Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 Part 18 (1/2)

_Ayrers Dramen_, edited by A. von Keller, have been published by the Stuttgart Lit. Verein (1864-1865). See also L. Tieck, _Deutsches Theater_ (1817); A. Cohn, _Shakespeare in Germany_ (1885), which contains a translation of the two plays mentioned above; J. t.i.ttmann, _Schauspiele des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts_ (1888).

AYRs.h.i.+RE, a south-western county of Scotland, bounded N. by Renfrews.h.i.+re, E. by Lanarks.h.i.+re and Dumfriess.h.i.+re, S.E. by [v.03 p.0075]

Kirkcudbrights.h.i.+re, S. by Wigtowns.h.i.+re and W. by the Firth of Clyde. It includes off its coast the conspicuous rock of Ailsa Craig, 10 m. W. of Girvan, Lady Island, 3 m. S.W. of Troon, and Horse Island, off Ardrossan.

Its area is 724,523 acres or 1142 sq. m., its coast-line being 70 m. long.

In former times the s.h.i.+re was divided into the districts of Cunninghame (N.

of the Irvine), Kyle (between the Irvine and the Boon), and Carrick (S. of the Doon), and these terms are still occasionally used. Kyle was further divided by the Ayr into King's Kyle on the north and Kyle Stewart. Robert Bruce was earl of Carrick, a t.i.tle now borne by the prince of Wales. The county is politically divided into North and South Ayrs.h.i.+re, the former comprising Cunninghame and the latter Kyle and Carrick. The surface is generally undulating with a small mountainous tract in the north and a larger one in the south and south-east. The princ.i.p.al hills are Black Craig (2298 ft.), 5 m. south-east of New c.u.mnock; Enoch (1865 ft.), 5 m. east of Dalmellington; Polmaddie (1750 ft.) 2 m. south-east of Barr; Stake on the confines of Ayrs.h.i.+re and Renfrews.h.i.+re, and Corsancone (1547 ft.), 3 m.

north-east of New c.u.mnock. None of the rivers is navigable, but their varied and tranquil beauty has made them better known than many more important streams. The six most noted are the Stinchar (_c_ soft), Girvan, Doon, Ayr, Irvine and Garnock. Of these the Ayr is the longest. It rises at Glenbuck, on the border of Lanarks.h.i.+re, and after a course of some 38 m.

falls into the Firth of Clyde at the county town which, with the county, is named from it. The scenery along its banks from Sorn downwards--pa.s.sing Catrine, Ballochmyle, Barskimming, Sundrum, Auchencruive and Craigie--is remarkably picturesque. The lesser streams are numerous, but Burns's verse has given preeminence to the Afton, the Cessnock and the Lugar. There are many lochs, the largest of which is Loch Doon, 5 m. long, the source of the river of the same name. From Loch Finlas, about 20 m. south-east of Ayr, the town derives its water-supply. The Nith rises in Ayrs.h.i.+re and a few miles of its early course belong to the county.

_Geology._--The greater portion of the hilly region in the south of the county forms part of the Silurian tableland of the south of Scotland. Along its north margin there is a belt of elevated ground consisting mainly of Old Red Sandstone strata, while the tract of fertile low ground is chiefly occupied by younger Palaeozoic rocks. The Silurian belt stretching eastwards from the mouth of Loch Ryan to the Merrick range is composed of grits, greywackes and shales with thin leaves of black shales, containing graptolites of Upper Llandeilo age which are repeated by folding and cover a broad area. Near their northern limit Radiolarian cherts, mudstones and lavas of Arenig age rise from underneath the former along anticlines striking north-east and south-west. In the Ballantrae region there is a remarkable development of volcanic rocks--lavas, tuffs and agglomerates--of Arenig age, their horizon being defined by graptolites occurring in cherty mudstones and black shales interleaved in lavas and agglomerates. These volcanic materials are pierced by serpentine, gabbro and granite. The serpentine forms two belts running inland from near Bennane Head and from Burnfoot, being typically developed on Balhamie Hill near Colmonell. Gabbro appears on the sh.o.r.e north of Lendalfoot, while on the Byne and Grey Hills south of Girvan there are patches of granite and quartz-diorite which seem to pa.s.s into more basic varieties. These volcanic and plutonic rocks and Radiolarian cherts are covered unconformably by conglomerates (Bennan Hill near Straiton and Kennedy's Pa.s.s) which are a.s.sociated with limestones of Upper Llandeilo age that have been wrought in the Stinchar valley and at Craighead. South of the river Girvan there is a sequence from Llandeilo--Caradoc to Llandovery--Tarannon strata, excellent sections of which are seen on the sh.o.r.e north of Kennedy's Pa.s.s and in Penwhapple Glen near Girvan. Llandovery strata again appear north of the Girvan at Dailly, where they form an inlier surrounded by the Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous formations. Representatives of Wenlock rocks form a narrow belt near the village of Straiton. Some of the Silurian sediments of the Girvan province are highly fossiliferous, but the order of succession is determined by the graptolites. Near Muirkirk and in the Douglas Water there are inliers of Wenlock, Ludlow and Downtonian rocks, coming to the surface along anticlines truncated by faults and surrounded by Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous strata. In the south-east of the county there is a part of the large granite ma.s.s that stretches from Loch Doon south to Loch Dee, giving rise to wild scenery and bounded by the high ground near the head of the Girvan Water, boulders of which have been distributed over a wide area during the glacial period. Along the northern margin of the uplands the Lower Old Red Sandstone is usually faulted against the Silurian strata, but on Hadyard Hill south of the Girvan valley they rest on the folded and denuded members of the latter system. The three divisions of this formation are well represented. The lower group of conglomerates and sandstones are well displayed on Hadyard Hill and on the tract near Maybole; the middle volcanic series on the sh.o.r.e south of the Heads of Ayr and from the Stinchar valley along the Old Red belt towards Dalmellington and New c.u.mnock; while the upper group, comprising conglomerates and sandstones, form a well-marked synclinal ford at Corsancone north-east of New c.u.mnock.

