Fergusson

“ Arthur commented uneasily; and remembered that he had made the same remark to Turner a few hours earlier.
"Ay, he would be that," Fergusson said. "There have been times when I have liked him very well myself; but I always had the feeling that there was something queer about him—a trifle uncanny, if you know what I mean."
"Oh, well! Perhaps. I don't know," Arthur said. "He seems sometimes to be extraordinarily detached; as if he were living a sort of life of his own."
"Hm! Likely enough," Fergusson agreed. "Simon told me that Kenyon had a hell of a time when he was a young man. ”

“ Fergusson was in the drawing-room when I went in. I like him, Jean. He has the keen sense of humour I love to see in a man, and a sense of repressed force of character—how can I describe it? When he forgets himself and talks with earnestness and animation, you realise he is a strong and clever man, but you also realise that there is a good deal more of him to know than he lets you know. ”

“ Fergusson. "They're charming to the girls! Chivalrous, kind, everything they should be. But then," she added proudly, "my girls are the pick—educated women all of them. I could trust them anywhere. And Captain Ellesborough—you won't get any mischief going on where he is."
Meanwhile the captain, well out of earshot of Mrs. Fergusson's praise, was explaining the organization of the camp to Rachel as they slowly climbed the hill, on the opposite side from that by which she and Janet had descended.
"Which works hardest, I wonder?" she said at last, as they paused to look down on the scene below. ”

“ Now, Matravers is a writer of an altogether different type.”
“Thanks,” she interrupted, “but I don’t want a homily. I am only curious about the man himself.”
Fergusson pulled himself up a little annoyed. He had begun to talk about a subject of peculiar interest to him.
“Oh, the man himself is rather an interesting personality,” he declared. “He is a recluse, a dilettante, and a very brilliant man of letters.”
“I want to know,” the lady said impatiently, “whether he is married.”
“Married! certainly not,” Fergusson assured her.
“Very well, then, I am going there to luncheon with you to-morrow.” ”

“ Fergusson solemnly interpreted. He laid at our feet everything to which he or the town of Lucena had any claim, and assured us that the honour of our visit was most deeply appreciated by the entire community; then he and his companions stood smiling before us while Mr. Fergusson turned my husband’s simple words of thanks and appreciation into Spanish metaphor and hyperbole.
I have often thought that America never could have won the friendship of the Filipinos if it hadn’t been for Mr. Arthur Fergusson’s clever tongue. ”

“ Why should the old man trade on these rather equivocal promises of future reward? He had given convincing reasons with regard to his own family, but they did not apply to Fergusson, nor to Scurr, the chauffeur, and the other servants. Arthur decided to try a "feeler."
"But hang it," he said, "I've done you out of a certain amount of income. All the consideration in the world doesn't make up for that."
Fergusson, looking slightly self-conscious, studied the ash of his cigar. "He's a queer old customer in some respects," he remarked illusively. ”

“ Fergusson returned. "Mr Kenyon was very considerate about the affair. I'm not complaining."
"Yes, he is very considerate," Arthur agreed, automatically. Had Fergusson been promised a place in that untidy will as compensation? was the thought that flashed across his mind, a thought that was in some indefinable way unpleasant. He did not grudge the doctor his possible legacy, he sincerely hoped that it might be a big one, but he had a feeling of vague distaste for the principle involved. Why should the old man trade on these rather equivocal promises of future reward? ”

“ Coming back along the Lowcester road one afternoon, I found a big car at such an angle across it that it could not be passed; and on approaching closer I discovered it to be the Fergussons’, with Lady Fergusson inside. So they had returned! I had become accustomed to looking fixedly in front of me when we had chanced to meet before they took refuge in town; but the present situation would have rendered such a p. 163manœuvre impossible, even if, directly I pulled up, the Fergussons’ chauffeur had not come to ask if I would do her Ladyship the kindness of speaking to her for a moment. ”

