The Three Perils Of Man

"The Three Perils of Man" is a three-volume narrative poem written by James Hogg, a Scottish poet and novelist. This work is often considered one of Hogg's most ambitious and complex poetic works. The poem is known for its exploration of themes related to the human condition, morality, and fate. In the first volume of "The Three Perils of Man," the poem tells the story of a man named Walter, who is confronted with various moral dilemmas and challenges as he navigates the trials and tribulations of life. The poem delves into the complexities of human nature and the choices individuals make in the face of adversity. James Hogg's work is notable for its vivid descriptions of the Scottish landscape and its deep exploration of moral and philosophical themes. "The Three Perils of Man" is considered a significant contribution to Scottish literature and Romantic poetry, and it reflects the author's unique literary style and worldview.

Reproduction of the original: The Three Perils of Man by James Hogg

"The Three Perils of Man - Volume III" from James Hogg. Scottish poet and novelist (1770-1835).

Edited and introduced by Douglas Gifford. The Three Perils of Man is regarded as Hogg’s most ambitious work of fiction. The book’s extraordinary combination of the fantastic, the funny, the serious and the historically realistic must be unique in literature. The adventures of its characters, told with the author’s characteristically bold simplicity, are many, mad, and breathtakingly fast. Ranging from Galloway to Northumberland, the main focus of the book is to be found in the Scottish Borders. Hogg knew and loved the Borders well, and the book is full of their oral tradition and local lore. In his attempt to synthesise this material with history, romance and the high literary ideals of his time, Hogg’s nearest modern parallels would be a combination of Tolkien and Iain Banks. Hogg’s fusion of traditional folklore and innovative style was viewed as an anachronism by his contemporaries, and it is only now that his work is recognised s one of the most original and masterly in the Scottish canon.

Reproduction of the original: The Three Perils of Man by James Hogg

The days of the Stuarts, kings of Scotland, were the days of chivalry and romance. The long and bloody contest that the nation maintained against the whole power of England, for the recovery of its independence,—of those rights which had been most unwarrantably wrested from our fathers by the greatest and most treacherous sovereign of that age, with the successful and glorious issue of the war, laid the foundation for this spirit of heroism, which appears to have been at its zenith about the time that the Stuarts first acquired the sovereignty of the realm. The deeds of the Douglasses, the Randolphs, and other border barons of that day, are not to be equalled by any recorded in our annals; while the reprisals that they made upon the English, in retaliation for former injuries, enriched both them and their followers, and rendered their appearance splendid and imposing to a degree that would scarcely now gain credit. It was no uncommon thing for a Scottish earl then to visit the Court at the head of a thousand horsemen, all splendidly mounted in their military accoutrements; and many of these gentlemen of rank and family. In court and camp, feats of arms were the topic of conversation, and the only die that stamped the character of a man of renown, either with the fair, the monarch, or the chiefs of the land. No gentleman of noble blood would pay his addresses to his mistress, until he had broken a spear with the knights of the rival nation, surprised a strong-hold, or driven a prey from the kinsmen of the Piercies, the Musgraves, or the Howards. As in all other things that run to a fashionable extremity, the fair sex took the lead in encouraging these deeds of chivalry, till it came to have the appearance of a national mania. There were tournaments at the castle of every feudal baron and knight. The ploughmen and drivers were often discovered, on returning from the fields, hotly engaged in a tilting bout with their goads and plough-staves; and even the little boys and maidens on the village green, each well mounted on a crooked stick, were daily engaged in the combat, and riding rank and file against each other, breaking their tiny weapons in the furious onset, while the mimic fire flashed from their eyes. Then was the play of Scots and English begun, a favourite one on the school green to this day. Such was the spirit of the age, not only in Scotland, but over all the countries of southern Europe, when the romantic incidents occurred on which the following tale is founded. It was taken down from the manuscript of an old Curate, who had spent the latter part of his life in the village of Mireton, and was given to the present Editor by one of those tenants who now till the valley where stood the richest city of this realm.

One of Hogg's longest and also one of his most original and daring works, presented here in a scholarly edition in light of the discovery of the original manuscript.

Incredible tale of fantasy, witchcraft, humor and magic. Being a combination of supernatural folk tale, historical novel and also a satire this book displays a fundamental tensity between romance and anti-romance apparent in a number of Hogg's works. The story concerns two women and the contests they set down to the men who flatter them. James Hogg (1770-1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both 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.