FERGUSON, DR ADAM, was the
son of the Rev. Adam Ferguson, parish minister of Logie Rait, in Perthshire,
descended of the respectable family of Dunfallandy; his mother was from the
county of Aberdeen. He was born in the year 1724, in the manse of his
father’s parish, and was the youngest of a numerous family. He received the
rudiments of his education at the parish school; but his father, who had
devoted much of his time to the tuition of his son, became so fully
convinced of the superior abilities of the boy, that he determined to spare
no expense, but to afford him every advantage in the completion of his
education. He was accordingly sent to Perth and placed under the care of Mr
Martin, who enjoyed great celebrity as a teacher. At this seminary Ferguson
greatly distinguished himself, as well in the classical branches of
education, as in the composition of essays; an exercise which his master was
in the habit of prescribing to his pupils. His theses were not only praised
at the time of their being delivered, but were long preserved and shown with
pride by Mr Martin, as the production of a youthful scholar. In October,
1539, Ferguson was, at the age of fifteen, removed to the university of St
Andrews, where he was particularly recommended to the notice of Mr
Tullidelph, who had been lately promoted to the office of Principal of one
of the colleges. At St Andrews, there is an annual exhibition for
four bursaries, when the successful competitors, in writing and translating
Latin, obtain gratuitous board at the college table, during four years.
Ferguson stood first among the competitors of the under-graduate course for
the year he entered the college. At that period the Greek language was
seldom taught in the grammar schools in Scotland; and although young
Ferguson had thus honourably distinguished himself by his knowledge of
Latin, he seems to have been unacquainted with Greek. By his assiduity,
however, he amply regained his lost time; for so ardently did he apply
himself to the study of that language, that, before the close of the
session, he was able to construe Homer; nor did his ardour cease with his
attendance at college, for during the vacation, he tasked himself to prepare
one hundred lines of the Iliad every day, and facility increasing as he
advanced in knowledge, he was enabled to enlarge his task, so that by the
commencement of the succeeding session, or term, he had gone through the
whole poem. This laborious course of study enabled him to devote the
succeeding years of his attendance at college to the attainment of a
knowledge of mathematics, logic, metaphysics, and ethics.
From St Andrews, on the close
of his elementary studies, Mr Ferguson removed to Edinburgh to mix with, and
form a distinguished member of that galaxy of great men which illustrated
the northern metropolis about the middle of the 18th century. Nor was it
long before his acquaintance among those who were thus to shed a lustre over
Scotland commenced, for soon after his arrival in Edinburgh, he became a
member of a philosophical society, which comprehended Dr Robertson, Dr
Blair, Mr John Home, the author of "Douglas," and Mr Alexander Carlyle. A
society composed of young men of abilities so eminent, it may easily be
believed, was an institution peculiarly well adapted to promote intellectual
improvement and the acquisition of knowledge. This society afterwards merged
in the Speculative Society, which still exists, and has been the favourite
resort of most of the young men of talent who have been educated in
Edinburgh during the last sixty years.
"In his private studies," (we are
informed by one of his most intimate friends,) Mr Ferguson, while in
Edinburgh, devoted his chief attention "to natural, moral, and political
philosophy. His strong and inquiring unprejudiced mind, versed in Grecian
and Roman literature, rendered him a zealous friend of rational and
well-regulated liberty. He was a constitutional whig, equally removed from
republican licentiousness and tory bigotry. Aware that all political
establishments ought to be for the good of the whole people, he wished the
means to vary in different cases, according to the diversity of character
and circumstances; and was convinced with Aristotle that the perfection or
defect of the institutions of one country does not necessarily imply either
perfection or defect of the similar institutions of another; and that
restraint is necessary, in the inverse proportion of general knowledge and
virtue. These were the sentiments he cherished in his youth; these the
sentiments he cherished in his old age."
Mr Ferguson was intended for
the church, and had not pursued the study of divinity beyond two years,
when, in 1744, Mr Murray, brother to Lord Elibank, offered him the situation
of deputy chaplain, under himself, in the 42d regiment. In order, however,
to obtain a license as a preacher in the church of Scotland, it was
necessary at that time to have studied divinity for six years, and although
the fact of Ferguson having some slight knowledge of the Gaelic language,
might have entitled him to have two of these years discounted, still no
presbytery was authorized to have granted him his license. He was therefore
obliged to apply to the general assembly of the church of Scotland, when in
consideration of the high testimonials which he produced from several
professors, a dispensation was granted in his favour, and having passed his
trials, he obtained his license as a preacher; immediately after which he
joined his regiment, then in active service in Flanders. In a short time he
had the good fortune to be promoted to the rank of principal chaplain.
