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"day he somehow procured a sailor's habit of the coarsest kind, in which he dressed himself; and, "with a huge stick in his hand, he visited a great "number of his acquaintances. He was so effec"tually disguised, that few or none of them ." knew him; and, by acquainting many of them "with some of their former transactions and con"duct, he so much surprised them, that they im"puted his knowledge to divination. By this

means he procured from many of them such a "fund of information, as enabled him to give them a greater surprise, when he resumed the "genuine character of Robby Fergussson.

For

" in the sailor's habit, he informed them of many

frailties and failings, that they imagined impos"sible for one of his appearance to know; and in the habit of Robby Fergusson, he divulged

many things which they believed none but the "ragged sailor was acquainted with.”

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These youthful frolics were not in themselves worthy of much disapprobation: some of them, on the contrary, gave a favourable view of his cha racter, and indicate a happy union of cheerfulness and benevolence. They, however, were too ofAten connected with circumstances of a nature inauspicious to the future welfare of youthful genius. and frequently the means of introducing him to scenes of the most pernicious influence.

It were an unpleasant and invidious task to exhibit a full narrative of the dissipated scenes in which Fergusson mingled. They were too numerous to admit of being particularly detailed, and too much alike, in their disgusting features, to afford any gratifications to the admirers of virtue and the friends of genius. The censorious might, indeed, find ample room for the indulgence of their spleen, and the illiterate might triumph ●ver the ruins of dishonoured talents and learning;

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but it is not to such men that a consideration of

Fergusson's life can be useful. It is to such as

stand in circumstances similar to those in which he was placed, that his errors speak from the grave with a voice of thunder. No man in the outset of life can survey the life of Robert Fergusson, without shuddering at the practices which sullied his existence; or consider his latter end, without sympathising in the horrors which conducted him to the tomb.

The fashionable practices of society in this part of the world, are perhaps the most fruitful sources from whence our countrymen derive their misery and their vice. Compared with these causes of wretchedness, the natural evils of existence, and the disadvantages of social condition, are as dust in the balance. Among others, the evils of conviviality are immensely pernicious. In many VOL. I. G

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cases, business cannot be transacted, but over the

glass the desirable intercourse of life, and the

:

pleasures of hospitality, are thought by many to

be unattainable, except in the gratification of intemperance. No man can avoid giving a sanction in a greater or less degree to such habits, by his practice, however much he may disapprove of them in the abstract, unless, indeed, he is ready to incur the charge of singularity and affectation, or chooses to relinquish all the charms of social intercourse. Wisdom, however, is manifested in the discreet use of intoxicating beverage. Under its influence, the most delicate sensibility, the "most rigid virtue, and inflexible firmness, cannot preserve a man from folly and from crime. In <the gay season of youth, its power is doubly baleful. Fergusson is a striking example. His un

1

*derstanding was powerful; his heart generous, even to weakness; his feelings delicate, elevated, honourable; his mind ardently glowed with the

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sublime emotions of religion: yet in the midst of the scenes of dissipation to which he was exposed, and in which he was admirably calculated to shine, his best qualities were humbled in the dust. Urg ed by the maddening draught, prudence, reason, principle, all fell prostrate before the potent poi son: he indulged in the gratification of animal passion, until his hapless career was closed in madu -

ness.

While his physical system was under the influ ence of medicine, for his recovery from the consequences of ebriety and folly, he was, unfortunately enticed to accompany some gentlemen, who were interested in an election business, to one of the eastern counties of Scotland. On this expe dition he was much exposed to the riotous enjoyments incident to such occasions; and these, in conjunction with his disordered health, produced a feverishness and decrepitude of mind amounting nearly to insanity.