Robert Fergusson was born in Edinburgh on 5 September 1750, the fourth child of William and Elizabeth Forbes Fergusson, who had moved to that city from rural Aberdeen a few years earlier. His father, an educated, restless, and somewhat disappointed man, earned a meager living as a "writer" or clerk-copyist, first in a law office and later in the linen trade. A sickly child, Fergusson was educated by his parents and then by a tutor. In 1758 he enrolled in the Edinburgh High School, where he received a strong classical education. In 1762 he transferred to the Grammar School of Dundee to take up a bursary (scholarship) limited to members of the Fergusson clan. The scholarship also entitled him to four years of support at the University of St. Andrews at ten pounds a year, so in December 1764 Fergusson entered the United Colleges of St. Leonard and St. Salvator. He continued his...