A speech from Sir James was one of the treats in which Edinburgh folks delighted. CHAPTER XII FAILING HEALTH--DEATH Poetical instincts--Religious views--Religious and emotional influences in his life--Doubts--Revivalism--Health--Overwork tells--Bed--Gradual failure--Death on May 6, 1870--Grave offered in Westminster Abbey--Buried at Warriston--Obituary notices--Bust in the Abbey--His greatness. The emotional part of Sir James Simpson's nature found some small expression in versifying both, as we have seen, in early years and in later days. We know that he was a close student of Shakspeare, but Miss Simpson states that her father probably never entered a theatre, so that he can never have seen a representation. He was familiar with modern poets, especially with Burns. It is related that he once tested a lady friend's insight into the vernacular by quoting from memory for explanation the following lines from the national bard:-- "Baudrons sit by the ingle-neuk, An' wi' her loof her face she's washin', Willie's wife it nae sae trig, She dichts her grunzie wi' a hooschen." His own verses were neither better nor worse than those written by other men whose abilities have led them to excel in more practical pursuits. In youth they celebrated student life, or were, as usual, dedicated to Celia's eyebrows; in mature life they were of a more serious, and latterly of a strong religious description. At all times he delighted in writing little doggerel verses to his children or friends; valueless as such efforts are, they served a useful purpose; their composition was a recreation and pleasant relief to his over-taxed brain, while it was an amusement to him to watch their effect upon the recipients, and perhaps to receive a reply clothed also in the garb of rhyme.