ly
supposed to be the birth-day of the poet. The Shepherd was laureate of
the club, and was present at many of the meetings. On these occasions he
shared the hospitality of Mr Alexander Bald, now of Craigward
Cottage--"the Father of the Club," and one of his own attached literary
friends. Mr Bald formed the Shepherd's acquaintance in 1803, when on a
visit to his friend Grieve, at Cacrabank. This venerable gentleman is in
possession of the original M.S. of the "Ode to the Genius of
Shakspeare," which Hogg wrote for the Alloa Club in 1815. In a letter,
addressed to Mr Bald, accompanying that composition, he wrote as
follows: "_Edin., April 23d, 1815._--Let the bust of Shakspeare be
crowned with laurel on Thursday, for I expect it will be a memorable day
for the club, as well as in the annals of literature,--for I yesterday
got the promise of being accompanied by both _Wilson_, and _Campbell_,
the bard of Hope. I must, however, remind you that it was very late, and
over a bottle, when I extracted this promise--they both appeared,
however, to swallow the proposal with great avidity, save that the
latter, in conversing about our means of conveyance, took a mortal
disgust at the word _steam_, as being a very improper agent in the
wanderings of poets. I have not seen either of them to-day, and it is
likely that they will be in very different spirits, yet I think it not
improbable that one or both of them may be induced to come." The club
did not on this occasion enjoy the society of any of the three poets.

[43] Hogg used to say that his face was "out of all rule of drawing," as
an apology for artists, who so generally failed in transferring a
correct representation of him to canvas. There were at least four
oil-paintings of the poet: the first executed by Nicholson in 1817, for
Mr Grieve; the second by Sir John Watson Gordon for Mr Blackwood; the
third by a London artist for Allan Cunningham; and the fourth by Mr
James Scott of Edinburgh, for the poet himself. The last is universally
admitted to be the most striking likeness, and, with the permission of
Mrs Hogg, it has been very successfully lithographed for the present
volume.

[44] See "Memoir and Correspondence of Mrs Grant of Laggan." 1844.

[45] See Lockhart's "Life of Sir Walter Scott."

[46] "The Domestic Memoirs and Private Life of Sir Walter Scott, by
James Hogg," p. 118. Glasgow, 1834. 16mo.

[47] _Blackwood's Magazine_, vol. iv., p. 521.

[48] Mr H. S. Ridd