The same weak wish returns, that had before deceived him.

V

But Thou, supreme Disposer! may'st[159] not speed

The course of things, and change the creed

Which hath been held aloft before men's sight

Since the first framing of societies,

Whether, as bards have told in ancient song,

Built up by soft seducing harmonies;

Or prest together by the appetite,

And by the power, of wrong.