The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Social Life of the Borders.
every man of true and earnest thought and feeling. Every
place to him in his own district, however insignificant, was
dear. Every glen, every stream, every haugh and hill, had
its association, and were to him filled with the history of
some raid, or connected with some ballad or legend. To
this must be added a deep sympath)- with whatever was
most beautiful in the daih' life of the people, and a keen
sensitiveness to the evcr-var\'ing moods of nature. The
blending of these feelings in his mind in perfect, yet uncon-
scious harmony, has given, undoubtedly, with all the faults
already indicated, that ease, grace, and surprising simplicity
and music to his verse, so characteristic of it. Like most
men in his position, his genius first took a lyric form, and
to him we are indebted for not a few of the best songs in
the language, such as " The kye comes hame ;" and this
district has an especial interest in Hogg, as he has written
not a few of the best Jacobite songs, originally printed in
his most interesting work, " The Jacobite relics," such as,
" Bonnie Prince Charlie," " Charlie is my darling," " Flora
Macdonald's farewell"—instinct with the enthusiasm and
regret of the Prince's most devoted follower. Still more
striking, however, than his songs are his ballads. The spirit
of the older of these he had been familiar with from his
earliest years ;
his mother had "crooned" them to him as a
child, for she held they ought to be sung, and were spoiled
by printing. It was in visiting her, under Mr Laidlaw's
guidance, in collecting ballads for the Border " Minstrelsy,"
that Scott first made the acquaintance of the Shepherd, and
that friendship was formed which, notwithstanding all the
waywardness and the unreasonableness of Hogg, was to
continue until the death of the " Last Minstrel." Of the
ballads written by Hogg it is impossible to give quotations
from their length, but they possess all the strength, direct-
ness, weirdness, and tenderness of the originals of which
they are imitations ; and it has always seemed to me that,
though they want the skill in construction, they breathe
more of the ancient spirit than Scott's, with all their o-reat