The Upper Old Red Sandstone appears as a fringe round the south-west margin of the Carboniferous rocks of the county, and it rises from beneath them on the sh.o.r.e of the Firth of Clyde south of Wemyss Bay. The Carboniferous strata of the central low ground form a great basin traversed by faults, all the subdivisions of the system being represented save the Millstone Grit. Round the north and north-east margin there is a great development of volcanic rocks--lavas, tuffs and agglomerates--belonging to the Calciferous Sandstone series, and pa.s.sing upwards into the Carboniferous Limestone. The lower limestones of the latter division are typically represented near Dalry and Beith, where in one instance they reach a thickness of over 100 ft. They are followed by the coal-bearing group (Edge coals of Midlothian) which have been wrought in the Dalry and Patna districts and at Dailly. The position of the Millstone Grit is occupied by lavas and tuffs, extending almost continually as a narrow fringe round the northern margin of the Coal Measures from Saltcoats by Kilmaurs to the Crawfordland Water. The workable coals of the true Coal Measures have a wide distribution from Kilwinning by Kilmarnock to Galston and again in the districts of Coylton, Dalmellington, Lugar and c.u.mnock. These members are overlaid by a set of upper barren red sandstones, probably the equivalents of the red beds of Uddingston, Dalkeith and Wemyss in Fife, visible in the ravines of Lugar near Ochiltree and of Ayr at Catrine. In various parts of the Ayrs.h.i.+re coalfield the coal-seams are rendered useless by intrusive sheets of dolerite as near Kilmarnock and Dalmellington. In the central part of the field there is an oval-shaped area of red sandstones now grouped with the Trias, extending from near Tarbolton to Mauchline, where they are largely worked for building stone. They are underlaid by a volcanic series which forms a continuous belt between the underlying red sandstones of the Coal Measures and the overlying Trias. In the north part of the county, as near Wemyss Bay, the strata are traversed by d.y.k.es of dolerite and basalt trending in a north-west direction and probably of Tertiary age.

_Agriculture._--There has been no lack of agricultural enterprise. With a moist climate, and, generally, a rather heavy soil, drainage was necessary for the successful growth of green crops. Up to about 1840, a green crop in the rotation was seldom seen, except on porous river-side land, or on the lighter farms of the lower districts. In the early part of the 19th century lime was a powerful auxiliary in the inland districts, but with repeated applications it gradually became of little avail. Thorough draining gave the next great impetus. Enough had been done to test its efficacy before the announcement of Sir Robert Peel's drainage loan, after which it was rapidly extended throughout the county. Green-crop husbandry, and the liberal use of guano and other manures, made a wonderful change in the county, and immensely increased the amount of produce. Potatoes are now extensively grown, the coast-lands supplying the markets of Scotland and the north of England. Of roots, turnips, carrots and mangolds are widely cultivated, heavy crops being obtained by early sowing and rich manuring.

Oats form the bulk of the cereal crop, but wheat and barley are also grown.

