Robert Fergusson's Grave - Edinburgh, Scotland
N 55° 57.114 W 003° 10.803
30U E 488756 N 6200740
The grave of Scottish poet Robert Fergusson is located in the churchyard of the Canongate Kirk church along the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Waymark Code: WMEZGX
Location: Southern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/28/2012
Views: 3
ABOUT ROBERT FERGUSSON'S GRAVE SITE:
In 1774, Robert Fergusson was buried in an unmarked grave in Canongate Kirk churchyard. In 1787, upon learning about the unmarked grave, Robert Burns commissioned and paid for a gravestone to remember Fergusson. The headstone reads:
Here Lies
ROBERT FERGUSSON
Born September 5th, 1751
Died October 16th, 1774
No sculptur'd Marble here nor pompous lay
No storied Urn nor animated Bust
This simple Stone directs Pales Scotia's way
To pout her Sorrows o'er Poet's Dust.
A plaque at the foot of the grave reads:
R.L. Stevenson planned to renovate Robert Fergusson's tombstone
with the following inscription, but died before he could do so:
"This stone, originally erected by Robert Burns,
has been repaired at the charges of Robert Louis
Stevenson and is by him re-dedicated to the memory
of Robert Fergusson as the gift of one Edinburgh
lad to another".
The Saltire Society, on its 50th Anniversary, with support of
Edinburgh District Council, commemorates the three Roberts
by inscribing Stevenson's words.
ABOUT ROBERT FERGUSSON:
"Robert Fergusson (5 September 1750 – 16 October 1774) was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the University of St Andrews, Fergusson followed an essentially bohemian life course in Edinburgh, the city of his birth, then at the height of intellectual and cultural ferment as part of the Scottish enlightenment. Many of his extant poems were printed from 1771 onwards in Walter Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine, and a collected works was first published early in 1773. Despite a short life, his career was highly influential, especially through its impact on Robert Burns. He wrote both Scottish English and the Scots language, and it is his vivid and masterly writing in the latter leid for which he is principally acclaimed."