“ LAIDLAW, WILLIAM (1780–1845) , friend and amanuensis of Sir Walter Scott, was born at Blackhouse, Selkirkshire, on the 19th of November 1780, the son of a sheep farmer. After an elementary education in Peebles he returned to work upon his father’s farm. James Hogg, the shepherd poet, who was employed at Blackhouse for some years, became Laidlaw’s friend and appreciative critic. Together they assisted Scott by supplying material for his Border Minstrelsy, and Laidlaw, after two failures as a farmer in Midlothian and Peebleshire, became Scott’s steward at Abbotsford. ”