An example: "Of all Scott's bosom-cronies the man of quickest, lightest, most spontaneous fun, of most triumphant mimicry, and of gentlest, happiest temper, was, by universal testimony, Sir Adam Ferguson".

[7] He was also one of the nineteen original members of the society, 'called by way of excellence, "The Club"' formed in 1788 in Carrubbers Close, (a club formed for the consumption of oysters, claret and rum punch),[8][9]among the members of which, from the accident of a Newhaven fisherman mistaking him for a brother of the craft, he obtained the cognomen of Linton.

[10] It was in company with Ferguson that Scott in 1793 first visited the scenes in Perthshire on the highland border which he afterwards described in his poems and romances.

[12] In the early 1800s Ferguson entered the army; he was appointed an ensign on 1 December 1805 in the 2nd battalion 21st Regiment of Foot serving in Scotland and Ireland.

[15] He was promoted to captain in the 2nd battalion 58th Regiment in February 1808 and served in Jersey until embarking for Portugal where he arrived on 2 July 1809.

[21][22] In the summer of 1817 Ferguson accompanied Scott in an excursion to the Lennox, with the main aim of visiting Rob Roy's cave at the head of Loch Lomond.

[23] In the following year he and his sisters took up their residence in the mansion-house of Toftfield, which Scott had recently purchased, and on which, at the ladies' request, he bestowed the name of Huntlyburn.

[24] On 19 August 1818 Ferguson, mainly through the exertions of Scott, was appointed keeper of the Scottish Regalia,[25] which then had recently been re-discovered.

On the occasion of the visit of King George IV to Scotland he was knighted at Hopetoun House with Henry Raeburn on 29 August 1822.

[32] Between 1847 and 1852 Ferguson lived at 27 George Square, Edinburgh they are depicted in a painting executed by David Cooke Gibson held in the Scottish National Gallery.

[34] He was buried on 1 January 1855 in the now sealed south-west section of Greyfriars Kirkyard known as the Covenanter's Prison with his wife Margaret Stewart of Stenton.