Mr Gibbon has declared that
the manoeuvres of a battalion of militia, of which he was colonel, had
enabled him to comprehend and describe the evolutions of the Roman legion;
and no doubt Mr Ferguson owed his knowledge of military affairs by which he
was enabled to give such distinctness and liveliness to his descriptions of
wars and battles, to the experience which he acquired while with his
regiment on the continent. Nor did his service prove less beneficial to him
by throwing open a wide and instructive field of observation of the human
character, and imparting a practical knowledge of the mainspring of
political events.
On the peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle, Mr Ferguson obtained leave of absence when he visited his
native country. At home, he spent his time partly in Perth-shire, wandering
about in comparative idleness, enjoying the beautiful scenery which
surrounded his father’s manse, and partly in the capital where he renewed
his acquaintance with the friends of his youth. About this period he
solicited the Duke of Athol for the living of Caputh, a beautiful and
retired parish near Dunkeld, in Perthshire; he was, however, unsuccessful in
his application, and it was owing, perhaps, to this disappointment that he
did not ask the living of Logie Bait, on the death of his father, which took
place shortly after. Having rejoined his regiment, he seems thenceforward to
have abandoned all intention of undertaking a parochial charge. Indeed, his
talents did not peculiarly fit him for the office of a preacher; for
although he had acquired a great facility in writing, his sermons were
rather moral essays than eloquent discourses. This, in a great measure,
disqualified him for becoming a favourite with a presbyterian congregation,
in which so much always depends on the preacher’s capacity to excite and
sustain a spirit of devotion among his hearers, by the fidelity,
earnestness, and energy of his exhortations, and the fervour of his prayers.
Although thus unfitted by the nature of his genius to shine as a preacher,
Mr Ferguson’s great abilities, his polished manners, and the benevolence of
his disposition, peculiarly fitted him for taking a prominent part in
literature and in private society.
In the year 1757, Mr.
Ferguson resigned the chaplaincy of the 42d regiment, after which he was
employed for upwards of two years as private tutor in the family of the earl
of Bute; and in the year 1759, he was chosen professor of natural
philosophy, in the university of Edinburgh; which chair he retained until
the year 1764, when he obtained the professorship of moral philosophy—a
chair much better suited to his genius, and to the course of study which he
had pursued.
In 1766, he published his Essays on
Civil Society. The object of this work is,—according to the favourite mode
of the literary men with whom Ferguson associated,—to trace men through the
several steps in his progress from barbarism to civilization. This, which
was his first publication, contributed not a little to raise Mr Ferguson in
public estimation, and the university of Edinburgh hastened to confer on him
the honorary degree of LL D. In the same year, he revisited the scenes of
his youth, and delighted the old parishioners of his father by recollecting
them individually, while they were no less proud that their parish had
produced a man who was held in such estimation in the world. During this
year, also, he was married to Miss Burnet, from Aberdeenshire, the amiable
niece of the distinguished professor Black, of Edinburgh. In order to render
his lectures more useful to his pupils, Dr. Ferguson, about this time,
published "his in stitute
or synopsis of his lectures."
Dr Ferguson continued to
enjoy the literary society of Edinburgh, interrupted only by the recreation
of cultivating a small farm in the neighbourhood of the city, until the year
1773; when he was induced by the liberal offers of lord Chesterfield, nephew
to the celebrated earl, to accompany him in his travels. After a tour
through most of the countries of Europe, Dr Ferguson returned in 1775, to
the duties of his chair, which, during his absence, had been ably performed
by the well known Dugald Stewart. This relief from his academical duties,
proved not only highly advantageous to Dr Ferguson in a pecuniary: point of
view, but contributed considerably to his improvement. His lectures
on his return were not only numerously attended by the usual routine of
students, but by men of the first rank and talents in the country. We have
the testimony of one, who, although young at the time, seems to have been
well able to appreciate his talents, as to Dr Ferguson’s manner as a
lecturer.—"The doctor’s mode of communicating knowledge, was firm, manly,
and impressive, but mild and elegant; he was mild, but justly severe in his
rebukes to the inattentive and negligent. One day that he was engaged in
that part of his course that treated of the practical application of the
moral qualities which he had before described, and was speaking of the folly
of idleness and inattention to the business in hand, some thoughtless young
men were whispering and trifling in the gallery. ‘Gentlemen,’ said he,
‘please to attend, this subject peculiarly concerns you.’" In the year 1776,
Dr Ferguson answered Dr Price’s production on civil and religious liberty.
The ground on which he differed with Dr Price, was on the applicability of
his doctrine to society and to imperfect man.
We have an early notice of Dr
Ferguson’s being engaged in the composition of his History of the Roman
Republic in the following valuable letter, addressed by him to Edward
Gibbon, dated Edinburgh, 18th April, 1776:—"Dear sir, I should make some
apology for not writing you sooner, an answer to your obliging letter; but
if you should honour me frequently with such requests, you will find that,
with very good intentions, I am a very dilatory and irregular correspondent.
