friend Cleghorn. The vessel had scarcely been well launched, however, on
the ocean of letters, when storms arose a-head; hot disputes occurred
between the publisher and the editors, which ultimately terminated in
the withdrawal of the latter from the concern, and their connexion with
the _Edinburgh Magazine_, an opposition periodical established by Mr
Constable. The combating parties had referred to the Shepherd, who was
led to accord his support to Mr Blackwood. He conceived the idea of the
"Chaldee Manuscript," as a means of ridiculing the oppositionists. Of
this famous satire, the first thirty-seven verses of chapter first, with
several other sentences throughout, were his own composition, the
remaining portion being the joint fabrication of his friends Wilson and
Lockhart.[39] This singular production produced a sensation in the
capital unequalled in the history of any other literary performance; and
though, from the evident personalities and the keenness of the satire,
it had to be cancelled, so that a copy in the pages of the magazine is
now a rarity, it sufficiently attained the purpose of directing public
attention to the newly-established periodical. The "Chaldee Manuscript"
appeared in the seventh number of _Blackwood's Magazine_, published in
October 1817. To the magazine Hogg continued to be a regular
contributor; and, among other interesting compositions, both in prose
and verse, he produced in its pages his narrative of the "Shepherd's
Calendar." His connexion with this popular periodical is more generally
known from the position assigned him in the "_Noctes Ambrosianæ_" of
Professor Wilson. In those interesting dialogues, the _Shepherd_ is
represented as a character of marvellous shrewdness and sagacity, whose
observations on men and manners, life and literature, uttered, as they
are, in the homeliest phrases, contain a depth of philosophy and vigour
of criticism rarely exhibited in the history of real or fictitious
biography. "In wisdom," writes Professor Ferrier, "the Shepherd equals
the Socrates of Plato; in humour, he surpasses the Falstaff of