Grampian Club > Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland > Volume 1

390 AYRSHIRE.
At the back of the mansion-house of Haylie, a tumulus called St.
Mary's Law is another vestige of the battle. A rude stone pillar
commemorates the spot where Haco, the Norwegian commander,
was slain. In a garden wall adjoining is the following inscription : —
" Substit. Hie Gothi Furor.
Conditur hie Haco Steniensis, et undique, circum
Norvegios fidos terra tegit Socias :
Hue regnum venere petentes ; Scotia victor
Hostibus hie tumulos, pramia justa dedit.
Quarto ante nonas Octobris, a.d. 1263."
The Skelmorly aisle of the old church was reared in 1639 by
Sir Eobert Montgomery of Skelmorly, to contain the ashes of his
wife, Lady Margaret Douglas. In his youth Sir Eobert was a man
of blood ; in old age his devotion bordered on austerity. To this
tomb he was in the habit of retiring, and by the embalmed body
of his wife pondering on the errors of his youth. His remains are
deposited by her side. The aisle exhibits an arched ceiling of
carved oak, adorned with emblems and mottoes appropriate to the
place.
Near Brisbane House a flat stone denotes the grave of the Eev.
"William Smyth, minister of the parish, who died of the plague in
1647. He was celebrated for his piety, and the short inscription
on his tombstone has been repeatedly renewed.
A family mausoleum contains the remains of General Sir
Thomas Makdougal Brisbane, the distinguished soldier and
astronomer. Born at Brisbane, in this parish, on the 23rd July,
1773, he entered the army in his sixteenth year. In the Flanders
campaign he took part in all the engagements, and in the West
Indies, to which he was sent in 1796, he acquired considerable dis-
tinction. In 1812 he commanded a brigade under the Puke of
Wellington in Spain. For his bravery on the field of Orthes he
received the thanks of Parliament. In 1821 he was appointed
Governor of New South Wales. While in Australia he catalogued
7,385 stars, for which he received the Copley Medal from the