I am sorry to tell you, that our respectable friend, Mr Hume, is still
declining in his health; he is greatly emaciated, and loses strength. He
talks familiarly of his near prospect of dying. His mother, it seems, died
under the same symptoms; and it appears so little necessary, or proper, to
flatter him, that no one attempts it. I never observed his understanding
more clear, or his humour more pleasant or lively. He has a great aversion
to leaving the tranquillity of his own house, to go in search of health
among inns and hostlers. And his friends here gave way to him for some time;
but now think it necessary that he should make an effort to try what change
of place and air, or anything else Sir John Pringle may advise, can do for
him. I left him this morning in the mind to comply in this article, and I
hope, that he will be prevailed on to set out in a few days. He is just now
sixty-five.
"I am very glad that the
pleasure you give us, recoils a little on yourself, through our feeble
testimony. I have, as you suppose, been employed, at any intervals of
leisure or rest I have had for some years, in taking notes or collecting
materials for a history of the destruction that broke down the Roman
republic, and ended in the establishment of Augustus and his immediate
successors. The compliment you are pleased to pay, I cannot accept of, even
to my subject. Your subject now appears with advantages it was not supposed
to have had, and I suspect, that the magnificence of the mouldering ruin
will appear more striking, than the same building, when the view is
perplexed with scaffolding, workmen, and disorderly lodgers, and the ear is
stunned with the noise of destructions and repairs, and the alarms of fire.
The night which you begin to describe is solemn, and there are gleams of
light superior to what is to be found in any other time. I comfort myself,
that as my trade is the study of human nature, I could not fix on a more
interesting corner of it, than the end of the Roman republic. Whether my
compilations should ever deserve the attention of any one besides myself,
must remain to be determined after they are farther advanced. I take the
liberty to trouble you with the enclosed for Mr Smith, (Dr Adam Smith,)
whose uncertain stay in London makes me at a loss how to direct for him. You
have both such reason to be pleased with the world just now, that I hope you
are pleased with each other. I am, with the greatest respect, dear sir, your
most obedient and humble servant, ADAM FERGUSON." This letter is not only
valuable from its intrinsic worth and the reference it has to the
composition of the History of the Roman Republic, but from its presenting,
connected by one link, four of the greatest names in British literature. Mr
Ferguson, however, was interrupted in the prosecution of his historical
labours, having been, through the influence of his friend Mr Dundas,
afterwards lord Melville, appointed secretary to the commissioners sent out
to America in the year 1778, to negotiate an arrangement with our revolted
colonies in that continent. The following historical detail will show the
success of this mission:—"In the beginning of June, 1778, the new
commissioners arrived at Philadelphia, more than a month after the
ratification of the treaty with France had been formally exchanged. The
reception they met with was such as men the most opposite in their politics
had foreseen and foretold. Dr Ferguson, secretary to the commission, was
refused a passport to the Congress, and they were compelled to
forward their papers by the common means.
"The commissioners, at the
very outset, made concessions far greater than the Americans, in their
several petitions to the king, had requested or desired—greater, indeed,
than the powers conferred upon them by the act seemed to authorize. Amongst
the most remarkable of these, was the engagement to agree that no
military force should be kept up in the different states of America, without
the consent of the general congress of the several assemblies—to concur in
measures calculated to discharge the debts of America, and to raise the
credit and value of the paper circulation—to admit of representatives from
the several states, who should have a seat and voice in the parliament of
Great Britain—to establish a freedom of legislation and internal government,
comprehending every privilege short of a total separation of interest, or
consistent with that union of force in which the safety of the common
religion and liberty depends.
"These papers, when laid
before the Congress, were read with astonishment and regret, but from the
declaration of INDEPENDENCE, they had neither the will, nor the power to
recede. An answer, therefore, brief but conclusive, was returned by the
president, Henry Laurens, declaring, ‘that nothing but an earnest desire to
spare the farther effusion of human blood could have induced them to
read a paper containing expressions so disrespectful to his most christian
majesty, their ally, or to consider of propositions so derogatory to the
honour of an independent nation. The commission under which they act,
supposes the people of America to be still subject to the crown of Great
Britain, which is an idea utterly inadmissible.’ The president added, ‘that
he was directed to inform their excellencies of the inclination of the
congress to peace, notwithstanding the unjust claims from which this war
originated, and the savage manner in which it had been conducted. They will,
therefore, be ready to enter upon the consideration of a treaty of peace and
commerce, not inconsistent with treaties already subsisting, when the king
of Great Britain shall demonstrate a sincere disposition for that purpose;
and the only solid proof of this disposition, will be an explicit
acknowledgment of the independence of the United States, or the withdrawing
his fleets and armies.’" Conduct so haughty on the part of the Americans,
necessarily put a stop to all farther negotiation, and the commissioners
having, in a valedictory manifesto, appealed to the people, returned home.
