The Shepherd was, however,
desirous of procuring the means of comfortable self-support,
independently of his literary exertions; and had modestly preferred the
request that he might receive a small farm in lease on the Buccleuch
estates. The request was at length responded to. The Duchess, who took a
deep interest in him, made a request to the Duke, on her death-bed, that
something might be done for her ingenious protege. After her decease,
the late Charles, Duke of Buccleuch, gave the Shepherd a life-lease of
the farm of Altrive Lake, in Yarrow, at a nominal rent, no portion of
which was ever exacted. The Duke subsequently honoured him with his
personal friendship, and made him frequently share of his hospitality.
From the time of his abandoning "The Spy," Hogg had contemplated the
publication of a periodical on an extended scale. At length, finding a
coadjutor in Mr Thomas Pringle, he explained their united proposal to
his friend, Mr Blackwood, the publisher, who highly approved of the
design. Preliminaries were arranged, and the afterwards celebrated
_Blackwood's Magazine_ took its origin. Hogg was now resident at
Altrive, and the editorship was entrusted to Pringle and his literary
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.
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