High farming has developed the land enormously. Dairying has received particular attention. Dunlop cheese was once a well-known product. Part of it was very good; but it was unequal in its general character, and unsaleable in English markets. Dissatisfied with the inferior commercial value of their cheese in comparison with some English varieties, the Ayrs.h.i.+re Agricultural a.s.sociation brought a Somerset farmer and his wife in 1855 to teach the Cheddar method, and their effort was most successful.

Cheddar cheese of first-rate quality is now made in Ayrs.h.i.+re, and the annual cheese show at Kilmarnock is the most important in Scotland. The Ayrs.h.i.+re breed of cows are famous for the quant.i.ty and excellence of their milk. Great numbers of cattle, sheep and pigs are raised for the market, and the Ayrs.h.i.+re horse is in high repute.

_Other Industries._--Ayrs.h.i.+re is the princ.i.p.al mining county in Scotland and has the second largest coalfield. There is a heavy annual output also of iron ore, pig iron and fire-clay. The chief coal districts are Ayr, Dalmellington, Patna, Maybole, Drongan, Irvine, Coylton, Stevenston, Beith, Kilwinning, [v.03 p.0076] Dalry, Kilbirnie, Dreghorn, Kilmarnock, Galston, Hurlford, Muirkirk, c.u.mnock and New c.u.mnock. Ironstone occurs chiefly at Patna, Coylton, Dalry, Kilbirnie, Dreghorn and c.u.mnock, and there are blast furnaces at most of these towns. A valuable whetstone is quarried at Bridge of Stair on the Ayr--the Water-of-Ayr stone. The leading manufactures are important. At Catrine are cotton factories and bleachfields, and at Ayr and Kilmarnock extensive engineering works, and carpet, blanket and woollens, boot and shoe factories. Cotton, woollens, and other fabrics and hosiery are also manufactured at Dalry, Kilbirnie, Kilmaurs, Beith and Stewarton.

An extensive trade in chemicals is carried on at Irvine. Near Stevenston works have been erected in the sandhills for the making of dynamite and other explosives. There are large lace curtain factories at Galston, Newmilns and Darvel, and at Beith cabinet-making is a considerable industry. s.h.i.+pbuilding is conducted at Troon, Ayr, Irvine and Fairlie, which is famous for its yachts. The leading ports are Ardrossan, Ayr, Girvan, Irvine and Troon. Fis.h.i.+ng is carried on in the harbours and creeks, which are divided between the fishery districts of Greenock and Ballantrae.

_Communications_.--The Glasgow & South-Western railway owns most of the lines within the s.h.i.+re, its system serving all the industrial towns, ports and seaside resorts. Its trunk line via Girvan to Stranraer commands the shortest sea pa.s.sage to Belfast and the north of Ireland, and its main line via Kilmarnock communicates with Dumfries and Carlisle and so with England.

The Lanarks.h.i.+re & Ayrs.h.i.+re branch of the Caledonian railway company also serves a part of the county. For pa.s.senger steamer traffic Ardrossan is the princ.i.p.al port, there being services to Arran and Belfast and, during the season, to Douglas in the Isle of Man. Millport, on Great c.u.mbrae, is reached by steamer from Fairlie.

_Population and Administration_.--The population of Ayrs.h.i.+re in 1891 was 226,386, and in 1901, 254,468, or 223 to the sq. m. In 1901 the number of persons speaking Gaelic only was 17. The chief towns, with populations in 1901 are: Ardrossan (6077), Auchinleck (2168), Ayr (29,101), Beith (4963), c.u.mnock (3088), Dalry (5316), Darvel (3070), Galston (4876), Girvan (4024), Hurlford (4601), Irvine (9618), Kilbirnie (4571), Kilmarnock (35,091), Kilwinning (4440), Largs (3246), Maybole (5892), Muirkirk (3892), Newmilns (4467), Saltcoats (8120), Stevenston (6554), Stewarton (2858), Troon (4764). The county returns two members to parliament, who represent North and South Ayrs.h.i.+re respectively. Ayr (the county town) and Irvine are royal burghs and belong to the Ayr group of parliamentary burghs, and Kilmarnock is a parliamentary burgh of the Kilmarnock group. Under the county council special water districts, drainage districts, and lighting and scavenging districts have been formed. The county forms a sheriffdom, and there are resident sheriffs-subst.i.tute at Ayr and Kilmarnock, who sit also at Irvine, Beith, c.u.mnock and Girvan. The s.h.i.+re is under school-board jurisdiction, but there are a considerable number of voluntary schools, besides secondary schools at Ayr, Irvine, Kilmarnock and Beith, while Kilmarnock Dairy School is a part of the West of Scotland Agricultural College established in 1899.

