330 B I0 G R A P 11 I CA L S KE T C H E S.
to spend the evenings with those families who were kind enough to receive him
into their domestic circle, where he always proved, if not a great addition, at
least a very pleasing one.
Upon an occasion of this description, when with the family of Mr. Fergusson,
the Count having expressed a desire to see how the proceedings were conducted
in the Court of Session, his host, in his usual obliging manner, agreed to
gratify the Count by calling for him next morning on his way to the Parliament
House. Mr, Fergusson was true to his appointment, and the artist
having observed the parties, has rendered the circumstance memorable by the
foregoing etching, which is remarkable for its correct representation of both
individuals.
The Count is still (1837) alive, and resides at Durham, in a pretty cottage on
the banks of the Wear, near the Prebend Bridge, Having obtained, through the
generosity of several kind friends, a small annuity, he now hoards with the
Misses Ebdon, the sisters of a minor canon of Durham, and seems much
attached to his intelligent landladies.
The celebrated Stephen Kemble, of cumbrous magnitude, was long his nextdoor
neighbour, and their vicinity to each other, as well as congeniality of
disposition, soon occasioned constant intercourse and an amusing intimacy
betwixt two persons formed by nature in moulds so different.
A nephew of the late Mr. Neil Fergusson happened to visit Count Bomwlaski
on the 8th of October 1836, and found him, although then in his 97th year,
still in tolerable bodily health, and in full possession of all his mental faculties.
He recurred with much feeling to the many acts of real friendship which he had
experienced from Mr. Fergusson, and spoke with warm gratitude of several other
individuals in the Scottish metropolis, whose delicate attentions had served to
mitigate the mortifying hardships of his peculiar lot.
While in Edinburgh, Boruwlaski’s name, from a similarity in sound, was
waggishly converted into Eamel-of- Whisky, by which appellation he was
generally known.
No. CXXXIV.
DR. ALEXANDER HAMILTON,
PROFESSOR OF MIDWIFERY.
THE Medical School of Edinburgh had been established for a very considerable
period of time before it was found necessary to institute a Chair to teach
the principles and practice of Midwifery. So early as 1726, Mr. Joseph
Gibson had been appointed by the Town Council to give instructions in
the art of midwifery ; but he appears to have confined his teaching to females