Whose eyes are gone, his hands too weak to work,
Give him a fair allowance, and no more.
The Treasury hard masters seemed to be,
And to the House with hopeful hearts we came,
Deeming with kindlier eye our case ’twould see,
And lend more liberal hearing to our claim.
Vain hope, alas!—the measure you propose
But serves to make our hard lot harder still;
Leave us untouched: we’ll bear our present woes,