Now, furthermore, from all this business
I’ve beat a definite retreat;—
I’ve sold the whole plantation, and
its tale of live-stock, hide and hair.
At parting, too, I served around,
to big and little, gratis grog,
so men and women all got drunk,
and widows got their snuff as well.
So that is why I trust,— provided
the saying is not idle breath:
Whoso does not do ill, does good,—
my former errors are forgotten,
and I, much more than most, can hold
my misdeeds balanced by my virtues.