SOURCE: "Robert Fergusson, 1750-1774," in The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. LV, No. 326, 1923, pp. 179-88.

In the following excerpt, Bell offers an overview of Fergusson 's life and career and comments on some of the poems that established the poet's reputation.

Robert Fergusson, the Scottish poet, was born in Edinburgh on September 5, 1750, and died in the same city on October 16, 1774; a brief life, yet worthy of long remembrance. His parents, William Fergusson and Elizabeth Forbes, both children of the farm-house, in 1746 left Tarland in Aberdeenshire, and settled in the metropolis, where William Fergusson showed considerable business capacity, and, after a hard struggle with poverty, obtained a good and permanent position with the British Linen Company. Young Robert early displayed an aptitude for letters, and in 1758 joined the High School. In 1762 he was appointed to the Fergusson Bursary, which provided 'maintenance and education' for two poor children at the Grammar School...