giving ministers a vote in parliament, comparing it to a "busking up of the brave horse for the overthrow of Troy". He died Father of the Church on 23 August 1598. He is described as "a good preacher, wise, and of jocund and pleasant disposition". He had a remarkable knowledge of the Scottish vernacular, and many of his sayings lingered long in the speech of the people. A portrait of him painted on timber in a small oval, and presented by John Row to the University Library, Edinburgh, cannot now be traced. Life His date of birth is debated, and he is reputed to have been a native of Dundee. Robert Wodrow states that he was by trade a glover, but gave up business and went to school, in order to fit himself for the duties of a preacher or expounder among the reformers. The Scottish doctor of the Sorbonne James Laing sneered at him as an ignorant cobbler (sutor) and glover. He was well acquainted both with Latin and Greek, and was among the earliest of the preachers of the reformed doctrines. When the first appointment was made of ministers or superintendents for places in Scotland, he was selected to go to Dunfermline; in 1567 Rosyth was placed under his care, but in 1574 it was excluded, while Cumnock and Beith were added. Ferguson was chosen moderator of the general assembly which met at Edinburgh on 6 March 1573, and also of that which met on 24 Oct. 1578. He usually had a place on important commissions, and for many years was chosen one of the assessors to the moderator to prepare matters for the assembly. He was one of the ministers who waited on James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton before his execution, 2 June 1581. In 1582 he was appointed by the assembly a commissioner for the West of Fife, to superintend the establishment of kirks and placing of ministers. Ferguson formed one of a deputation to wait on James VI in 1583 to discharge the duty of admonishing him 'to beware of innovations in court', to check reports before credit was given to them, and remind him of the affair of the escaped Jesuit, William Holt. He jocularly told the king that Fergus was the first king of Scotland, and that he was Fergus-son; but recognising that King James had the possession and was an honest