Pausing swains will say, and weep,
Here our Shepherd lies asleep.'"
As formerly described, Hogg was, in youth, particularly good-looking and
well-formed. A severe illness somewhat changed the form of his features.
His countenance[43] presented the peculiarity of a straight cheekbone;
his forehead was capacious and elevated, and his eye remarkable for its
vivacity. His hair, in advanced life, became dark brown, mixed with
gray. He was rather above the middle height, and was well-built; his
chest was broad, his shoulders square, and his limbs well-rounded. He
disliked foppery, but was always neat in his apparel: on holidays he
wore a suit of black. Forty years old ere he began to mix in the circles
of polished life, he never attained a knowledge of the world and its
ways; in all his transactions he retained the simplicity of the pastoral
character. His Autobiography is the most amusing in the language, from
the honesty of the narrator; never before did man of letters so minutely
reveal the history of his foibles and failings. He was entirely
unselfish and thoroughly benevolent; the homeless wanderer was sure of
shelter under his roof, and the poor of some provision by the way.
Towards his aged parents his filial affection was of the most devoted
kind. Hospitable even to a fault, every visitor received his kindly
welcome, and his visitors were more numerous than those of any other man
of letters in the land.
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