Through Lord Sidmouth, the Secretary of State, he had procured
accommodation for Hogg at the pageant, which his lordship had granted,
with the additional favour of inviting both of them to dinner, to meet
the Duke of York on the following day. The Shepherd had, however, begun
to feel more enthusiastic as a farmer than a poet, and preferred to
attend the sheep-market at St Boswells. For this seeming lack of
loyalty, he afterwards made ample compensation; he celebrated the King's
visit to Scotland, in August 1822, in "a Masque or Drama," which was
published in a separate form. A copy of this production being laid
before the King by Sir Walter Scott, Sir Robert Peel, then Secretary of
State, received his Majesty's gracious command suitably to acknowledge
it. In his official communication, Sir Robert thanked the Shepherd, in
the King's name, "for the gratifying proof of his genius and loyalty."
It had been Scott's desire to obtain a Civil List pension for the
Shepherd, to aid him in his struggles at Mount Benger; and it was with
something like hope that he informed him that Sir Robert Peel had
expressed himself pleased with his writings. But the pension was never
obtained.
Harassed by pecuniary difficulties, Hogg wrote rapidly, with the view of
relieving himself. In 1822, he published a new edition of his best
poems, in four volumes, for which he received the sum of L200; and in
this and the following year, he produced two works of fiction, entitled,
"The Three Perils of Man," and "The Three Perils of Women," which
together yielded him L300.
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