They make it speak whatever sense they please!
}
{ 'Twas framed at first our oracle, to enquire;
{ But since our sects in prophecy grow higher,
{ The text inspires not them, but they the text inspire.
London, thou great emporium of our isle,
O thou too bounteous, thou too fruitful Nile!
How shall I praise or curse to thy desert?
Or separate thy sound from thy corrupted part?
I called thee Nile; the parallel will stand: