According to the Biographia Britannica, it was "a very singular
entertainment, composed of five acts, each being a distinct performance.
The first act is introductory, shows the distress of the players in the
time of vacation, that obliges them to let their house, which several
offer to take for different purposes; amongst the rest a Frenchman, who
had brought over a troop of his countrymen to act a farce. This is
performed in the second act, which is a translation of Moliere's
_Sganarelle, or the Cuckold Conceit_; all in broken French to make
the people laugh. The third act is a sort of comic opera, under the
title of The History of Sir Francis Drake. The fourth act is a serious
opera, representing the cruelties of the Spaniards in Peru. The fifth
act is a burlesque in Heroicks on the Amours of Caesar and Cleopatra, has
a great deal of wit and humour, and was often acted afterwards by
itself."

With the exception of the first act, all the others, which are separate
and distinct, but short dramatic pieces, were written in the time of
Oliver Cromwell, and two of them at least were performed at the Cockpit,
when Sir William D'Avenant had obtained permission to present his
entertainments of music and perspective in scenes.

The second imitation of _Sganarelle_ is "_Tom Essence, or the
Modish Wife_, a Comedy as it is acted at the Duke's Theatre, 1677.
London, printed by T. M. for W. Cademan, at the _Pope's Head_, in
the Lower Walk of the _New Exchange_ in the _Strand_, 1677."
This play is written by a Mr. Thomas Rawlins, printer and engraver to
the Mint, under Charles the First and Second, and is founded on two
French comedies---viz., Moliere's _Sganarelle_, and Thomas
Corneille's _Don Cesar d' Avalos_. The prologue is too bad to be
quoted, and I doubt if it can ever have been spoken on any stage. This