John Ogilvie (poet)

[1] A friend of James Beattie and Samuel Johnson he came to fame during his own life-time but had more success with his poetry than with longer texts.

He was born on 18 November 1733 in Aberdeen the son of Rev James Ogilvie.

He studied divinity at Marischal College in Aberdeen, graduating MA in 1759 and being immediately ordained in the Church of Scotland.

[2] It was to Ogilvie that Samuel Johnson delivered his infamous statement: th noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England (1763).

His proposers were Robert Arbuthnot (Ceylon), Henry Mackenzie, and Andrew Dalzell.