world of
phantasy seemed, in the clear depths of his imagination, a lovelier
reflection of that of nature, like the hills and heavens more softly
shining in the water of his native lake." Hogg was in his element, as he
revelled amid the supernatural, and luxuriated in the realms of faery:
the mysterious gloom of superstition was lit up into brilliancy by the
potent wand of his enchantment, and before the splendour of his genius.
His ballad of "Kilmeny," in the "Queen's Wake," is the emanation of a
poetical mind evidently of the most gifted order; never did bard
conceive a finer fairy tale, or painter portray a picture of purer, or
more spiritual and exquisite sweetness. "The Witch of Fife," another
ballad in "The Wake," has scarcely a parallel in wild unearthliness and
terror; and we know not if sentiments more spiritual or sublime are to
be found in any poetry than in some passages of "The Pilgrims of the
Sun." His ballads, generally in his peculiar vein of the romantic and
supernatural, are all indicative of power; his songs are exquisitely
sweet and musical, and replete with pathos and pastoral dignity. Though
he had written only "When the kye comes hame," and "Flora Macdonald's
Lament," his claims to an honoured place in the temple of Scottish song
had been unquestioned. As a prose-writer, he does not stand high; many
of his tales are interesting in their details, but they are too
frequently disfigured by a rugged coarseness; yet his pastoral
experiences in the "Shepherd's Calendar" will continue to find readers
and admirers while a love for rural habits, and the amusing arts of
pastoral life, finds a dwelling in the Scottish heart.

Of the Shepherd it has been recorded by one[48] who knew him well, that
at the time of his death he had certainly the youngest heart of all who
had ever attained his age; he was possessed of a buoyancy which
misfortune might temporarily depress, but could not subdue. To the close
of his career, he rejoiced in the sports and field exercises of his
youth; in his best days he had, in the games of leaping and running,
been usually victorious in the annual competitions at Eskdalemuir; in
his advanced years, he was constituted judge at the annual Scottish
games at Innerleithen. A sportsman, he was famous alike on the moor and
by the river; the report of his musket was familiar on his native hills;
and hardly a stream in south or north but had yielded him their finny
brood. By young authors he