“ It was no easy task to lift the unfortunate creature, first through the green door, and then into the car, but Fergusson being an athletic man, with muscles in excellent order, and the tall servant being strong and well-built, their joint efforts succeeded in laying their burden along the cushions. ”

“ Fergusson, ignoring her speech, "that there are three centres round which most people gravitate: Themselves, as you say, and that centre is the poorest and most unsatisfying of all. Then, the centre of others. It is a wider and more beneficial one. But our Maker created us to revolve round Him. We shall have mistaken our purpose in life, if we do aught else."
"I always have made mistakes," said Jean, "and I shall continue doing it to the end." ”

“ Captain Fergusson glanced rapidly over his new instructions, and gave the necessary orders; and, not till the little vessel was fairly on her course, did he give his attention to St. Just.
Then he approached him. "For the time it seems I am to be your jailer, Mons. St. Just. I will make things as pleasant and comfortable as I can for you, consistent with your safe custody; but I shall have to confine you to your cabin and place an armed sentry at your door. Except for two hours' exercise daily on the poop, you will have to spend all your time there. ”

“ Whoever be the author, it must be said that FERGUSSON contributes to success of answers by his manner of reading them. So portentous is his gravity, so like a stone wall his imperturbability, that the Sage dashes himself up against it with much the same effect as if he were attacking one of the buttresses of Westminster Hall. It is a fortuitous concatenation of circumstances, most happy in its result, that when in the House of Commons an answer is to be given which shall convey no information, the MARKISS should dictate it, and FERGUSSON recite it. ”

“ He was made lord of justiciary 3 April 1749. He died at his residence near Edinburgh 20 Jan. 1759. Fergusson was married and had a large family, many of whom with his wife survived him. He collected and digested in the form of a dictionary the decisions of the court of session from 1738 to 1752. To these are added ‘a few decisions given in the years 1736 and 1737’ (advertisement) . ”

“ He was educated at Harrow, and became an advocate in 1822, practising at the Scotch bar until his father's death. He was a member of the Speculative Society, and at its meetings read two essays, one on the ‘Origin and Progress of Criminal Jurisprudence,’ and the other on the ‘History of Painting.’ Fergusson was an active promoter of almost every scheme of usefulness throughout Scotland. ”

“ This was broken by Mrs. Fergusson's asking a question. How many are asked for want of something to say! The questions of curiosity are few to those of politeness.
"Pray when do you expect your brother, Mr. Lorraine, in England?"
"Ah, Edward! Delawarr told me he was coming at last. He is to stay with us."
Mrs. Fergusson now, for the first time, looked at Emily, who, occupied in considering whether the Misses Fergusson were deaf or dumb, or both, was quite unconscious of the scrutiny.
A marriage and a death concluded the visit. ”

“ Tuesday.—FERGUSSON says life at Foreign Office would be endurable only for LABBY. The Sage has got the Triple Alliance on the brain; spends his mornings in drafting questions there anent. That FERGUSSON wouldn't mind so much, only it involves his spending his afternoons in drafting answers that shall look coherent, and yet say nothing. Answers often so admirably suited to their purpose, that doubts arise as to whether a firmer hand than FERGUSSON's has not traced them on paper. ”

“ Fergusson was the only one. He never mentions his brother."
"Leslie never talks of his own people or of himself at all. I wonder you have not discovered that. And George is not often at home. They hardly ever meet. How would you like Mrs. Fergusson as a mother-in-law? Do you think she would make a nice one?"
Jean looked at Meta in astonishment; then she said quietly—
"I should not think Dr. Fergusson was at all a marrying man."
"Leslie! Gracious, no! If he ever marries, it will be Aunt Helen. You look surprised, but he is so devoted to Sunnie, that it would be a good arrangement all round. ”

