The letters in the second volume of Gillian Hughes's pioneering edition vividly reflect Hogg's varied social experience and shed new light on his own writings and those of his contemporaries. His correspondents included major writers such as Scott and Byron, politicians such as Sir Robert Peel, and publishers such as John Murray and William Blackwood. But there are also letters to shepherds, farmers, aristocrats, musicians, young ladies, and bluestockings.In this meticulous and thoroughly researched edition, Hogg's entertaining and informative letters are illuminatingly placed in context by an editorial apparatus that includes full annotation and biographical notes on Hogg's chief correspondents."