nter 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
April 1820, he espoused Miss Margaret Phillips, the youngest daughter of
Mr Phillips, late of Longbridgemoor, in Annandale. By this union he
became brother-in-law of his friend Mr James Gray, whose first wife was
a sister of Mrs Hogg. At the period of his marriage, from the profits of
his writings and his wife's dowry, he was master of nearly a thousand
pounds and a well-stocked farm; and increasing annual gains by his
writings, seemed to augur future independence. But the Shepherd, not
perceiving that literature was his forte, resolved to embark further in
farming speculations; he took in lease the extensive farm of Mount
Benger, adjoining Altrive Lake, expending his entire capital in the
stocking. The adventure proved almost ruinous.

The coronation of George IV. was fixed to take place on the 19th of
July 1821; and Sir Walter Scott having resolved to be among the
spectators, invited the Shepherd to accompany him to London on the
occasion. Through Lord Sidmouth, the Secretary of State, he had procured
accommodation for Hogg at the pageant, which his lordship had granted,
with the additional favour of inviting both of them to dinner, to meet
the Duke of York on the following day. The Shepherd had, however, begun
to feel more enthusiastic as a farmer than a poet, and preferred to
attend the sheep-market at St Boswells. For this seeming lack of
loyalty, he afterwards made ample compensation; he celebrated the King's
visit to Scotland, in August 1822, in "a Masque or Drama," which was
published in a separate form. A copy of this production being laid
before the King by Sir Walter Scott, Sir Robert Peel, then Secretary of
State, received his Majesty's gracious command suitably to acknowledge
it. In his official communication, Sir Robert thanked the Shepherd, in
the King's name, "for the gratifying proof of his genius and loyalty."
It had been Scott's desire to obtain a Civil List pension for the
Shepherd, to aid him in his struggles at Mount Benger; and it was with
something like hope that he informed him that Sir Robert Peel had
expressed himself pleased with his writings. But the pension was never
obtained.

Harassed by pecuniary difficulties, Hogg wrote rapidly, with the view of
r