AIRD, THOMAS (1802-76), Scottish poet, and journalist, was born at Bowden, Roxburghshire, on Aug. 28, 1802, and died at Dumfries on April 25, 1876. In 1848 he published a collected edition of his poems, which met with much favour. Carlyle said that he found in them "a healthy breath as of mountain breezes." Among Aird's friends, besides Carlyle, were De Quincey, Lock hart, Stanley (afterwards dean of Westminster) and Motherwell. See a Life by J. Wallace prefixed to the Sth edition (1848) of his Poems.