Dr Robert Knox (1791-1862)

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