The Sun.
London, England, 1837-11-06 00:00:00

COVENT GARDEN THEATRE.

On Saturday night, after the performance of the operatic
play of Guy Monuering (compressed into two acts), a new
drama, called the Parole of Honour, by Mr. Serle, we be-
lieve, was presented for the first time. It was quite suc-
cessful. The time chosen by Mr. Serb for the develop-
ment of his play is an interesting one. It is the turbulent
period of the Cavaliers and Roundheads, and the plot runs
thus :—Captain Mark Raby (Anderson) and others of the
Parliamentary army, are prisoners on parole of Sir Lionel
Carlton ( Bartley), of the Royalist party. Raby, though a
Roundhead, is a good-looking young fellow, who during, the
leisure of his imprisonment, hes gained the heart, and se-
cretly the hand, of Jane Carbon (Helen Faucit) old Sir
Lionel's only daughter. The fond couple have frequent
And sweet—not less so because they are stolen—interviews
on the ramparts of.,Carhon Castle; the bliss of these meet-
ings, however, is suddenly checked by an order arriving for
the almost immediate execution of Rally. His beauteous
wife is the distracted bearer of the heart-rending intelligence.
On the ramparts at midnight she urges him to fly ; his pa-
role is a barrier to this, superadded to which, two others of
an apparently insurmountable nature, present themselves(one
in the person of Sampson Hartley (G. Bennett), a sturdy ca-
valier, who officiates as sentry, and the other, in the closers
postern, through which, from the beetling height, escape can
alone be effected. After a few necessary qualms, Rahy
pushes his parole aside, and Sampson Hartley, importuned
by Ruth (Miss Taylor), his pretty wife, likewise pushes
aside the postern aforesaid, and Reby, after several hair-
breadth escapes, descends in safety, and is off in the twink-
ling of an eye. We next find him well nigh swallowed
by a stormy sea, on which he has ventured to secure his
escape ; here the kind efforts of Sampson and his wife are
again manifested ; Raby, with difficulty, and all dripping
with wet, gains the beach, and is taken to their cottage
and comforted. A certain Marplot, called Corporal Slink
(Meadows), a Royalist, now makes his appearance ; he,
however, gets tipsey with good ale, and parts with his wig
and clnak in order to the enjoyment of a drunker slum-
ber. In Slink's habiliments Retry leaves the cottage. It
ought to have been stated that the corporal under the
influence of his beer, has communicated the fact that Sir
• Lionel Carlton is superseded in the command, and, in
short, is ordered to be executed in lieu of Raby ; the
latter returns to the castle, his an interview with the new
commander, Lord Glenmere, the bitter enemy of Sir Lio-
nel, and who now rejoices in the near prospect of having
a long-cherished hatred fully gratified. In the midst of this,
General Harrison (Pritchard), with a small troop of sol-
diers, arrives, bearing a free pardon from the King to Ruby
and Sir Lionel, and the drama ends in the gratification of
• all parties, except the miscreant Glenmere. The piece has
been prettily got up. Miss Faucit sustained the part of
Jane Carlton with her usual ability, and Miss Taylor was
wondrous gay as the wife of the rough and blunt Hartley.

The Eirl and Countess of Lichfield left New-
market on Saturday for their scat, Shughorough Park,
Lichfield.