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.
Note.
[A] Aubrey gives in trick the coat:—'..., on a cross engrailed between 4 crescents a rose,' with the motto