York
After leaving Oxford Hogg was sent to York, to serve a legal apprenticeship. Timothy Shelley was furious when he learned of the expulsion, but John Hogg was not minded to discipline his son or to forbid him from associating with Percy Shelley. Prudentia Hogg, who was an Evangelical Christian, was shocked when she learned that her son was promoting atheism. She was further angered when she learned that her son had become a vegetarian, a decision that she attributed to Shelley's corrupting influence.
Hogg found employment in a conveyancer's office in York. Percy Shelley initially planned to visit him, but changed his plans in the spring of 1811 after he fell in love with a young woman named Harriet Westbrook. Shelley had always been opposed to the institution of marriage, but he cared deeply for Harriet and feared she would leave him if they did not marry. Hogg repeatedly made the case to Shelley that marriage was in Harriet's best interests. Shelley was eventually persuaded and eloped with Harriet to Edinburgh.
That autumn Hogg visited the couple in Edinburgh, which he greatly enjoyed. Hogg soon became very attracted to Harriet, and often spent time alone with her whenever Percy asked to write in solitude. Hogg eventually told Harriet of his feelings towards her, but she politely rebuffed him, and began to read novels with moral themes aloud in his presence.
After a stay of six weeks Hogg had to return to the conveyancer's office in York, and the Shelleys decided to accompany him back to his home in that city. In October 1811 Percy left for London to mediate in a dispute between his father and his uncle. Harriet remained with Hogg, who soon made further unsuccessful romantic advances towards her. Harriet's mother soon learned that Hogg and her daughter were living together, and sent Harriet's sister to stay with them. Harriet complained to Percy Shelley on his return about the way Hogg had treated her; Percy was offended, but nevertheless remained on friendly terms with Hogg. Troubled by the distress felt by his housemates, Percy Shelley suddenly decided to leave York with Harriet and her sister. Hogg subsequently sent him a series of angry letters in which he complained about how he had been treated. In his replies Shelley maintained that he still valued free love, but had left to calm Harriet. Hogg and Shelley subsequently exchanged many emotional letters over the course of the following two months, but then ceased communicating for a year.
In 1811 Hogg wrote a picaresque novel, Memoirs of Prince Alexy Haimatoff. He published it anonymously, with the claim that it had been translated from Latin by a man named John Brown at Prince Haimatoff's request. The book did not sell very well. Later critics have noted a resemblance between Haimatoff and Percy Shelley. Shelley wrote a mostly positive review of the book published in The Critical Review in 1814, but he did criticise the author for promoting "promiscuous concubinage", apparently a veiled reference to Hogg's attempts to seduce Harriet.
Read more about this topic: Thomas Jefferson Hogg
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