nothing, either in money or clothes, and I did not even need to ask
these." To Mr Grieve, Hogg was especially indebted; six months he was an
inmate of his house, and afterwards he occupied comfortable lodgings,
secured him by his friend's beneficence. Besides these two invaluable
benefactors, the Shepherd soon acquired the regard and friendship of
several respectable men of letters, both in Edinburgh and elsewhere. As
contributors to "The Spy," he could record the names of James Gray of
the High School, and his accomplished wife; Thomas Gillespie, afterwards
Professor of Humanity in the University of St Andrews; J. Black,
subsequently of the _Morning Chronicle_; William Gillespie, the
ingenious minister of Kells; and John Sym, the renowned Timothy Tickler
of the "_Noctes_." Of these literary friends, Mr James Gray was the more
conspicuous and devoted. This excellent individual, the friend of so
many literary aspirants, was a native of Dunse, and had the merit of
raising himself from humble circumstances to the office of a master in
the High School of Edinburgh. Possessed of elegant and refined tastes,
an enthusiastic admirer of genius, and a poet himself,[30] Mr Gray
entertained at his table the more esteemed wits of the capital; he had
extended the hand of hospitality to Burns, and he received with equal
warmth the author of "The Forest Minstrel." In the exercise of
disinterested beneficence, he was aided and encouraged by his second
wife, formerly Miss Peacock, who sympathised in the lettered tastes of
her husband, and took delight in the society of men of letters. They
together made annual pedestrian excursions into the Highlands, and the
narrative of their adventures proved a source of delightful instruction
to their friends. Mr Gray, after a lengthened period of residence in
Edinburgh, accepted, in the year 1821, the Professorship of Latin in the
Institution at Belfast; he subsequently took orders in the Church of
England, and proceeded to India as a chaplain. In addition to his
chaplaincy, he held the office of preceptor to one of the native princes