FERGUSON, ROBERT. 



FERISHTA, MOHAMMED KA8IM. 



I I 



In 1747 be published bis first work, <A Dissertation on the Phe- 

 auisna of the Harvest Moon,' having been previously introduced at 

 one of the sittings of the Royal Society by Mr. Folkes tho president 



In 1748 be read lectures on the eclipse of the sun which hap 

 in that year. From this period he began, under the patronage of the 

 Prince of Wales (afterwards George III.), to deliver lectures on 

 aotroooiny and mechanics ; they were numerously and fashionably 

 attended, and be now relinquished his former profession altogether. 

 From this time to the end of bis life he continued his lectures, and 

 wrote several works on astronomy and mechanics. 



Soon after the aeorasion of George III. a pension of 501. a year was 

 granted him out of the privy purse. In 1763 bo was elected a Fellow 

 if toe Royal Society, and in 1770 was chosen a member of the 

 American Philosophical Society. 



He died in 1770, ag.d sixty-six, leaving an only son, to whom he 

 bequeathed a considerable sum acquired by his lectures and his 

 writing*. 



Ferguson has contributed more than perhaps any other man in this 

 ouantry to the extension of physical science among all classes of 

 society, but especially among that largest class whose circumstances 

 io them from a regular course of scientific instruction. Perspi- 

 cuity in the selection nd arrangement of his foots, and in the display 

 of tho truths deduced from them, was his characteristic both as a 

 lecturer and a writer. 



The following are his principal works : ' Astronomy explained 

 upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles, and made easy to those who have 

 not studied Mathematics,' 4to, 1756. There hare been many editions 

 of this work; one by Dr. (now Sir David) Brewster, 2 vols. 8vo, 1811, 

 containing the new discoveries since the time of Ferguson. ' Lectures 

 on Subjects in Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, and Optics, with 

 the Use of the Globes, the Art of Dialling, and the Calculation of the 

 Mean Times of New and Full Moons snd Eclipses,' 8vo, 1760; 4to, 

 1764. An edition of this work by Dr. Brewster was published in 1805, 

 and another in 1806. 'An Easy Introduction to Astronomy for 

 Young Gentlemen and Ladies,' 1769. ' Introduction to Electricity,' 

 8vo, 1770. ' The Art of Drawing in Perspective made easy to those 

 who have no previous knowledge of Mathematics,' 8vo, 1775 : this was 

 bis but work. Besides other works not mentioned here, be contributed 

 several |pers to the ' Philosophical Transactions.' 



</../< by himself, prefixed to his 'Select Mechanical Exercises;' 

 Nichols's Anecdote*; Cr.uk, J'urruit of Knowledge under Difficulties, 

 vol. i.) 



FKRGUSON, or FERQUSSON, ROBERT, was bora at Edinburgh 

 about 1760, and educated at the University of St Andrews, where 

 be received some encouragement from one of the professors named 

 Wilkie, who employed him to transcribe his lectures. An anonymous 

 biographer (Life prefixed to Ferguson's Poems, edition of 1807) has 

 employed considerable research in discovering certain freaks of a kind 

 neither ludicrous nor in good taste, in which he appears to have 

 indulged during bis residence at St Andrews : one of these was near 

 being the cause of bis expulsion ; but the sentence was recalled, and 

 be remained as it appears for four years, during which time he 

 subsisted on a bursary or exhibition founded by a person of bis own 

 name. On leaving St Andrew's, he paid a visit to an uncle from 

 whom be bad expectations of employment, but after a few months 

 left his house under circumstances of which bis anonymous biographer 

 gives a very unsatisfactory account During the remainder of his life 

 be was employed in the ofEce of the commissary-clerk of Edinburgh, 

 with the exception of a few months spent in that of the sheriff clerk ; 

 and was a constant contributor to Ruddiman's 'Weekly Magazine,' 

 from which his poems were afterwards collected. Th local celebrity 

 which these productions obtained for him gave him so frequent 

 opportunities of convivial and other excess, as to ruin bis health, and 

 terminate his life at the early sge of twenty-four years. His hut days 

 were passed iu a mad-house, bis debauchery having ended iu repent- 

 ance which took the form of melancholy, when a serious accident 

 having caused the fracture of his skull, his mental faculties became 

 wholly deranged, and he died October 10, 1 774, aged only twenty-four. 



Fergueon's poems are written partly iu English and partly in Low- 

 land f-cotcb. Those in Lowland Scutch have been admired by 

 persons conversant with the idiom iu which they are written ; but to 

 an Knplish ear they want the charm which makes Burns pleasing even 

 when be is scarcely intelligible. In praue of his English verses, a 

 little more msy be said ; but we suspect that the painful circumstances 

 of bis life created an interest about him to which much, if not most 

 of bis celebrity is owing. 



