Aytoun, William Edmondstoune

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

a'ton, William Edmondstoune (1813-1865), an Edinburgh poet, humorist, and writer of short stories. He studied for the bar but disliked the profession and took to writing instead. In 1845 he was appointed professor of rhetoric and English literature in the University of Edinburgh, which position he held until his death. In 1854 he became editor of Blackwood's Magazine. Professor Aytoun was the author of the Life and Times of Richard I, Firmilian, a Spasmodic Tragedy, the poem, Bothwell, and a novel, Norman Sinclair. His best known work, however, was Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers, which has passed through a large number of editions. Stedman says that these ballads "rank among the worthiest of their class." The Execution of Montrose, and Edinburgh after Flodden, are probably the best of Aytoun's ballads. In 1849 Aytoun married the youngest daughter of Professor John Wilson, better known by his pen name of Christopher North. A story runs to the effect that when Miss Wilson entered her father's study to ask permission to wed, he wrote "With the author's compliments" on a piece of paper and pinned it on her back. He then sent her to her lover in the parlor, as though she were a presentation copy of his latest work. In the work of Professor Aytoun, similar in kind to Macaulay's but more varied, and upon Scottish themes, we also discern what wholesome and noteworthy verse may be composed by a man who, if not a poet of high rank, is of too honest a breed to resort to unwonted styles, and to measures inconsonant with the English tongue.--Stedman.