17 SEPTEMBER 1853, Page 9

DEATH OF MR. SIMPSON OF EDINBURGH.

[Contributed by one whom an intimate acquaintance of nearly twenty years' standing enables to speak undoubtingly.]

Few men have carried with them to the grave more sincere and general regret rUiSfl that which has attended this excellent man. To overflowing kindness, and an ardent interest in everything that related to the welfare of his race, Mr. Simpson united so happy a power of public speaking, that in riniving large bodies of men to enlightened and virtuous action he was almost unrivalled. His admirable lectures on Education and Sanitary Re- feria 'delivered without a thought of pecuniary recompense, in most of the huge-towns of the kingdom, will be long remembered ; while their pmc- ticaliesults on the character and happiness of thousands of his hearers and of their offspring will extend beyond all memory. Wholly free from the coarseness and class-prejudice which too often characterize tht€turvocates of popular rights, his eloquence had the refinement of high education and the impress of genuine philanthropy. He never failed in the moral courage necessary for telling his hearers, whether of the upper or lower_ classes, of their finks; but he did it in so kind a spirit, and often with se playful a wit, and took such care to do justice to their good qualities, that he never seemed to give offence. When asked by the artisans of Edinburgh, a few years ago, to repeat a Ciiurie of lectures on the Formation of Character and on Social Improvement, which he had delivered twenty years before those who formed the depute- tion stated that they made the application because they felt they had them- selves been "better men, better husbands, and better fathers' for having heard those .lectures" ; and that they were now desirous that their chil- dren should partake of the same benefit. And on Mr. Simpson inquiring *hat assurance they had that the lectures were generally desired, they produced in a few days a requisition to him with three thousand signatures. -Among other subjects to which Mr. Simpson directed his mind, were those of Medical Jurisprudence and the treatment of Criminals; and he was among the first, if not the very first, to show the many points of resemblance be- tween crime and insanity, and that it was both unjust and futile to treat criminals in a spirit of vengeance.

Although a firm believer in the principles of phrenology, and indeed him- self a distinguished phrenologist, the other arguments he adduced in support of the laws which he defended by phrenological reasoning were generally sufficient to warrant his conclusions ; as is the case in the able work on the Constitution of Man by his friend Mr. Combe. Those who had the great pleasure of frequently meeting Mr. Simpson in their social circle, will have double cause to mourn his loss. He had an in- exhaustible fund of anecdote, and a buoyancy of spirit which nothing could long depress. At an entertainment, perhaps the first of its kind, given by the working class of Edinburgh to some members of the higher grades, on the occasion of presenting Mr. Simpson with a piece of plate as a memorial of their gra- titude, the person who was deputed to deliver it (a letter-carrier) thus feelingly alluded to the event which has now unhappily arrived- Still come among us, and still will we sit at your feet and learn ; and when that time comes when all earthly must pass away, rest assured that, be it the Marble or heather that covers your grave, the poor man's tears will water it."

Of that galaxy of public men, including Jeffrey, Brougham, Francis

Francis Homer, Mackintosh, and Scott, who reached manhood at the beginning of the present century, and of whom Edinburgh has so much reason to be peraid, -Mr. Simpson was one of the last. May the honoured lives of those who remain still be prolonged, and may the fame of this noble brotherhood stimulate others to follow in their footsteps !