Extempore, on seeing some Stanzas to Mrs. Hartley, wherein she is described as resembling Mary Queen of Scots, A Dirge, 268 The Author's Life, 268 Song " Since brightest beauty soon must fade," 269 On the Author's intention of going to Sea, 269 On seeing a Collection of Pictures painted by Mr. Runciman, 269 MEMOIR OF ROBERT FERGUSSON. "I intend to write this Life with all truth, and equal plainness." ISAAC WALTON,-Sanderson. CHAPTER I. 1750-1756. Birth-Birth-place- Parentage-Employments of Father—Letters. ROBERT FERGUSSON, one of the "sweet-singers" of our fatherland, was born in Edinburgh on the 5th day of September 1750.1 1 I am enabled to state the birthday as above, positively, from familysources inaccessible to previous biographers. The date given in the short notice prefixed to Part II. of the Poems 1779 (supplementary to the volume published by the Author 1772-3), is 5th September 1751 (not 1750), a misprint which was not corrected till the Life of Fergusson by Dr. Irving appeared in 1799 (Glasgow: Chapman and Lang, pp. 44). This misprint had previously been repeated in the short Memoirs prefixed to the Poems as published in 1782 and 1785 in Edinburgh, in 1788-9 in Perth, in 1796 and 1799 in Paisley. Subsequent to 1799 it is only to be met with casually in reprints from the classic presses of Caldwell of Paisley, Johnston of Falkirk, &c. &c. It was only in 1832-5 that the correct chronology of Dr. Irving was, with intention, departed from. Mr. Chambers, in his 'Lives of eminent and distinguished Scotsmen,' in loc.: and in his 'Life of Fergusson' prefixed to a 'People's edition' of the Poems, has given 17th October 1750, as the birthday of the Poet, on the authority of Mrs. Duval, younger sister of Fergusson. The only reason assigned by Mrs. Duval for the change is с His birthplace was a small old house, much smaller than the rest, in the Cap-and-Feather close, a confined alley, memorable in Scottish story, which stood immediately above (the present) Halkerston's Wynd, but whose site is now, it is believed, (from improvements which, in these utilitarian days, only Antiquaries lament,) occupied by North Bridge Street.1 He was the third son of a family of (at least) five children. 2 His father was William Fergusson, who came from Tarland, Aberdeenshire. His mother, Elizabeth, the following somewhat singular one: "it (5th September) appears to have been the birthday of his elder sister Barbara." I have in my possession the list referred to by Mrs. Duval as her authority: but that list was taken from another (likewise in my possession), hastily written down, in pencil, by a Mr. Carnegie of whom nothing is known. My authority for 5th September 1750, as the birthday of the poet, is a Sketch of the Life of Fergusson by Mr. Thomas Ruddiman, an unpublished MS. which was presented to me by my-late venerable friend, Miss Ruddiman, confirmed by another shorter Sketch likewise drawn up by Mr. Ruddiman. His authority was the mother of Fergusson, who pointed out the misprint of 1751 in the Notice of 1779, 1782, &c. Moreover, the elder sister, Mrs. Inverarity, who, equally with Mrs. Duval must have known her own birthday, gave 5th September 1750 to Dr. Irving, as that of her brother. It is very apparent that Mrs. Duval had confounded the death with the birthday, and I am strengthened in this supposition by finding that in the Obituary of the Weekly Magazine, his death is (erroneously) inserted under the 17th (not the 16th) of October, which corresponds with the birthday given by Mrs. Duval. There is no entry of the birth of any of the Fergussons in the registers of the parish, which were duly examined 1746 to 1782. 1 Chambers. Mr. Wilson, in his interesting' Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time,' vol. II. p. 22, remarks, "In Edgar's map, the close is shown extending no further than in a line with Milne's Court, so that the whole of the east side still remains, including, it may be, the poet's birthplace." Edgar's map of the City was published in 1742, immediately before the commencement of the modern improvements. 2 Previous to the removal from Aberdeen there had been born, Henry, 1742 [See Appendix A]: Barbara (afterwards the wife of Mr. David Inverarity, joiner), 1744: John (who seems to have died in infancy), 1746. After residence in Edinburgh, Robert, 1750: Margaret (afterwards the wife of Mr. Alexander Duval, purser in the navy), 1753 [See Appendix B]; and (in a family-note A is written, but deleted), 1755. Inverarity MSS. and Chambers' Emin. Scots. Fergusson, in loc. 3 My authorities are, Ruddiman's Life of Fergusson, MS. Letter to Mr. Ruddiman from Walter Fergusson, Esq., Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh, 8th December, 1778, MS. * * "The name of Fergusson was not numerous in that part, [Tarland] of youngest daughter of John Forbes, tacksman of Templeton, Hillockhead and Wellhead of Kildrummy, likewise in Aberdeenshire, a cadet of the family of Tolquhon.1 At the time of our poet's birth, his father was in the employment, as clerk, of Mr. Robert Baillie, the only person then established in the capital (tempora mutantur) as a haberdasher. Mr. Fergusson removed to Edinburgh about 1746, much about the time the troubles of that period had ceased. The merchant with whom, in Aberdeen, he "served an apprenticeship," had died: and it was in consequence of this event that Mr Fergusson pushed his way to the Capital. He had only been in Edinburgh three days, when, from the excellent character which he sustained, he obtained the situation with Mr. Baillie, not however, significantly remarks Campbell, "without the precaution of security having been given that he was the North. A family of the name of Fergusson possessed the estate of Auchtererne in Cromar, from the reign of David II. to that of James V., when it seems to have become extinct. "In the 17th century, the lands of Badiforrow, near Inverury, were possessed by another family of the name of Fergusson (which intermarried with the Burnets), which afterwards acquired the estate of Pitfour. A third family of the name possessed the lands of Kinmundy in the last century: the ancestor of this branch of the name is said to have settled in Aberdeenshire about the year 1690. I am not aware of any other families of the name who held lands in Aberdeenshire: and although he may have sprung from one or other of them, I regret that I am unable to connect William Fergusson, the father of the poet, with any of those I have named."- Communicated by Mr. Joseph Robertson, editor of the Edinburgh Courant Newspaper. I may add that in a letter (now in my possession) from Henry Fergusson, to a former companion, he humorously claims a royal lineage. "I am the son of the ancient, the royal Fergus," Fergus-son; and in the answer, his friend, a " Mr. William Dick of London," says, "I am heartily glad to hear that ye son of the brave and the antient Fergus was well." 5th July 1765. Inverarity MSS. 1 Communicated by John Forbes, Esq., Writer, Old Meldrum, present representative of the family. 2 Letter of Walter Fergusson, Esq., W. S., to Mr. Ruddiman. This is the well-known gentleman who built St. James' Square, Edinburgh. He forms the subject of an extraordinary panegyric to Claudero. |