Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/280

308 strength of body revived, and he regained sufficient composure of mind to express his vexation in a poem, entitled, "The Decay of Friendship," and his grounds for philosophic resignation in another, "Against Repining at Fortune." These pieces exhibit some fluency of versification, but do not breathe any poetic fire. In the first, he bewails the ingratitude of man, and according to ancient usage, determines to resort to some solitary shore, there to disclose his griefs to the murmuring surge, and teach the hollow caverns to resound his woes. In the second, he declares, that he was able to contemplate the gorgeous vanity of state with a cool disdain, and after reasoning the matter on the inadequacy of wealth to procure happiness, concludes that virtue is the sacred source of permanent and heart- felt satisfaction, a face, the truth of which is so very generally acknowledged, that the statement and elucidation of it is no longer considered to constitute poetry.

The behaviour of Mr Forbes in the matter just related, has been reprobated as ungenerous in the extreme. But it seems questionable, whether the censure be merited in its full extent Every man is, no doubt, bound to assist his fellow-men, and more particularly those who are connected with his own family, or have other claims to his patronage, as far as lies in his power. But it is difficult to fix the limits to which his exertions ought, in any particular case, to be carried, it may seem very clear to every one at the present day, that Fergusson was a man of genius, and ought to have been promoted to some office which might have conferred independence, at the same time that it left him leisure for the cultivation of his literary talents. This was, however, by no means so apparent at the period to which we refer, nor, perhaps, at any future period during the poet's lifetime. He presented himself in his uncle's house an expectant of favour; but his expectations might not, to any ordinary-minded person, appear very reasonable. He was a young man that had addicted himself to the profitless occupation of rhyming ; (who could tell he was to render himself eminent by it?) he could not submit his mind to common business, and had aversions that did not appear to rest on very feasible foundations, to certain employments which were proposed to him : and when we consider to how close a scrutiny, it is reasonable that those who solicit patronage should be prepared to submit, it does not seem wonderful that he should have been regarded as a young man who was disposed to remain idle, and that his friends should have been discouraged from using their influence in behalf of one who did not seem willing to do what he could for himself. We know few of the circumstances that took place during Fergusson's residence with his uncle, and it is unjust to deal out reproaches so much at random.

Some time after his return to Edinburgh, Fergusson obtained employment as a copyist of legal papers, in the office of the commissary clerk of Edinburgh; a situation miserably inferior to his talents, but which his straitened circumstances and his total want of an aim. in life, compelled him to accept. With the exception of some months devoted to similar duties at the Sheriff-clerk's office, he spent, in this humble employment, the remainder of his brief and unhappy life. The change from the one office tp the other seems to have been dictated purely by that desire of an alternation of misery, which caused the soldier who suffered under flagellation to cry first "strike high," and then "strike low." Having experienced some trouble from the fretful temper of the deputy commissary clerk, Mr Abercromby, under whom he performed his drudgery, he sought relief in the other office; but finding worse evils there, in the painful nature of the sheriff's duties as an enforcer of executions, he speedily solicited re-admission to his former place, and was glad to obtain it. It is generally supposed that Fergusson's employment involved the study of law, and that in that lay the unpleasantness of his situation. But in reality, the study of law, allow-