The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a

James Hogg was born on 9 December 1770 in Ettrick Forest in Selkirk, Scotland. He worked as a shepherd and taught himself how to read and write before being introduced to Sir Walter Scott who helped him begin his literary career. His first collection of poems, The Mountain Bard, was published in 1807 and this was followed by The Queen's Wake in 1813. He went on to work for Blackwood's Magazine and published his most famous work, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, in 1824. James Hogg died on 21 November 1835.