On his return to Scotland, Dr
Ferguson resumed the charge of his class and continued the preparation of
the Roman History. That work made its appearance in the year 1783; and two
years afterwards, he resigned the chair of moral philosophy in favour of Mr
Dugald Stewart; while he was himself permitted to retire on the salary of
the mathematical class which Mr Stewart had held. Dr Ferguson then took up
his residence at Manor, in the county of Peebles, where he passed his time
in literary ease and in farming; an occupation for which he had a peculiar
taste, but which he ultimately found so unprofitable, that he was glad to
relinquish it. He seems also to have devoted his attention to the correction
of his lectures, which he published in 1793.
While exempt from all cares
and in the enjoyment of good health, and of a competent fortune, Dr
Ferguson, in his old age, conceived the extraordinary project of visiting
Rome. He accordingly repaired once more to the continent, visiting the
cities of Berlin and Vienna, where he was received with great attention. His
progress southward was, however, stopped by the convulsions consequent on
the French revolution. To this great political phenomenon, Dr Ferguson’s
attention had been earnestly directed, and it is curious to know, that he
had drawn up (although he did not publish it) a memorial, pointing out the
dangers to which the liberties of Europe were exposed, and proposing a
congress with objects similar to those which occupied the congress of
Vienna, in 1814.
On his return borne, Dr Ferguson
retired for the remainder of his life to St Andrews, a place endeared to him
by early habits and admirably fitted for the retreat of a literary man in
easy circumstances. There, in addition to the professors of that ancient
university, he enjoyed the society of the patriotic George Dempster, of
Dunnichen; and having had almost uninterrupted good health up to the
patriarchal age of ninety-three, he died on the 22d of February, 1816. "He
was," to use the words of an intimate friend of the family, "the last great
man of the preceding century, whose writings did honour to the age in which
they lived, and to their country; and
none of them united in a more distinguished degree the acquirements of
ancient learning, to a perfect knowledge of the world, or more eminently
added to the manners of a most accomplished gentleman the principles of the
purest virtues."
In his person, Dr Ferguson
was well formed, active, and muscular; his complexion fair, his eyes blue,
his features handsome, intelligent, and thoughtful. There is a very fine and
correct portrait of him in an ante-room at Brompton Grove, the seat of Sir
John Macpherson. Unlike many who have devoted themselves to the abstruse
study of philosophy, he had an intimate knowledge of the world; having mixed
much with courtiers, statesmen, politicians, and the learned and
accomplished, not only in Great Britain, but throughout Europe. His
knowledge of the human character was consequently accurate and extensive;
his manners were polished, simple, and unostentatious; while his
conversation was agreeable and instructive. Warned by an illness with which
he was seized when about the age of fifty, resembling in its character an
apoplectic fit, he abstained from the use of wine, and during the remainder
of his life, lived most abstemiously, and enjoyed an uninterrupted course of
good health. His fortune was affluent; besides the fees and salaries of his
class and the price of his works, he held two pensions, one from government
of £400, and another from lord Chesterfield of 200 a year. By these means,
aided by a munificent gift from his pupil, Sir John Macpherson, he was
enabled to purchase a small estate near St Andrews; he was also possessed of
a house and garden in that city, on which he expended a thousand pounds.
Bred in the tenets of the
church of Scotland, he was a respectful believer in the truths of
revelation; he did not, however, conceive himself excluded from cultivating
the acquaintance of those who were directly opposed to him in their
religious opinions, and his intimate friendship with David Hume subjected
him to the reprehension of many of the Christian professors of his time. A
list of those with whom Dr Ferguson maintained an intimate acquaintance and
intercourse, would include all who rose to eminence during the last half of
the 18th, and the early part of the present century. Dr Ferguson left six
children; three sons, and three daughters: Adam, in the army, John, in the
navy, and the third son in the East India Company’s service.*
*The following is a list of Dr
Ferguson’s works.
"The History of Civil Society," in one
volume, published 1766
"His Institutes of Moral Philosophy,"
8vo, 1769.
His answer to Dr Price’s celebrated
observations on Civil and Political Liberty, 1776. This pamphlet is
peculiarly remarkable for the liberality and delicacy with which he treats
the principles and intentions of his antagonist.
"The History of the Progress and
Termination of the Roman Republic," 3 vols. 4 to, 1783.
And lastly, his celebrated work,
entitled, the "Principles of Moral and Political Science, being chiefly a
retrospect of Lectures delivered in the College of Edinburgh." 2 vols. 4to,
1792.
Biographical
Sketch of Adam Ferguson LL.D., F.R.S.E
By John Small M.A. (1864) (pdf)
History and Theory in
the Work of Adam Ferguson
A Reconsideration (1975) by David Kettler (pdf) |