Says the old hymn:
While the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return.
An old Saxon king had some serious trouble with his subjects:
they murmured against him and at last rose up in rebellion.
The king set out to subdue them, and soon the well-disciplined
troops won a decided victory over the tatterdemalion horde
opposing them. Having conquered, the king determined to show
mercy. He adopted the novel expedient of placing a candle in the
window of his castle and proclaiming that all should be pardoned
who returned “while the candle burns.” (Text.)
(2016)
=Merit=--See PRAISE, UNNECESSARY.