FERGUSSON, ROBERT (1750-1774). —Scottish poet, s. of a bank clerk, was ed. at the Univ. of St. Andrews. His f. dying, he became a copying clerk in an Edin. lawyer's office. Early displaying a talent for humorous descriptive verse, he contributed to Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine, then the principal Scottish receptacle for fugitive poetry. His verses, however, attracted attention by their merit, and he pub. some of them in a coll. form. Unfortunately he fell into dissipated habits, under which his delicate constitution gave way, and he d. insane in his 24th year. His poems influenced Burns, who greatly admired them.