AYTOUN, WILLIAM EDMONDSTOUNE. _b._ 21 Abercromby place, Edin. 21 June 1813; ed. at academy and univ. of Edin.; M.A. 1849; a writer to the Signet 1835; an advocate 1840; on the staff of Blackwood’s magazine 1839 to death, contributed more than 120 articles; professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in Univ. of Edin. 22 Oct. 1845 to 1864, during which time he raised number of students from 30 to 1850; sheriff of Orkney and Zetland 29 May 1852; delivered 6 lectures on poetry and dramatic literature at Willis’s Rooms, London 1853; presided at Burns centenary festival at Ayr 25 Jany. 1859; hon. pres. of associated societies of Univ. of Edin. 1860; author of _Poland, Homer and other poems_ [_anon._] 1832; _Lays of the Scottish cavaliers and other poems_ 1848, _29 ed._ 1883; _Firmilian or the student of Badajoz, a spasmodic tragedy by T. Percy Jones_ [_pseud._] 1854; _Bon Gaultier ballads_ (with T. Martin) 1855, _13 ed._ 1877; _Bothwell, a poem in six parts_ 1856; edited _The ballads of Scotland 2 vols._ 1858, 4 ed. 1870. _d._ Blackhills near Elgin 4 Aug. 1865. _Theodore Martin’s Memoir of W. E. Aytoun_ 1867, _portrait_; _Crombie’s Modern Athenians_ 1882, _portrait_. B BABBAGE, BENJAMIN HERSCHELL (_eld. son of the succeeding_). Geologist of colony of South Australia; examined the country north and east of Adelaide for gold 1856; commanded an exploring party sent by Parliament of South Australia to Lake Torrens Feb. 1858 to 5 Nov. 1858. _d._ Adelaide 22 Oct. 1878 aged 63. _W. Howitt’s History of discovery ii_, 311–24 (1865); _Rev. J. E. T. Wood’s History of discovery ii_, 260–79 (1865).