“But the last time we gathered oursels before thee, we left out a wing o’ the hirsel by mistake, an’ thou hast paid us hame i’ our ain coin. Thou wart sae gude than as come to the sheddin thysel, an’ clap our heads, an’ whisper i’ our lugs, ‘dinna be disheartened, my puir bits o’ waefu’ things, for though ye be the shotts o’ my hale fauld, I’ll take care o’ ye, an’ herd ye, an’ gie ye a’ that ye hae askit o’ me the night.’ It was kind, an’ thou hast done it; but we forgot a principal part, an’ maun tell thee now, that we have had another visitor sin’ ye war here, an’ ane wha’s back we wad rather see than his face. Thou kens better thysel than we can tell thee what place he has made his escape frae; but we sair dread it is frae the boddomless pit, or he wadna hae ta’en possession but leave. Ye ken, that gang tried to keep vilent leasehaud o’ your ain fields, an’ your ain ha’, till ye gae them a killicoup. If he be ane o’ them, O come thysel to our help, an’ bring in thy hand a bolt o’ divine vengeance, het i’ the furnace o’ thy wrath as reed as a nailstring, an’ bizz him an’ scouder him till ye dinna leave him the likeness of a paper izel, until he be glad to creep into the worm–holes o’ the earth, never to see sun or sterns mair. But, if it be some puir dumfoundered soul that has been bumbased and stoundit at the view o’ the lang Hopes an’ the Downfa’s o’ Eternity, comed daundering away frae about the laiggen girds o’ Heaven to the waefu’ gang that he left behind, like a lost sheep that strays frae the rich pastures o’ the south, an’ comes bleating back a’ the gate to its cauld native hills, to the very gair where it was lambed and first followed its minny, ane canna help haeing a fellow–feeling wi’ the puir soul after a’, but yet he’ll find himsel here like a cow in an unco loan. Therefore, O furnish him this night wi’ the wings o’ the wild gainner or the eagle, that he may swoof away back to a better hame than this, for we want nane o’ his company. An’ do thou give to the puir stray thing a weel–hained heff and a beildy lair, that he may nae mair come straggling amang a stock that’s sae unlike himsel, that they’re frightit at the very look o’ him.