SSON, JAMES, architect, author of several valuable 

 works on architecture snd collateral subjects, was born at Avr, Soot- 

 bad, io too year 1808, and received his chief education at tho High 

 School at Edinburgh. Being des'imd for mercantile pursuits, be 

 spent two years iu Holland, snd a like period in a counting-house in 

 London, and in 1S29 be proceeded to India. His first occupation 

 there was as an ii.digo planter at Jessore; and be wss afterwards 

 managing partner of a large firm in Calcutta. After a residence of 

 ten years in India, he had realised sufficient to enable him to return 

 to England in 1889. During the period of bis absence be bad made 

 JjWt t China, and travelled through the principal districts of 



On his return to Europe be devoted himself wholly to literary and 

 scientific pursuits. His first publication was a description of the 

 llock Cut Temples of India, with which appeared a folio volun 

 plates. A second folio volume was published in 1847-48, a 

 Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Hindu 

 [n 1847 also appeared 'An Essay on the Ancient Topography of 

 Jerusalem,' which chiefly relates to the building known as the Mosque 

 of Omar, of which Messrs. Arundale, Bonoml, and Catherwood had 

 then recently succeeded in producing tho first authentic delineations, 

 and which are engraved [a the ' Essay.' Mr. Ferguason, judging from 

 the character of the architecture, and the occurrence of what appeared 

 to be a hewn sepulchre, argued that the ' Mosque ' was tli 

 the Holy Sepulchre. The arguments however havo not been generally 

 admitted. In 1849 be published the first volume of 'Au 

 Inquiry into the true principles of Beauty in Art, more especially ith 

 reference to Architecture,' a work which exhibits high reasoning 

 powers, and the application of previous theories to the special subject 

 of architecture. The historical part contains suggestions as to struc- 

 tural and decorative arrangements in certain old examples, about 

 which difficulty had been felt by students. The work was originally 

 intended to form three volumes. The materials for the completion 

 of the work were however reserved, and incorporated in the author's 

 recently published ' Illustrated Handbook of Architecture' Mr. 

 Ferguason also published iu 1849 some 'Observations on the British 

 Museum, National Gallery, and National Record Office, with sug- 

 gestions for their Improvement,' and somewhere about the same time 

 exhibited a design for the improvement of the National Gal)< TV. Hi 

 peculiar and accurate knowledge of the Eastern styles of architecture, 

 led him at once to take great interest in the discoveries at Nineveh 

 by M i . Layard and others ; and, whilst these were still proceeding, he 

 conceived an ideal restoration of the buildings then in progress of 

 excavation, together with those of Persepolis. These cone! 

 were given to the world in ' The Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis 

 restored ; an essay on Ancient Assyrian and Persian architecture,' an 

 illustrated volume published in 1851 ; and are now pretty generally 

 understood from the Assyrian Court at the Crystal Palace which 

 was planned and decorated under Mr. Fergusson's superintendence. 



In the course of his researches in India, Mr. Fergusson had 

 examined some of the earthwork fortifications raised by native races ; 

 and having been led to pay much attention to fortification, he 

 broached in 1849 an entirely new system, which he described in a 

 published es-ay, and illustrated at the Exhibition of 1851 by a model ; 

 and he afterwards issued ' Tho Peril of Portsmouth, or French Fleets 

 and Engli-h Forts,' which has gone through three editions. HH 

 theory aimed at the entire subversion of tho approved systems of 

 military engineers, preferred circular forms to angles and bastions ; 

 and, in contradistinction to the theory that the chances of success iu 

 the case of an invented fortification were necesraiily in favour of the 

 attack, he maintained the possibility of reversing the condition of 

 affairs so as to place the advantage on the side of the defence, 

 away with the old revetments as useless and even prejudicial, ana 

 substituting earthwork for masonry, he showed how guns might be 

 placed on terraces, so as to allow a considerable number to be brought 

 into use at once, and, as be thought, to keep, as before stated, t !.: 

 superiority at auy menaced point with the besieged; and, in spite of 

 the disadvantage of earthworks, that they must stand at slopes. 

 These views wero stoutly combated at meetings in the, United 

 Service Institution and in print, and the author's demonstrations were 

 indeed ridiculed ; but on the occasion of the long defence of Sebss- 

 topol, a town provided with the requisite large supply of cannon and 

 mattritl, and where earthworks and some contrivances which had 

 been suggested by Mr. Fergusson were skilfully applied, the subject 

 came more prominently before tho public. Mr. Fergusson about tho 

 same time directed attention to what ho deemed the malformation 

 of some of the forts lately erected on tho coast of Hants. This pro- 

 duced a further controversy, in the course of which he has lately 

 issued a sequel to ' The Peril of Portsmouth,' entitled ' Portsmouth 

 Protected,' with notes on Sebutopol and on other sieges during the 

 war, which he considered supplied evidence of the truth of hia 

 theory. Mr. Fergusson's present employment is that of general 

 manager to the Crystal Palace at Sydeuliam. Hi i other 



parts of the interior of his house in Langham-place, iu their fitttnga 

 and decorations, deserve notice here as amongst the best of recent 

 efforts in their department of practical architecture. 



FERISHTA, MOHAMMED KASIM, a celebrated Persian historian, 

 was born at Astrabad, on tho border of the Caspian Sea, in 1570. 

 His father, whose name wasGholam AH Hindoo Shah, and who appears 

 to have been a learned man, left his native country when Ferisbta 

 was very young and travelled into India. Ho finally settled at 

 Ahmuduuggcr, in tho Peccan, during the reign of Murtuza Nizam 

 Shah, and was appointed to instruct Mlran Uossem, tho sou of 

 Murtuza, in the Perniau language, but be died soon after this appoint- 

 ment Mlran Hossein however patronised his son Ferishta, and 

 through his influence the historian was advanced to high honours in 

 the court When Murtuwi was assassinated, Ferishta, who was then 

 only seventeen years of age, was captain of the royal guard. 



In tho troubles following the death of Murtuza, Ferishta left 

 Ahmudnugger (1589, see the preface to his history ), and went to 



