The English Moor

The play's intricate and complex multiple plot begins with two London neighbours, Meanwell and Rashly, who have been missing for the past year. Their children believe that they went abroad to fight a duel. Both men have two children, a son and daughter, who react variously to their perceived predicament. Rashly's son Theophilus, true to his family name, is a passionate and mercurial individual; he longs to fight his own duel against Meanwell's son Arthur to avenge his father's death – but is frustrated by Arthur's self-imposed seclusion. His sister Lucy is much less enthusiastic about her brother's thirst for revenge, because she is secretly in love with Arthur. Meanwell's children reverse the normal and expected social roles of gender: Arthur is mild-tempered and returns Lucy's affection, but his sister Dionisia is a "[[virago]]" who longs for her own revenge upon the Rashlys.

The play's intricate and complex multiple plot begins with two London neighbours, Meanwell and Rashly, who have been missing for the past year. Their children believe that they went abroad to fight a duel. Both men have two children, a son and daughter, who react variously to their perceived predicament. Rashly's son Theophilus, true to his family name, is a passionate and mercurial individual; he longs to fight his own duel against Meanwell's son Arthur to avenge his father's death – but is frustrated by Arthur's self-imposed seclusion. His sister Lucy is much less enthusiastic about her brother's thirst for revenge, because she is secretly in love with Arthur. Meanwell's children reverse the normal and expected social roles of gender: Arthur is mild-tempered and returns Lucy's affection, but his sister Dionisia is a "[[virago]]" who longs for her own revenge upon the Rashlys.

Theophilus is friends with a trio of young gallants, all of whom have suffered financially by mortgaging property to the old usurer Mandeville Quicksands. One of the trio in Nathaniel Banelass, a ruthless womaniser (as his name indicates, he is the "bane" of "lasses"). Nathaniel has just seduced and abandoned Phyllis; when she upbraids him for his conduct to her, he tells her to turn whore. Nathaniel and his friends Vincent and Edmund are delighted to learn that Quicksands has married the beautiful young Millicent; they optimistically expect opportunities to cuckold the old moneylender. Millicent, however, is Theophilus's love interest; when Nathaniel and his friends tell Theophilus of the news and their hopes, the hot-tempered Theophilus is so outraged that he draws his sword on Nathaniel. In the fight, Nathaniel is slightly wounded; Vincent and Edmund draw in his defence, so that Theophilus faces three-to-one odds. A passing stranger, seeing the unfair odds, draws his sword and helps Theophilus drive off his opponents. The stranger happens to be Arthur, disguised with a false beard; only when the fight is over does Arthur realise that he has stood on the side of his supposed enemy. He flees the scene, leaving Theophilus irate that he owes a [[Debt of Honour|debt of honour]] to an unknown man.

Theophilus is friends with a trio of young gallants, all of whom have suffered financially by mortgaging property to the old usurer Mandeville Quicksands. One of the trio in Nathaniel Banelass, a ruthless womaniser (as his name indicates, he is the "bane" of "lasses"). Nathaniel has just seduced and abandoned Phyllis; when she upbraids him for his conduct to her, he tells her to turn whore. Nathaniel and his friends Vincent and Edmund are delighted to learn that Quicksands has married the beautiful young Millicent; they optimistically expect opportunities to cuckold the old moneylender. Millicent, however, is Theophilus's love interest; when Nathaniel and his friends tell Theophilus of the news and their hopes, the hot-tempered Theophilus is so outraged that he draws his sword on Nathaniel. In the fight, Nathaniel is slightly wounded; Vincent and Edmund draw in his defence, so that Theophilus faces three-to-one odds. A passing stranger, seeing the unfair odds, draws his sword and helps Theophilus drive off his opponents. The stranger happens to be Arthur, disguised with a false beard; only when the fight is over does Arthur realise that he has stood on the side of his supposed enemy. He flees the scene, leaving Theophilus irate that he owes a debt of honour to an unknown man.

Quicksands and Millicent are shown on their wedding day, in the company of Millicent's uncle Testy, an irritable and capricious old judge. Testy has arranged the marriage against his niece's will, and orders her to "shake off" her "maiden peevishness" and love her husband. Millicent tries to be the obedient female at first, but she is so browbeaten by her uncle that she rebels: she sings bawdy songs to Quicksands, calls him "Chick" among other endearments, and assures him that she can bear six babies in five years — whether Quicksands is up to the task of begetting them or not. The two old men are shocked and embarrassed by her bawdry; Quicksands in particular is at a nonplus, and now feels inhibited from his wedding-night obligations. The discomfort is accentuated when the courtiers, masked and costumed as horned animals, break in with an impromptu wedding [[masque]] that strongly suggests inevitable cuckoldry. In the end, Quicksands hopes that a night of undisturbed sleep will restore his bride's modesty; Millicent has the last word with a closing couplet: "[...] to bed, to bed, / No bride so glad – to keep her maidenhead."

Quicksands and Millicent are shown on their wedding day, in the company of Millicent's uncle Testy, an irritable and capricious old judge. Testy has arranged the marriage against his niece's will, and orders her to "shake off" her "maiden peevishness" and love her husband. Millicent tries to be the obedient female at first, but she is so browbeaten by her uncle that she rebels: she sings bawdy songs to Quicksands, calls him "Chick" among other endearments, and assures him that she can bear six babies in five years — whether Quicksands is up to the task of begetting them or not. The two old men are shocked and embarrassed by her bawdry; Quicksands in particular is at a nonplus, and now feels inhibited from his wedding-night obligations. The discomfort is accentuated when the courtiers, masked and costumed as horned animals, break in with an impromptu wedding [[masque]] that strongly suggests inevitable cuckoldry. In the end, Quicksands hopes that a night of undisturbed sleep will restore his bride's modesty; Millicent has the last word with a closing couplet: "[...] to bed, to bed, / No bride so glad – to keep her maidenhead."