In the Exchequer’s hindmost row,

I sat, and some one touch’d my head,

He tendered ten-and-six, but oh!

That only client now is dead.

In vain, I try to sing—I’m hoarse:

In vain I try to play the flute,

A phantom seems to flit across,—

It is the ghost of a compute.

I try to read—but all in vain;

My chambers listlessly I tread;