James Hogg was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many of the great writers of his day, including Sir
Walter Scott, of whom he later wrote an unauthorized biography. He became widely known as the "Ettrick Shepherd", a nickname under which some of his works were published, and the character name he was given in the widely read series 'Noctes Ambrosianae', published in
Blackwood's Magazine. He is best known today for his novel
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. His other works include the long poem
The Queen's Wake, his collection of songs
Jacobite Reliques, and the novels
The Three Perils of Man,
The Three Perils of Woman, and
The Brownie of Bodsbeck.