On Reading Dr. Young's Satire, Called the Universal Passion

If there be truth in what you sing,Such godlike virtues in the king;A minister so fill'd with zealAnd wisdom for the commonweal;If he who in the chair presides,So steadily the senate guides;If others, whom you make your theme,Are seconds in the glorious scheme;If every peer whom you commend,To worth and learning be a friend;If this be truth, as you attest,What land was ever half so blest!No falsehood now among the great,And tradesmen now no longer cheat:Now on the bench fair Justice shines;Her scale to neither side inclines:Now Pride and Cruelty are flown,And Mercy here exalts her throne;For such is good example's power,It does its office every hour,Where governors are good and wise;Or else the truest maxim lies:For so we find all ancient sagesDecree, that, ad exemplum regis,Through all the realm his virtues run,Ripening and kindling like the sun.If this be true, then how much moreWhen you have named at least a scoreOf courtiers, each in their degree,If possible, as good as he?Or take it in a different view.I ask (if what you say be true)If you affirm the present ageDeserves your satire's keenest rage;If that same universal passionWith every vice has fill'd the nation:If virtue dares not venture downA single step beneath the crown:If clergymen, to show their wit,Praise classics more than holy writ:If bankrupts, when they are undone,Into the senate-house can run,And sell their votes at such a rate,As will retrieve a lost estate:If law be such a partial whore,To spare the rich, and plague the poor:If these be of all crimes the worst,What land was ever half so curst?