AYSCUE, fiekii, Sir GEORGE ( 1616-71 ) . An English admiral. Ile was knighted by Charles I., but held no command until 1646. Two years later, the neutrality which the navy had pre served while the Civil War raged on land ter minated, and a large part of the fleet set sail for Holland. It was chiefly the influence of Ays cue, who sided with Parliament, that prevented the remainder of the fleet from leaving the Eng lish coast, and his services were rewarded by an appointment as admiral. In this capacity he reduced Barbadoes (after a stubborn resistance by the Royalist Governor, Willoughby). Antigua. Nevis, Saint Christopher, and the on the Virginia coast (1651). During the fol lowing years lie was engaged in repeated naval conflicts with the Dutch. In 1666 his flagship, the Royal Prince, ran aground and was captured. He himself was seized and carried to Holland, where he was paraded through the towns and exhibited to the populace. He returned to Eng land in 1667.
AYTON, 5.'ton, Sir ROBERT ( 1570-1638). A Scottish poet. He was horn at the Castle of
Kinaldie. Fifeshire, and was educated at Saint Andrews, where he took the degree of M.A. in 15SS. From France, where be went for study, he addressed, in 1603, a panegyric in Latin hex amete•s to James I. This poem was the making of Ayton's fortune, for he was soon appointed one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber and pri vate secretary to the Queen. These honors were continued by Charles I. Anton was on terms of familiarity with the most eminent men of his time, poets, wits, and philosophers alike, among them Hobbes and Ben Jonson. Be was a poet of slight merit. He has, however, the distinction of being one of the first Scotehmen to write in the English of the court. To him have been at tributed the originals of two songs by Burns. one of which is "Should Auld Acquaintance Be For got:" But Anton probably did not write them. He died in Whitehall Palace in 1638. Consult Rogers. Poems. with memoir (Edinburgh, 1871).