William Knox (17 August 1789 – 12 November 1825) was a Scottish poet. He is known for writing Abraham Lincoln's favourite poem, Mortality (O, Why Should The Spirit Of Mortal Be Proud?), which Lincoln often recited by memory. Life Early life and agricultural career William Knox was born on 17 August 1789 in the small estate of Firth, in the parish of Lilliesleaf, in the county of Roxburghshire, in southern Scotland. He was the eldest child (of three sons and three daughters) of Thomas Knox, an agricultural and pastoral farmer in Roxburghshire and the neighbouring Selkirkshire, and Barbara Turnbull, the eldest daughter of Walter Turnbull, Esquire of Firth. He was educated first in the parish school of Lilliesleaf (to age 14), then in Musselburgh Grammar School. The Knox family lived in a farm (Todrig) which his mother had inherited when her first husband, also a farmer, died. From an early age William was considered to have powers of acute observation and steady attention, and a mind keen, active and susceptible of deep impressions. He also had a peculiarly retentive memory. By age 14, he was a good English scholar with a considerable knowledge of Latin. He was also passionately fond of music and liked to draw. At an early age William started writing songs and other poetical pieces, humorous and satirical, chiefly in the Scottish dialect. After his return from Musselburgh to Firth to assist his father, poetry became more than just an amusement for him. In 1812 he leased the farm of Wrae, near Langholm, Dumfriesshire, and farmed unsuccessfully - mainly due to the lack of a capital needed to render the farm sufficiently productive - from 1812 to 1817; then he turned to writing poems, encouraged by both Christopher North and Sir Walter Scott. Despite having farmed for only five years, he earned the approbation of the intelligent agriculturists in Dumfriesshire, who considered Knox as a man well fitted to excel as a farmer. He was greatly esteemed and highly praised by all of his neighbours: for his generosity as a man and for his worth as a friend. During his farming years, Knox never lost his interest in poetry and literature. By 1817 - when he ceased farming - William was deeply read in the British poets, both ancient and contemporary. In 1817 he composed the greater number of the pieces contained in his first work, The