Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-04-11
A nALLowEp spor.
The House In which the Meeting u 0atne
and Scott Took P1A00.

The House In Which the Meeting u Oes~
and Scott Took PlA0o.
One of the most interesting OF I'll thD
literary landmarks Of Edinburgh, mt
urally, is the house in which Burns ana
Scott met for tho first and only time.
The story has been often told by Scott
himself, and by others who were pres
ent, and is familiar to all admirers Of
both poets; but the question OF the
identity of the house has been the sub
ject of much discussion among the local
historians and antiquarians for many
years. That it was the house Of Prof.
Adam Ferguson there is no doubt, bus
as to where the professor ut that t1mo
lived the doctors differ. In Peter VIII
liamson's Edinburgh Directory OF 1855,
his address is given 4 Argyle square
which was near the university. and
which disappeared on the constructaon
of Chambers street-and this fact Leo %
the inference that the interview must
have occurred in that place. as burns
was in Edinburgh during the winter OF
1851. But Scott himself speaks OF FER
guson as living in an insulated house
some distance from the town (Argyle
square was almost in the heart OF the
city); in a biographical sketch OF Fer
guson, printed in the Transactions OF
the Edinburgh Royal Society 1S6l-4),
the writer says he lived at that time IN
a suburb called the Sciennes;" Henry
Cockburn in his Memorials says: Oid
Adam Ferguson lived just east OF
my fathers house," which would point
clearly to the neighborhood OF the
| SCHEMES; and to crown all, Mr.. Arcn1-
| bald Munro, in a letter to one OF the
| Edinburgh papers published about ten
| years ago, says he found a printed rec.
ord in the register Office showing THAI
Prof Ferguson disposed of his house IN
| Argyle square on October 3, l1so-aI
most two months before Burns arrived
in town-and that he got possession OF
SCHEMES house on the 11th of October
| of the same year. This must surely
settle the question Of locality. Certain
antiouaries assert that the stone cot
tage now called Alice villa, and num-
| bered 2 SCHEMES hill, was Ferguson'S
home-a claim which neither the size
nor the modern construction OF tho
house would seem to warrant So that
the old building, or what is left OF II,
still known as SCHEMES house, certain
ly appears to have been
Where Robbie Burns ordained Sir Walter
| Scott"
1t stands on the north side of Braid's
place-which is not numbered-two
doors from the street called tine
SCHEMES" The present front, entirely
rebuilt, was the back OF the house oc-
cupied by Ferguson. The original
front. still remaining in part, looked
out upon its own grounds, now paved
ward full of children and of drying
clothes. This front is not visible from
the streets about it, and the fact OF 1T:
existence is comparatively unknown
. even to the inhabitants of It's own i'm
, mediate neighborhood. SCHEMES hous'
!. .. in its day must have been an imposing
mansion 1t has four windows IL
!. breadth. and is three stories high; OF
: its roof is balustrade, and groups o
! flowers and fruits carved in stone ar
still to be seen upon it.
The name SCHEMES, by the way,
> derived from the old convent of st
: Katherine of Siena, which once stoo'
:. near by, and the word is pronounced II
. the local vernacular as If spelle'
. .Sheens'' The fact that all OF thes
= points are now for the first time estat
. lished and made public must be the eN
cuse for the devotion of so much spac
. to this particular matter.-Laurenc
Hutton, in Harper's Magazine.