The Spy was a periodical directed at the Edinburgh market, edited by James Hogg, with himself as principal contributor, which appeared from 1 September 1810 to 24 August 1811.
As an outsider, Hogg used his periodical to give a critical view of the dominant upper-class culture of Edinburgh, with Walter Scott and Francis Jeffrey as its leading lights, and to launch his career as a writer of fiction as well as poetry.
Hogg established The Spy during the year when he exchanged farming life in the south of Scotland for a literary career in Edinburgh.
Several of Hogg's own contributions to The Spy were included, with smaller or greater revisions, in some of his later publications: most notably, for prose items, Winter Evening Tales (1820) and, for poems, Poetical Works (1822).
1: The editor ('the Spy') introduces himself and his plan to compare Scottish poets and reviewers with each other, noting especially inconsistencies of judgment by individuals.
2: Mr Giles Shuffleton conjures up the characteristic muses of Walter Scott, Thomas Campbell, James Hogg, and John Leyden (continued in Nos 5 and 10).
The number ends with two verse epitaphs on Alexander Gibson Hunter of Blackness and Mrs Quin, a prostitute.
The number ends with an imitation of Catullus by James Park (c. 1778‒1817) and an epitaph by Hogg on Dr John Borthwick Gilchrist and his wife.
7: The number contains three letters to the editor: 'Alice Brand' objects to her husband's arranging dinner parties for entertaining and enlightening conversation, which is never forthcoming; 'Fanny Lively' argues against the separation of the sexes on social occasions; and in the third letter (by John Ballantyne) the correspondent censures coarse and immoral features in the earlier issues.
11 (James Gray): The stubborn correspondent of Nos 6, 8, and 9 concludes his life story with his descent into bigamy and utter perdition.
12: The editor explains the obstacles that 'John Miller', fresh from the country, will encounter in pursuing a literary career in Edinburgh.
13: The editor gives a review of the opening night of The Clandestine Marriage by David Garrick and George Colman the Elder at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, including remarks by John Miller.
The number ends with a letter giving an account of the strange death in 1800 of John Macpherson of Lorick, and a poem 'The Druid' by Janet Stuart.
15 (by James Gray): A foreign gentleman writes to complain of his difficulty in making the acquaintance of Edinburgh citizens, who are devoted to ostentatious and extravagant parties.
18: The editor, unrecognised in a reading room, tells of hearing two different views as to what The Spy should contain and quotes a published argument that it is impossible to please everybody.
[6] The number ends with 'Story of the Ghost of Lochmaben' by 'John Miller' and a poem by Miss Lockhart Gillespie, 'The Night Gale'.
20 (author unknown, ascribed to Walter Scott or Hogg):[7] 'Well-wisher and Constant Reader' writes on the arguments for and against card-playing, himself preferring the singing of old songs and ballads.
23: In the first half of the number, by James Lister (1750‒1832), 'An Observer' writes to complain about the unfair treatment of prisoners in the Canongate Tolbooth.
28 (by Mary Gray): The writer tells of a couple ruined by adversity in the country and then in Edinburgh, and their rescue by a benevolent doctor who, it transpires, had known the wife when they were both children.
The number ends with two poems: 'Moor-Burn: A Simile' by Miss Lockhart Gillespie, and Hogg's 'Border Song' ('Lock the door, Lariston …').
33 (by James Gray): The writer argues that much Classical education is wasted on boys, and that it is valuable only when pursued with application and a sense of its usefulness, in achieving which mothers can play a crucial cole.
The number ends with two poems: 'The bittern's quavering trump …' by Hogg, and 'The Harper of Mull' by James Aikman.
38 (by Thomas Gillespie, 1778‒1844): 'A Scots Tutor' tells of his education up to his student days in Edinburgh (continued in Nos 42 and 46).
40: 'Malise' relates his tour of the Trossachs with many allusions to Walter Scott's poem The Lady of the Lake and a versification of a story heard on the trip, 'Macgregor.—A Highland Tale'.
S.' argues from his own experience that absence of female contact during prolonged bachelorhood can lead a man to relinquish the idea of marriage.
45 (by Mary Gray): Two country girls respond differently to Edinburgh: Elen is industrious, Jessie feckless with predictable consequences.
46 (by Thomas Gillespie): 'A Scots Tutor' concludes the story in Nos 38 and 42 with an account of his unhappy engagement by Lord Chesterrook [the Earl of Wemyss].
The number ends with two poems: 'To the Patriots of Spain' by John Wightman (1762‒1847), and 'A Winter Scene' by Miss Lockhart Gillespie.
49: The editor tells the story of the Highland boy Duncan Campbell and his beloved collie dog Oscar (continued in No.
50 (by John Clinton Robertson): The writer laments the decline, with the sophistication and corruption of society, in the force and morality of songs and ballads.