Robert Hogg was born in the parish of Stobo, about the close of the
century. His father was William Hogg, eldest brother of the Ettrick
Shepherd. William Hogg was also a shepherd, a sensible, well-conducted
man, and possessed of considerable literary talent. Receiving a
classical education at the grammar-school of Peebles, Robert proceeded
to the University of Edinburgh, with the intention of studying for the
Church. Abandoning his original views, he became corrector of the press,
or reader in the printing-office of Messrs Ballantyne. John Wilson, the
future vocalist, was his yoke-fellow in office. His official duties were
arduous, but he contrived to find leisure for contributing, both in
prose and verse, to the periodicals. His literary talents attracted the
favourable notice of Mr J. G. Lockhart, who, on being appointed, in
1825, to conduct the _Quarterly Review_, secured his services as
secretary or literary assistant. He therefore proceeded to London, but
as it was found there was not sufficient occasion for his services in
his new appointment, he returned in a few months to the duties of his
former situation. For a short period he acted as amanuensis to Sir
Walter Scott, while the "Life of Napoleon" was in progress. According to
his own account,[16] this must have been no relief from his ordinary
toils, for Sir Walter was at his task from early morning till almost
evening, excepting only two short spaces for meals. When _Chambers's
Edinburgh Journal_ was commenced, Hogg was asked by his former
schoolfellow, Mr Robert Chambers, to undertake the duties of assistant
editor, on a salary superior to that which he then received; but this
office, from a conscientious scruple about his ability to give
satisfaction, he was led to decline. He was an extensive contributor,
both in prose and verse, to the two first volumes of this popular
periodical; but before the work had gone further, his health began to
give way, and he retired to his father's house in Peeblesshire, where he
died in 1834. He left a young wife and one child.
Robert Hogg was of low stature and of retiring manners. He was fond of
humour, but was possessed of the strictest integrity and purity of
heart. His compositions are chiefly scattered among the contemporary
periodical literature. He contributed songs to the "Scottish and Irish
Minstrels" and "Select Melodies" of R. A. Smith; and a ballad, entitled
"The Tweeddale Raide," composed in his youth, was inserted by his uncle
in the "Mountain Bard." Those which appear in the present work are
transcribed from a small periodical, entitled "The Rainbow," published
at Edinburgh, in 1821, by R. Ireland; and from the Author's Album, in
the possession of Mr Henry Scott Riddell, to whom it was presented by
his parents after his decease. In the "Rainbow," several of Hogg's
poetical pieces are translations from the German, and from the Latin of
Buchanan. All his compositions evince taste and felicity of expression,
but they are defective in startling originality and power.[17]