Do thou, All-Good! for such Thou art,
In shades of darkness hide.
Where with intention I have err'd,
No other plea I have,
But thou art good; and Goodness still
Delighteth to forgive.
In his Epistle to John Rankine, with a somewhat hard and heartless humor, he braves out the affair; in the following [Welcome] he treats it with a tender pride, as sincere as his remorse:
THE POET'S WELCOME TO HIS LOVE-BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER
Thou's welcome, wean! Mishanter fa' me, child! Misfortune befall
If ought of thee, or of thy mammy,