_It faded at the Crowing of the Cock. Some say, that ever ’gainst that Season comes, Wherein our Saviour’s Birth is Celebrated, This Bird of dawning singeth all Night long, And then, they say, no Spirit dares stir abroad, The Nights are wholsome; then no Plannets strike, No Fairy takes, no Witch hath Power to Charm, So hallow’d and so gracious is that Time._
Truly Mr. _Lee_ was in my Opinion, the most exact of all our modern _Dramatists_ in his Plays; but yet he is not without his Irregularities and Foibles, especially in religious Matters, of which we shall only take notice of this in his _Tragedy_ call _Theodosius_, or the Force of Love, where, in Act 3. Scen. 1. he represents the Emperor _Theodosius_ a hopeful Convert, when at the sight of _Athenais_ he makes one of the Articles of the Christian Faith a _Simile_ for his Cod-piece Passion in these Words,
_What hinders now but in spite of Rules I burst thro’ all the Bands of Death that hold me, And fly with such a haste to that Appearance, As bury’d Saints shall make at the last Summons._
In Mr. _Lee_’s Tragedy call’d the Rival Queens, or the Death of _Alexander_ the Great, in Act 1. Scen. I. he makes _Polyperchon_ give a Description of Hell after the _Christian_ Manner; for tho’ it was the _Theology_ of the _Grecians_ to believe a future State, yet it does not occur to my Memory that I ever read they allotted any Punishment to the Wicked by Fire, as he intimates in these Lines.
_Tho’ the Earth yawn so wide, That all the Labours of the Deep were seen, And ~Alexander~ stood on the other Side, I’d leap the burning Ditch to give him Death, Or sink my self for ever._
And in Act 4. Scen. I. he introduces _Cassander_ speaking so prophanely, that it must rather vitiate the Audience than make them virtuous.
_’Tis nobler far to be a King of Hell, To Head infernal Legions, Chiefs below, To let ’em loose for Earth, to call ’em in, And take Account of what dark Deeds are done, Than be a Subject God in Heav’n unblest, And without Mischief have eternal Rest._
As for Mr. _Shadwell_, he hath mixt his Tragedy call’d the _Libertine_ with so much Comedy, that the Play is rather tragi-comical than tragical; tho’ there is Blood enough spilt in it which might, with good Husbandry, serve very well for two or three Tragedies: But to make Don _John_ the Libertine talk of a Soul in Act I. when an Atheist believes no such Thing existing in a Man, it is very absurd, as you may see in the following Lines, which plainly describe the Person’s Character.