The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

222 The Hi^kla^id Montlily.
merits. It is, however, in whatever is weird, or, to
use his own expression, " gruesome," or associated with
fairy lore, that Hogg exercises his most powerful
fascination. Scott was always deeply impressed with
the opening of the " Brownie of Bodsbeck," and " Gil-
manscleuch," and there are few things more startling
than the commencement of the story of Mary Burnet, or
the diablerie associated with the fate of the Bishop in " The
gude grey cat." It is curious, also, to note that this love of
the marvellous and weird was hereditary, and had existed
for two generations before it reached Hogg ; for Will
O' Phaup, his grandfather, was the last person in Ettrick
who saw the fairies. Hogg's daughter, Mrs Garden, also
tells us, in the very interesting Life of her father, how fond
of hearing stories he was as a child, and how his mother
kept her children quiet by tales of knights, fairies, and
brownies, and the impression made by these upon his mind
shews that they haunted him in his shepherd world, and
has been exquisitely described by himself
—
All these have left within this heart
A feeling tongue can ne'er impart
A wildered and incessant flame,
A something that's without a name.
Will O' Phaup, it is possible, may have been the last person
in Ettrick to see the fairies, but it was certainly his spirit
that dictated the poems of Hogg, in which these little
beings appear, and references exist to them in nearly half
of his poems. Of all fairy tales, however, in whatever
language, surpassing even the exquisitely ethical story of
Undine itself, is the legend of Kilmeny, the tradition of a
young girl, who for her purity has been transported into
the land of spirits, and bathed in the river of immortal life.
It is by far the most beautiful of Hogg's poems, and I do
not know that I exaggerate when I say it is one of the
most exquisitely musical and beautiful poems in the
language.
This reference to Hogg, however, would be incomplete
without some account of his personality, and this is all the
: