Ayton, SIR ROBERT

Ayton, SIR ROBERT, Scottish poet, was born at Kinaldie, Fife, in 1570, and entering St Leonard's College, St Andrews, in 1584, took his M.A. degree in 1588. For purposes of study he next visited France, whence he addressed, in 1603, an elegant Latin panegyric to King James, on his accession to the throne of England. This poem was the making of Ayton's fortune, for we find him appointed, successively, a gentleman of the bedchamber, private secretary to the queen, and master of requests—posts all continued to him in the following reign. He was knighted in 1612, and employed to convey copies of King James's Apology for the Oath of Allegiance to the German courts. Ayton was on terms of familiarity with all the poets, wits, and philosophers of his time—among others, Hobbes and Ben Jonson. He was himself a poet of considerable merit; but, unfortunately, a large number of his effusions being complimentary verses to his friends, are characterised by conceit and extravagant flattery. He was one of the first Scotsmen who wrote in English with any degree of elegance and purity. 'I do confess thou 'rt smooth and fair,' and the prototype of 'Auld Lang Syne,' have been ascribed to him, but on scant authority. He died at Whitehall Palace, February 1638. See his Poems, with a Memoir by Dr Charles Rogers (1871).