The meetings were uniformly crowded; and the
Shepherd, who held the office of secretary, made a point of taking a
prominent lead in the discussions. He spoke once, and sometimes more
frequently, at every meeting, making speeches, both studied and
extemporaneous, on every variety of theme; and especially contributed,
by his rough-spun eloquence, to the popularity of the institution. The
society existed three years; and though yielding the secretary no
pecuniary emolument, proved a new and effective mean of extending his
acquaintance with general knowledge.
Hogg now took an interest in theatricals, and produced two dramas, one
of which, a sort of musical farce, was intended as a burlesque on the
prominent members of the Forum, himself included. This he was induced,
on account of the marked personalities, to confine to his repositories;
he submitted the other to Mr Siddons, who commended it, but it never was
brought upon the stage. He was about to appear before the world in his
most happy literary effort, "The Queen's Wake,"--a composition
suggested by Mr Grieve. This ingenious individual had conceived the
opinion that a republication of several of the Shepherd's ballads in
"The Spy," in connexion with an original narrative poem, would arrest
public attention as to the author's merits; while a narrative having
reference to the landing of the beautiful and unfortunate Queen Mary,
seemed admirably calculated to induce a general interest in the poem.
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