Grampian Club > Leaves from my autography

266 LEAVES FROM MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
presented to him by tlie family. Dr Clarkson ex-
patiated on Sir Walter's honhommie and unflinching
good-nature ; but his anecdotes did not serve to illus-
trate any marked peculiarity.
Throughout his entire career, Sir Walter Scott
selected his associates without respect to their social
status, but solely from a regard to their genius or
intellectual qualities. Among those of humbler rank
who early obtained his friendship was James Hogg.
This remarkable man became known to Scott, when
in 1790, and in his twentieth year, he tended the
flocks of Mr James Laidlaw, tenant at Blackhouse in
Yarrow. The Shepherd was afterwards indebted to
him in overcoming adverse circumstances. Hogg
settled at Yarrow in 1817, on the farm of Altrive
Lake, which he obtained from the Duke of Buc-
cleuch, on a nominal rent. On the 28th April 1820,
he espoused, in his fiftieth year, INIargaret Philipps,
daughter of a respectable farmer in Annandale, and
whom he had at an earlier period celebrated in
song. His marriage was one of the most felicitous
events in his chequered life ; in proposing the health
of the couple at Abbotsford, Sir Walter remarked
that his friend's choice had indicated an amount of
good sense with which he would not have credited him !
With Mrs Hogg I became acquainted in 1853.
She had been a widow eighteen years, and had re-
ceived no pension or other public provision. I offered
to consult with friends, and with their co-operation