In addition to grants earned by the schools, the county and borough councils expend a good deal of money upon secondary and technical education, towards which contributions are also made by the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College and the Kilmarnock Dairy School. The technical cla.s.ses, subsidized at various local centres, embrace instruction in agriculture, mining, engineering, plumbing, gardening, and various science and art subjects.

_History_.--Traces of Roman occupation are found in Ayrs.h.i.+re. At the time of Agricola's campaigns the country was held by the d.a.m.nonii, and their town of Vandogara has been identified with a site at Loudoun Hill near Darvel, where a serious encounter with the Scots took place. On the withdrawal of the Romans, Ayrs.h.i.+re formed part of the kingdom of Strathclyde and ultimately pa.s.sed under the sway of the Northumbrian kings.

Save for occasional intertribal troubles, as that in which the Scottish king Alpin was slain at Dalmellington in the 9th century, the annals are silent until the battle of Largs in 1263, when the pretensions of Haakon of Norway to the sovereignty of the Isles were crushed by the Scots under Alexander III. A generation later William Wallace conducted a vigorous campaign in the s.h.i.+re. He surprised the English garrison at Ardrossan, and burned the barns of Ayr in which the forces of Edward I were lodged. Robert Bruce is alleged to have been born at Turnberry Castle, some 12 m. S.W. of Ayr. In 1307 he defeated the English at Loudoun Hill. Cromwell paid the county a hurried visit, during which he demolished the castle of Ardrossan and is said to have utilized the stones in rearing a fort at Ayr. Between 1660 and 1688 the sympathies of the county were almost wholly with the Covenanters, who suffered one of their heaviest reverses at Airds Moss--a mora.s.s between the Ayr and Lugar,--their leader, Richard Cameron, being killed (20th of July 1680). The county was dragooned and the Highland host ravaged wherever it went. The Hanoverian succession excited no active hostility if it evoked no enthusiasm. Antiquarian remains include cairns in Galston, Sorn and other localities; a road supposed to be a work of the Romans, which extended from Ayr, through Dalrymple and Dalmellington, towards the Solway; camps attributed to the Norwegians or Danes on the hills of Knockgeorgan and Dundonald; and the castles of Loch Doon, Turnberry, Dundonald, Portencross, Ardrossan and Dunure. There are ruins of celebrated abbeys at Kilwinning and Crossraguel, and of Alloway's haunted church, famous from their a.s.sociations.

See James Paterson, ”History of the County of Ayr.” _Transactions of Ayrs.h.i.+re and Galloway Archaeological a.s.sociations_, Edinburgh, 1879-1900; John Smith, _Prehistoric Man in Ayrs.h.i.+re_ (London, 1895); William Robertson, _History of Ayrs.h.i.+re_ (Edinburgh, 1894); Archibald Sturrock, ”On the Agriculture of Ayrs.h.i.+re,” _Transactions of Highland and Agricultural Society_; D. Landsborough, _Contributions to Local History_ (Kilmarnock, 1878).

AYRTON, WILLIAM EDWARD (1847-1908), English physicist, was born in London on the 14th of September 1847. He was educated at University College, London, and in 1868 went out to Bengal in the service of the Indian Government Telegraph department. In 1873 he was appointed professor of physics and telegraphy at the Imperial College of Engineering, Tokio. On his return to London six years later he became professor of applied physics at the Finsbury College of the City and Guilds of London Technical Inst.i.tute, and in 1884 he was chosen professor of electrical engineering at the Central Technical College, South Kensington. He published, both alone and jointly with others, a large number of papers on physical, and in particular electrical, subjects, and his name was especially a.s.sociated, together with that of Professor John Perry, with the invention of a long series of electrical measuring instruments. He died in London on the 8th of November 1908. His wife, Mrs Hertha Ayrton, whom he married in 1885, a.s.sisted him in his researches, and became known for her scientific work on the electric arc and other subjects. The Royal Society awarded her one of its Royal medals in 1906.

