Dissatisfied with the imitations of ancient ballads in the third volumeof "The Border Minstrelsy," Hogg proceeded to embody some curioustraditions in this kind of composition. He transmitted specimens toScott, who warmly commended them, and suggested their publication. Theresult appeared in the "Mountain Bard," a collection of poems andballads, which he published in 1803, prefixed with an account of hislife. From the profits of this volume, with the sum of eighty-six poundspaid him by Constable for the copyright of his two treatises on sheep,he became master of three hundred pounds. With this somewhat startlingacquisition, visions of prosperity arose in his ardent and enthusiasticmind.[Pg 12] He hastily took in lease the pastoral farm of Corfardin, in theparish of Tynron, Dumfriesshire, to which he afterwards added the leaseof another large farm in the same neighbourhood. Misfortune stillpursued him; he rented one of the farms at a sum exceeding its value,and his capital was much too limited for stocking the other, while adisastrous murrain decimated his flock. Within the space of three yearshe was again a penniless adventurer. Removing from the farm-homestead ofCorfardin, he accepted the generous invitation of his hospitableneighbour, Mr James Macturk of Stenhouse, to reside in his house tillsome suitable employment might occur. At Stenhouse he remained threemonths; and he subsequently acknowledged the generosity of his friend,by honourably celebrating him in the "Queen's Wake." Writing to MrMacturk, in 1814, he remarks, in reference to his farming at Corfardin,"But it pleased God to take away by death all my ewes and my lambs, andmy long-horned cow, and my spotted bull, for if they had lived, and if Ihad kept the farm of Corfardin, I had been a lost man to the world, andmankind should never have known the half that was in me. Indeed, I cannever see the design of Providence in taking me to your district at all,if it was not to breed my acquaintance with you and yours, which I hopewill be one source of happiness to me as long as I live. Perhaps thevery circumstance of being initiated into the mysteries of yourcharacter,[29] is of itself a sufficient compensation for all that Isuffered in your country."
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