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"At the Whitsunday term my father relinquished his farm, and returned to
his former employment in the Forest of Ettrick, under Mr Scott of
Deloraine, to whom he had been a shepherd in his younger days. With this
family, indeed, and that of Mr Borthwick, then of Sorbie, and late of
Hopesrigg, all his years since he could wear the plaid were passed, with
the exception of the one just mentioned. It was at Deloraine that I
commenced the shepherd's life in good earnest. Through the friendly
partiality of our employer, I was made principal shepherd at an age
considerably younger than it is usual for most others to be intrusted
with so extensive a _hirsel_[1] as was committed to my care. I had by
this time, however, served what might be regarded as a regular
apprenticeship to the employment, which almost all sons of shepherds do,
whether they adhere to herding sheep in after-life or not. Seasons and
emergencies not seldom occur when the aid which the little boy can lend
often proves not much less availing than that of the grown-up man.
Education in this line consequently commences early. A knowledge of the
habits, together with the proper treatment of sheep, and therefore of
pastoral affairs in general, 'grows with the growth' of the individual,
and becomes, as it were, a portion of his nature. I had thus assisted my
father more or less all along; and when a little older, though still a
mere boy, I went for a year to a friend at Glencotha, in Holmswater, as
assistant shepherd or lamb-herd. Another year in the same capacity I was
with a shepherd in Wester Buccleuch. It was at Glencotha that I first
made a sustained attempt to compose in rhyme. When in Wester Buccleuch
my life was much more lonely, and became more tinged with thoughts and
feelings of a romantic cast. Owing to the nature of the stock kept on
the farm, it was my destiny day after day to be out among the mountains
during the whole summer season from early morn till the fall of even.
But the long summer days, whether clear or cloudy, never seemed long to
me--I never wearied among the wilds. My flocks being _hirsled_, as it is
expressed, required vigilance: but, if this was judiciously maintained,
the task was for the most part an easy and pleasant one. I know not if
it be worth while to mention that the hills and glens on which my charge
pastured at this period formed a portion of what in ancient times was
termed the Forest of Rankleburn. The names o