Robert Fergusson. By A. B. Grosart. (Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier,
L'dinnurgh.)—Dr. Grosart means well by his hero in the monograph which he has added to the popular and inter- esting "Famous Scots" series, and, as a previous work from his pen has proved, is more familiar with the history of the luckless predecessor and (to a certain extent) inspirer of Burns than any previous biographer has shown himself. But he is sadly lacking in self-restraint and the faculty of literary concentration, and he is provokingly prone to expletives and digressions. Unquestion- ably "the poor white-faced, drunken, vicious boy who raved him- self to death in the Edinburgh madhouse," as Robert Fergusson is styled in a curious letter from Robert Louis Stevenson which Dr. Grosart publishes, has been unfairly treated by critics, more particularly by a Dr. Irving, who seems to have been to him very much what Griswold was to Poe. But Dr. Grosart ought to have contented himself, at this time of day at all events, with a dispassionate statement of the facts of Fergusson's life, which certainly go to prove that even if he did, as a lawyer's apprentice, drink in Edinburgh taverns, he was no worse than most young men of his day, and even than others who, considering their years and social position, might have been expected to know and to do better. Dr. Grosart is rather too elaborate in the genealogical portion of his book, and he might well have spared his readers the extracts from the opinions entertained of Fer- gusson by such critics as Carlyle with which he prefaces his narrative. At the same time, there is no denying the almost fierce industry of Dr. Grosart, or the fact that it has resulted in some not unimportant "finds." For example, he presents what may fairly be regarded as facts bearing on Fergusson's mysterious and irregular career as a student at St. Andrews University; he makes it plain that but for the parsimony of an uncle on the mother's side the lad's life might have been much smoother ; and he deepens the tragedy of that life by showing that a draft for .£100 and an invitation to go to India came too late. Dr. Grosart also demonstrates very conclusively the consider- able indebtedness of Burns to Fergusson,—an indebtedness which the younger and greater artist frankly acknowledged. With all its faults, this is the Life of the Scottish Chatterton.
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