It would require more hands to manage a stock of sheep, gather them from the hills, force them into houses and folds, and drive them to markets, than the profits of the whole stock were capable of maintaining.

A James Hogg Society was founded in 1981 to encourage the study of his life and writings. In 1815 the Duke of Buccleuch granted him a small farm at Eltrive Moss where he could live rent-free for his lifetime. In 1810 he moved to Edinburgh to start a literary career.

He is best known today for his novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. As a young man he worked as a James Hoggpherd and farmhand and was largely self-educated through reading. His other works include the long poem The Queen's Wake (1813) his collection of songs Jacobite Reliques (1819) and his two novels The Three Perils of Man (1822) and The Three Perils of Woman (1823).