--all sheer
conjecture. {122a} Not that I fear to encounter Colonel Elliot on this
ground, but argufying on it is dull, and apt to be inconclusive.
In the letter of Hogg to Scott (June 30, 1803) as given by Mr. Douglas
in Familiar Letters, Hogg says, "I am surprised to find that the songs
in your collection differ so widely from my mother's . . . Jamie Telfer
differs in many particulars." {123a} The marks of omission were all
filled up in Hogg's MS. letter thus: "Is Mr. Herd's MS. genuine? I
suspect it." Then it runs on, "Jamie Telfer differs in many
particulars."
I owe this information to the kindness of Mr. Macmath. What does Hogg
mean? Does "Is Mr. Herd's MS. genuine?" mean all Herd's MS. copies
used by Scott? Or does it refer to Jamie Telfer in especial?
Mr. Macmath, who possesses C. K. Sharpe's MS. copy of the Elliot
version, believes that it is Herd's hand as affected by age. Mr.
Macmath and I independently reached the conclusion that by "Mr. Herd's
MS." Hogg meant all Herd's MSS., which Scott quoted in The Minstrelsy
of 1803.
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