E1 0 GR AP HI C AL S K ET C 11 ES. 197
from the chaise, and, in the twinkling of an eye, prostrated the nearest assailant.
The other fellow took to his heels ; but Aytoun, who was as swift of foot as he
was strong of arm, gave chase, and captured the unlucky footpad, whom, along
with his companion, he bundled into the chaise, and conveyed to Manchester,
where they were handed over to the civic authorities.
In a very short time the regiment of Royal Manchester Volunteers (afterwards
the 72d of the line) was raised and sent out to Gibraltar, under Lieut.-
Colonel Gladstone. Mr. Aytoun was appointed to the Command of the Grenadier
Company, and remained in the fortress during the whole of the memorable
siege. On the return of the regiment to Britain he was promoted to the rank
of Major, and shortly afterwards married his second wife, Miss Sinclair of Ealgregie.
After this he retired on half-pay, and was never again actively engaged,
although he subsequently rose to the rank of Major-General.
On the formation of the First Regiment of Edinburgh Volunteers-somewhat
emphatically denominated “ the True Blues”-General Aytoun, as one of
the military men residing in Edinburgh, was invited to superintend the drilling
of the corps. This, it may be imagined, was no easy task, considering the
material of which the regiment was composed ; however, the volunteers themselves
were abundantly satisfied with the appearance they made, and were
undeniably as good “ food for powder” as if they had handled the musket from
their youth upwards. Their nominal Colonel was Provost Elder, who, it is
allowed on all hands, cut a most martial figure in his bandeliers of a Saturday,
but was not quite the fittest person for a drill, being somewhat unused to the
complicated evolutions which it was his duty to direct.
In 1797, when General Aytoun was drilling the Blues, Count d‘htois and
the Duc d’Angouleme were residing at Holyrood. The Duke, as we have said
before, was a constant attendant at the drills ; but Count d’Artois never could
get over his horror at the uniform of the Volunteers, which reminded him too
sadly of his own domestic tragedy in France. Kay’s contrast of the Duke and
General Aytoun is very happy. The Portrait of the General, in particular, is
acknowledged by all who knew him as an excellent likeness. The title of the
‘‘ Great and the Small” is further applicable to the figures of the other volunteers.
Mr. Osborne, the right-hand man of the company was a perfect.giant, being two
inches taller than the General ; and his burly form is well set off against the
diminutive figure of Mr. Rae the dentist, who acted as fugleman to the corps,
and was very expert at the manual exercise.
General Aytoun died at his family estate of Inchdairney, we believe, about
the year 18 10, leaving behind him a large family of sons and daughters. He
was succeeded by his grandson, Roger Aytoun of Inchdairney, eldest son of John
Aytoun (served Aytoun of Aytoun in 1829), and who was long a prisoner at
Verdun.‘
Jam- Aytoun, Esq., advocate, who for several years waa an efficient member of the Town
Council of Edinburgh, and who stood candidate for the representation of the city in Parliament, waa
a son of the General.
198 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
The DUO DANGOULEME, eldest son of Charles-X, was born in 1775,
He accompanied his father, then Count d‘Artois, to this country in 1796 ; and
resided with him for several years at the Palace of Holyrood. The Print, executed
in 1797, affords a fair likeness of the young Duc d’hgouleme. Small
as his figure is, in contrast with Colonel Aytoun’s, it is considered even too stout
by those who recollect him at that early period. In height he was not above
five feet four, extremely slender in figure, and of a quiet, easy manner ; presenting
a strong contrast to his brother, the Duc de Berri, who, in the words of an old
inhabitant of the Abbey-Hill, was a ‘‘ stout, count y-looking, curly-headed, stirring
boy.”
The marriage of the Duc d‘Angouleme, in 1799, to his cousin, the only
daughter of the ill-fahd Louis XVI., was celebrated in Courland, once an independent
duchy, but since 1795 attached to Russia. The Duke and Duchess
sojurned for some time afterwards in Sweden, where they were visited by thr
Count d‘tlrtois in 1804. During the war with Napoleon they continued in
active concert with the Allies, and endeavoured, by every possible means, to
create a reaction of popular feeling in France. The Duke himself was by no
means well qualified, either physically or mentally, to act in extraordinary
times ; but he found an able substitute in the Duchess, whose talents, activity,
and spirit, elicited the well-known remark of Napoleon, that she was “ the only
man in the family !”
With the exception of entering France at the head of the British army, in
18 14-appearing publicly at Bordeaux, to rouse the loyalty of the inhabitantsand
bravely continuing in arms after the landing of Napoleon at Frejus on the
20th of March 18 15, the Duc d’dngouleme took no prominent part in the eventful
circumstances which led to the re-establishment of his family on the throne
of France. Devoutly sincere in his religious principles, but of an inactive and
unambitious temper, he seldom intermeddled with politics during his father’s
reign ; and when the events of the Three Days compelled Charles to abdicate,
he waived his rights in favour of his nephew, the young Duc de Bordeaux.
On quitting the shores of France, Charles X., then in his seventy-third
year, appears to have at once contemplated returning to the Palace of Holyrood-
the scene-of his former exile, and where he had experienced many years
of comparative happiness.’ With this view, he applied to the British Government,
which granted the permission solicited ; and after a short residence in England,
he arrived at Edinburgh on the 20th of October 1830. He and his suite,
including the young Duc de Bordeaux and the Duc de Polignac, were conveyed
from Poole in an Admiralty yacht: and landed at Newhaven. The ex-king
not having been expected for several days, there were few people on the beach.
The Count d’Artois, even when King of France, stii remembered with gratitude the kindness
he experienced while resident in Edinburgh. This WRBBsh own in many acts of peculiar favour to
Scotsmen; rind particularly by his munificent donation for behoof of those who suffered by the
great fire in 1824.
The yacht wtu commanded by Lieut. Eyton, who received from the King a handsome gold
SnufT-box, inscribed-“Given by Charles X. to Lieut. Eyton, R.N., 1830.”