The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1891-05-28
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and SCOTT Took Place.
One of the most interesting Of all tho
literary landmarks Of Edinburgh, nat
urally, Is the house in which Burhs and
Scott met for the first and only time.
The story has been often told by Scott
himself, and by others who were pres
emit, 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 In no doubt, but
rs to where the professor ut that time
lived the doctors differ. In Peter VIII
lismson's Edinburgh Directory of 1855,
his address is given as Argyle square
which was near the university, and
which disappeared on the construction
of Chambers streef--nnd this fact led TO
the inference that the interview must
have occurred in that place, rs Burns
was in Edinburgh during the winter Of
'56z7. 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 biographical sketch of Fer
guson, printed in the Transactions of
the Edinburgh Royal Society (ls61-4).
the writer says he lived at that time sin
a suburb called the Sciences" Henry
Cockburn In his Memorials says: stOld
Adam Ferguson lived Just east of
my fathers house," which would point
clearly to the neighborhood of the
SCHEMES; and TO crown all, Mr.. Archi-
bald Munro, in letter to one of the
Edinburgh papers published about ten
years ago, says he found . printed rec
ord In the register Office showing that
Prof. Ferguson disposed Of his house in
Argyle square on October 3, 1TS6-al-
most two months before Burns arrived
in town--and that he got possession OF
SCHEMES house on the 18th Of October
of the same year. This must surely
settle the question Of locality. Certain
antiquaries assert that the stone cot
tage now called Alice villa, and num-
bered SCHEMES hill, was Ferguson's
home-a claim which neither the size
nor the modern construction of the
house would seemto warrant. So that
the old building, Or what is left Of 1t,
still known rs SCHEMES house, certain
~ appears to have been
"the spot
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 "The
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
yard full of children and of drying
clothes. This front Is not visible from
the streets about it, and the fact Of its
existence is comparatively unknown
even to the inhabitants of its own inn
mediate neighborhood. SCHEMES house
in its day must have been an imposing
mansion. 1t has four windows In
breadth, and is three stories high; on
its roof is balustrade, and groups of
flowers and fruits carved in stone are
still to be seen upon it.
The name SCHEMES, by the way, Is
derived from the old convent of st.
Katherine of Siena, which once stood
near by, and the word is pronounced in
the local vernacular as II spelled
"Sheens-" The fact that all OF these
points are now for the first time estab-
lished and made public must be the ex-
cuse for the devotion of so much space
to this particular matter.-Laurence
Hutton in Harner,s MaUazine