On the reverse of the monument, which is literally a "simple stone," is the following honourable inscription: "By special grant of the managers, to Robert Burns, who erected this stone, this burial-place is ever to remain sacred to the memory of Robert Fergusson." In more than one of his effusions, in prose and poetry, the Ayrshire poet has bewailed the fate of Fergusson; but perhaps the following little elegy, which he inscribed on a copy of the works of that poet, which he presented to a young lady (March 19, 1787), are less generally known than the rest:
Curse on ungrateful man that can be pleased,
And yet can starve the author of his pleasure
Oh thou, my elder brother in misfortune,
By far my elder brother in the muses,
With tears I pity thy unhappy fate!
Why is the bard unfitted for the world,
Yet has so keen a relish of its pleasures?
Whatever may be thought of the philosophy of this stanza, its feeling has an irresistible appeal.
The external appearance of Fergusson, so far as it is left undelineated in the sketch already quoted, was as follows:[1] His countenance was somewhat effeminate, but redeemed by the animation imparted to it by his large black eyes. Mingled with the penetrative glance of an acute and active mind, was that modesty which gives to superior intellect its greatest charm. Unfortunately there is no authentic portrait in existence, though it may be worth while to mention that his grand-niece, the late Miss Inverarity, the actress, bore so strong a resemblance to him, as to have struck the mind of an individual who remembered the appearance of Fergusson, and who had learned neither the name of the young lady nor her relation to the poet Fergusson's manners were always accommodated to the moment: he was gay, serious, set the table in a roar, charmed with his powers of song, or bore with becoming dignity his part in learned or philosophical disquisition. "In short he had united in him," says Mr Alexander Campbell, "the sprightliness and innocence of a child, with the knowledge of a profound and judicious thinker."—"Gentleness and humanity of disposition," says Dr Irving, "he possessed in an eminent degree. The impulse of benevolence frequently led him to bestow his last farthing on those who solicited his charity. His surviving relations retain a pleasing remembrance of his dutiful behaviour towards his parents; and the tender regard with which his memory is still cherished by his numerous acquaintance fully demonstrates his value as a friend." It may be added, that, to this day, there prevails but one universal impression in favour of Fergusson. Cut off in the greenest of his days, he still lives in the feeling of the world, exactly what he really was in life, a gentle and youthful being ; of whom no one could think any ill, and who was the friend and brother of every body.
FINLAYSON, James, D.D. F.R.S.E., professor of logic and metaphysics in the university of Edinburgh, and one of the ministers of the high church of that city, was born on the 15th of February, 1758, at Nether Cambusnie, in the parish of Dumblane, a small farm which his ancestors had occupied for several centuries. His parents, who were persons of much worth and in comfortable circumstances, had the satisfaction of witnessing the eminence to which their son arrived, and of having their old age cheered by his dutiful attentions; but they had likewise the misfortune to survive his death, which took place at a comparatively early age. Having passed some years of his early childhood under
- ↑ According to another individual who recollects seeing him, "he was very smally and delicate, a little in-kneed, and waigled a good deal in walking."
