His godfather and godmothers sent him to the University, his father not being able.
[A] Sir Robert Aiton[79], knight;--he lies buried in the south aisle of the choire of Westminster abbey, where there is erected to his memory an elegant marble and copper monument and inscription--viz.
Clarissimi, omnigenaque virtute et eruditione (presertim poesi) ornatissimi equitis, Domini Roberti Aitoni, ex antiqua et illustri gente Aitona ad Castrum Kinnadinum apud Scotos oriundi: qui a serenissimo rege Jacobo in cubicula interiora admissus; in Germaniam ad imperatorem imperiique principes, cum libello regio regiae authoritatis vindice, legatus; ac primum Annae, demum Mariae, serenissimis Britanniarum reginis, ab epistolis, consiliis, et libellis supplicibus; necnon Xenodochio S'ᵃᵉ Catharinae praefectus; anima Creatori reddita, hic, depositis mortalibus exuviis, secundum redemptoris adventum expectat.
_Carolum_ linquens, repetit _Parentem_; Et valedicens _Mariae_, revisit _Annam_; et _Aulaei_ decus alto _Olympi_ Mutat honore.
Obiit coelebs in Regiâ Albaulâ, non sine maximo bonorum omnium luctu et moerore:
Aetat. suae LXVIII, Salut. humanae MDCXXXVIII.
Hoc devoti gratique animi testimonium optimo patruo, Jo. Aitonus, M.L.P.
_In white marble at the bottome of the monument:--_
Musarum decus hîc, patriaeque, aulaeque, domique Et foris exemplar, sed non imitabile, honesti.
His bust is of copper, curiously cast, with a laurell held over it by two figures of white marble.
That Sir Robert was one of the best poets of his time--Mr. John Dreyden sayes he has seen verses of his, some of the best of that age, printed with some other verses--quaere.
He was acquainted with all the witts of his time in England. He was a great acquaintance of Mr. Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, whom Mr. Hobbes told me he made use of (together with Ben Johnson) for an Aristarchus, when he made his Epistle Dedicatory to his translation of Thucydides. I have been told (I think by Sir John himself) that he was eldest brother to Sir John Ayton, Master of the Black Rod, who was also an excellent scholar.
[A] Aubrey gives in trick the coat:--'..., on a cross engrailed between 4 crescents a rose,' with the motto
He encircles the coat of arms with a laurel wreath, as is his custom when it is a poet whose life he is writing.