“ Fergusson soon after his release emigrated to Calcutta, where he practised as a barrister. He acted from 1813 to 1818 as standing counsel to the government and from 1818 to 1825 as king's advocate, and in twenty years acquired a large fortune. He then returned home in 1826, stood in the liberal interest for the stewartry of Kirkcudbright against General Dunlop of Dunlop, and was successful by a majority of one. He vigorously supported all liberal measures, and advocated with eloquence and energy the cause of Poland. ”

“ Burns in one of his poems attributes to Fergusson 'glorious pairts.' He was certainly a youth of remarkable powers, although 'pairts' rather than high genius seems to express his calibre, he can hardly be said to sing, and he never soars. His best poems, such as 'The Farmer's Ingle,' are just lively daguerreotypes of the life he saw around him—there is nothing ideal or lofty in any of them. His 'ingle-bleeze' burns low compared to that which in 'The Cottar's Saturday Night' springs up aloft to heaven, like the tongue of an altar-fire. ”

“ Fergusson busily sewing at her pretty needlework, and Anstice embroidering some frocks for the little girls.
"There is one point for which you must be thankful," Mrs. Fergusson said, towards the end of their conversation; "your small stepdaughters have got a deep and adoring love for their home. They will never stay long away from it when they get older. I do not think the lure of town gaiety, and bustle, will have any attraction for them."
"Yes, they are devoted to their home. They consider the lake and Fells as all part of their personal possessions. ”

“ Ferguson, or Fergusson, is the surname (son of Fergus) of a Highland sept (whose arms we have been unable to obtain) , which had its seat on the borders of the counties of Perth and Forfar, immediately to the north of Dunkeld, and the distinctive badge of which was the little sunflower. In the Roll of 1587, they are named as among the septs of Mar and Athole, where their proper seat as a clan originally lay, having chiefs and captains of their own. ”

“ I see her horrid Norwegian play has come to utter grief at the New Theatre.”
“She is a clever woman,” Fergusson remarked. “One can only hope for the best.”
She flashed a quiet glance at him.
“You know her, then,—you have been to see her.”
“Not yet,” Fergusson answered. “I am going to meet her to-morrow. Matravers has asked me to lunch.”
“Tell me about Matravers,” she said.
“I am afraid I do not know much. He is a very distinguished literary man, but his work has generally been critical or philosophical,—every one will be surprised to hear that he has written a play. ”

“ Fergusson was regularly educated at Edinburgh, and is a medical officer of the British army; a man of noble and commanding figure, handsome and intellectual countenance, and finished manners. He is affable, as well as dignified, in his deportment, and fluent and interesting in conversation. To him, and five or six other men of color, whom I have met on the coast, I should refer, as proofs that individuals of the African race may, with due advantages, be cultivated and refined so as to compare with the best specimens of white gentlemen. ”

“ Suddenly he remembered that this was Sunday morning, and that he had intended going to the mountains. To start at once would enable him to avoid an argument with his mother concerning the inevitability of damnation for those who miss early [pg 40] Mass. He rose and dressed himself, putting on a cotton shirt, a faded and dirty pair of overalls and coarse leather riding boots; tied a red and white bandana about his neck and stuck on his head an old felt hat minus a band and with a drooping brim. So attired he looked exactly like a Mexican countryman—a poor ranchero or a woodcutter. ”

“ In 1771 Fergusson became a regular contributor to Ruddiman's ‘Weekly Magazine, or Edinburgh Amusement.’ He began with ‘Pastorals,’ according to the orthodox method of the eighteenth century. Presently, however, by the contribution of several Scottish poems, he was hailed as the direct successor to Allan Ramsay. From all parts of the country his fame began to be sounded, and before the end of 1772 he was the intimate friend of many of the most important and the most gifted men of Scotland. ”

“ That was doubtless one reason why the old man had welcomed him. He had come here simply to go deer-hunting with Archulera, to eat his goat meat and chile, to get away from the annoyance and boredom of his life in town, and into the crude, primitive atmosphere which he had loved as a boy. Catalina had been to him just the usual slovenly figure of a Mexican woman, a self-effacing drudge. ”