Records of the clan and name of Fergusson, Ferguson and Fergus

188 CLAN FERGUSSON
had been hit in battle, and kept whistling and righting till
he fainted. He was in later life tormented with rheumatism,
but though his strong frame was twisted and cramped in all
its movements, at last so as to confine him to his room,
there he was as cheerful and as busy with his books, his
pursuits and plans, as if the terrible spring winds of the East
Neuk of Fife had never chilled a vein or twisted a sinew.
He never attended to himself or his pains, but always
welcomed the visitor as when he was no sufferer. This was
his strength, and few went away from him without the lesson
learnt of how to bear. Like most Highlanders, he resolutely
shut the book if the page was unpleasant and slipt over to
the next.
' Sir Walter Scott, who got hints from every thing and
person, obtained from him much that he valued and used
in his description of Indian scenes ; just as he based the
nautical part of the Pirate on information extracted from the
Admiral. The Colonel, however, had the advantage over
his younger brother, the Admiral, of being a most graphic
penman.
' But the real friend and much loved companion of Scott
was Sir Adam Ferguson, the eldest brother ; his schoolfellow
and playmate.
' Shrewd, joyous, a bon-vivant, an unrivalled observer, an
unparalleled narrator, Scott always said that could Adam
print his face with his stories he need not have written.
Scott, himself abounding in every kind of anecdote, never
spoke in Sir Adam's company but to draw him out. If he
took a walk with you, he would relate things which he
observed, and which you missed. He had every quality of
a great dramatist. He seized on the essence of things. He
was equally apt for fun or for wit. He could make you roar
or weep. His anecdotes were full of the marrow, pith, sap of
human nature. They were endless ; for he had no repertory
to be produced in driblets and for chosen occasions. Break-
fast, dinner, or supper ; morning, noon, and night ; with us
alone, or with a company, and at a feast, he never failed and
never bored. No one ever feared his wit or tired of his
humour, for his simple and excellent maimers and tact made