argument; fertile and copious, he might have
rivalled Burke in amplitude of declamation; while his opulent
imagination and powers of comical description invest all that he utters,
either with a picturesque mildness or a graphic quaintness peculiarly
his own." These remarks, applicable to the Shepherd of the "_Noctes_,"
would, indeed, be much overstrained if applied to their prototype; yet
it is equally certain that the leading features of the ideal Shepherd
were depicted from those of the living Shepherd of Ettrick, by one who
knew well how to estimate and appreciate human nature.

On taking possession of his farm of Altrive Lake, which extended to
about seventy acres, Hogg built a small cottage on the place, in which
he received his aged father, his mother having been previously called to
her rest. In the stocking of the farm, he received very considerable
assistance from the profits of a guinea edition of "The Queen's Wake,"
of which the subscribers' list was zealously promoted by Sir Walter
Scott. At Altrive he continued literary composition with unabated
ardour. In 1817, he published "The Brownie of Bodsbeck," a tale of the
period of the Covenant, which attained a considerable measure of
popularity. In 1819, he gave to the world the first volume of his
"Jacobite Relics," the second volume not appearing till 1821. This work,
which bears evidence of extensive labour and research, was favourably
received; the notes are lengthy and copious, and many of the pieces,
which are set to music, have long been popular. His "Winter Evening
Tales" appeared in 1820: several of them were composed on the hills in
early life.

The worldly circumstances of the Shepherd now were such as rendered him
abundantly justifiable in entering into the married state. On the 28th