Dr Robert Knox (1791-1862) Poem by Sheena Blackhall

Up the close an doon the stair,
In the hoose wi Burke an Hare,
Burke's the butcher, Hare's the thief,
Knox the man fa buys the beef.
Burke an Hare they were a pair,
Killed a wife an didnae care

A Scottish anatomist, skeely and bauld
A zoologist, fiddler o jig an strathspey
He lectured tae students in Auld Embro toon
In the interests o science, the deid wir his prey

Eichth son o a teacher o mathematics
As a bairn he catched smallpox, wis blinnt in ae ee
Wi a face that wis pitted, a bully at schule
Bit clivver, won medals, hard wirkin bit slee

Eftir leavin the Varsity, he tuik a commission
In the Army, tae Belgium, in Waterloo's airt
Fowk fand him ill natured, bit skeely, wi smeddum
Tendin the woundit that war brukk apairt

A whylie for syphilis,Knox socht a cure
Syne aff fur the Cape, wi the Army he left
The sodjers wir healthy, the duties wir lichtsome
Till he accused anither wi ill-daein theft

A court martial acquitted the chiel o the chairges
Knox, socht tae a duel, his foe widnae face
Horse whipped on parade, faist, he grabbit a sabre
Slashed at the chiel- wis sent hame in disgrace

Tae Paris he traivelled tae widen his studies
o Great artists and greatest anatomists, screived
Reezed ootMichaelangeo, eident Da Vinci
Braw anatomyin aa their drawins achieved

Syne back hame tae Embro, tae rin a museum
O Anatomy, weel pyed, while rinnin a schule
Fur students. Fowk said that his dissectin theatre
Wa mair like a charnel hoose, bluidy an fule

He mairriet a wife o inferior status
He bedd wi his sisters, his wife bedd apairt
She bore him seeven bairns, anely twa survived puberty
Knox, the prood surgeon, wi steel in his hairt

Afore the Anatomy Act wis made legal
Corpses fur cuttin, wir jist gibbet bait
Nae eneuch fur the students tae larn their profession
Body snatchin drew mony the low profligate

Knox met William Hare, fa began a career
Wi his frien William Burke, o acquirin fresh meat
Bi murderin the puir on a regular basis
Braw corpses for cuttin, o sic a gran treat!

Aroon siventeen victims wir selt tae the surgeon
Echt tae ten pun, wis the ordinar rate
Till Hare turned King's evidence, Burke he wis hanged,
An Knox's fyled siller grew less on his plate

He traivelled tae Glesga, bit there didnae prosper
Falsifeed a young student's attendancinchit
Banned frae wirkin in Scotlan, he meeved doon tae Lunnon
Left his bairns wi a nephew, fin makkin the flit

In Lunnon he wirked in the Free Cancer Wards,
He practised obstetrics for twa years an mair
He criticised slavery, hated the Irish
Thocht that their eviction bi Famine wis fair

His grave in the cemetery's dreich an forbiddin
(An African lizard has gotten his name)
The clarts an the shaddas o his wye o livin
Means naebody murns at his cauld Lunnon stane