AYSCOUGH, SAMUEL (1745-1804), English librarian and index-maker, was born at Nottingham in 1745. His father, a printer and stationer, having ruined himself by speculation, Samuel Ayscough left Nottingham for London, where he obtained an engagement in the cataloguing department of the British Museum. In 1782 he published a two-volume catalogue of the then undescribed ma.n.u.scripts in the museum. About 1785 he was appointed a.s.sistant librarian at the museum, and soon afterwards took holy orders. In 1786 he published an index to the first seventy volumes of the _Monthly Review_, and in 1796 indexed the remaining volumes. Both this index and his catalogue of the undescribed ma.n.u.scripts in the museum were private ventures. His first official work was a third share in the British Museum catalogue of 1787, and he subsequently catalogued the ancient rolls and charters, 16,000 in all. In 1789 he produced the first two volumes of the index to the _Gentleman's Magazine_, and in 1790 the first index-concordance to Shakespeare. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and has been called [v.03 p.0077] ”The Prince of Indexers.” He died at the British Museum on the 30th of October 1804.

AYSCUE (erroneously ASKEW or AYSCOUGH), SIR GEORGE (d. 1671), British admiral, came of an old Lincolns.h.i.+re family. Beyond the fact that he was knighted by Charles I., nothing is known of his career until in 1646 he received a naval command. Through the latter years of the first civil war, Ayscue seems to have acted as one of the senior officers of the fleet. In 1648, when Sir William Batten went over to Holland with a portion of his squadron, Ayscue's influence kept a large part of the fleet loyal to the Parliament, and in reward for this service he was appointed the following year admiral of the Irish Seas. For his conduct at the relief of Dublin he received the thanks of Parliament, and in 1651 he was employed under Blake in the operations for the reduction of Scilly. He was next sent to the West Indies in charge of a squadron destined for the Conquest of Barbadoes and the other islands still under royalist control. This task successfully accomplished, he returned to take part in the first Dutch War. In this he played a prominent part, but the indecisive battle off Plymouth (August 16th, 1652) cost him his command, though an annuity was a.s.signed him. For some years Sir George Ayscue lived in retirement, but the later years of the Commonwealth he spent in Sweden, Cromwell having despatched him thither as naval adviser. At the Restoration he returned, and became one of the commissioners of the navy, but on the outbreak of the second Dutch War in 1664 he once more hoisted his flag as rear-admiral of the Blue, and took part in the battle of Lowestoft (June 3rd, 1665). In the great Four Days'

Battle (June 11th-14th, 1666) he served with Monck as admiral of the White.

His flags.h.i.+p, the ”Prince Royal,” was taken on the third day, and he himself remained a prisoner in Holland till the peace. It seems doubtful whether he ever again flew his flag at sea, and the date of his death is supposed to be 1671. Lely's portrait of Sir George Ayscue is in the Painted Hall at Greenwich.

AYTOUN, or AYTON, SIR ROBERT (1570-1638), Scottish poet, son of Andrew Aytoun of Kinaldie, Fifes.h.i.+re, was born in 1570. He was educated at the university of St Andrews, where he was incorporated as a student of St Leonard's College in 1584 and graduated M.A. in 1588. He lived for some years in France, and on the accession of James VI. to the English throne he wrote in Paris a Latin panegyric, which brought him into immediate favour at court. He was knighted in 1612. He held various lucrative offices, and was private secretary to the queens of James I. and Charles I. He died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey on the 28th of February 1638.

His reputation with his contemporaries was high, both personally and as a writer, though he had no ambition to be known as the latter.

Aytoun's remains are in Latin and English. In respect of the latter he is one of the earliest Scots to use the southern standard as a literary medium. The Latin poems include the panegyric already referred to, an _Epicedium in obitum Thoma Rhodi_; _Basia, sive Strena ad Jacob.u.m Hayum_; _Lessus in funere Raphaelis Th.o.r.ei_; _Carina Caro_; and minor pieces, occasional and epitaphic. His first English poem was _Diophantus and Charidora_ (to which he refers in his Latin panegyric to James). He has left a number of pieces on amatory subjects, including songs and sonnets.

Aytoun's Latin poems are printed in _Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum_ (Amsterdam, 1637), i. pp. 40-75. His English poems are preserved in a MS.

in the British Museum (_Add. MSS._ 10,308), which was prepared by his nephew, Sir John Aytoun. Both were collected by Charles Rogers in _The Poems of Sir Robert Aytoun_ (London, privately printed, 1871). This edition is unsatisfactory, though it is better than the first issue by the same editor in 1844. Additional poems are included which cannot be ascribed to Aytoun, and which in some cases have been identified as the work of others.

The poem ”I do confess thou'rt smooth and fair” may be suspected, and the old version of ”Auld Lang Syne” and ”Sweet Empress” are certainly not Aytoun's. Some of the English poems are printed in Watson's _Collection_ (1706-1711) and in the _Bannatyne Miscellany_, i. p. 299 (1827). There is a memoir of Aytoun in Rogers's edition, and another by Grosart in the _Dict.