Twenty - four Hours under the Commonwealth. A Drama in five acts.
By John Scholefield. (David Nutt.)—We should surmise that Mr. Scholefield has not succeeded in inducing a manager to produce his piece. He, therefore, appeals to the reading public ; but carefully prints the stage directions for the benefit of any manager who may yet see the error of his ways. Sir John Santon is a royalist who gets up a rebellion against Cromwell's Government. Chance compels Cromwell to take refuge from Sir John's troopers with Lady Santon, his wife, who pre-. serves the Protector from her husband's troopers, in ignorance of who he is. In the second act we are introduced to Lambert, the Major- General, who is detected in a plot to assassinate the Protector, but is forgiven and sent against Sir John. Unfortunately, Lambert was rejected twenty years ago by Lady Santo; and he now determines to revenge himself by killing her only son, but being a great fool as well as a great scoundrel, he offends the instrument and confidant of his villa.nies. Cromwell is informed of what is going on by this worthy, and appears on the stage at the very nick of time. Lambert is disgraced, young Santon saved from death, and Lady Santon still further re- warded by the grant of a pardon to her husband. Then "Santon and Walters raise their hands, Cromwell stands smiling and pointing at Lady Santo; Tony raises his hands as if about to pass over to Walters, Thurloe and Henley look quietly on, the eight soldiers present arms, the three burghers stare, and Dobbin clasps his hands and looks very happy as the curtain falls." Criticism of this would be a cruelty.
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