The play's novelty lies in its shedding of the romantic verse element to attain a unified tone.

The original cast included William Smith as Courtall, John Young as Freeman, Henry Harris as Sir Joslin, James Nokes as Sir Oliver, Moll Davis as Getty and Anne Shadwell as Lady Cockwood.

Sir Oliver has come to town for wine, women and pleasure after finding the country too dull.

Courtall refuses to do so but agrees to dine with him and his friend Sir Joslin Jolley that evening.

She is shocked at her master's falseness in cheating on his wife, before returning to arranging the meeting of Lady Cockwood and Courtall for the same evening.

They agree to go in disguise to The Mulberry Gardens to find some young men to flirt with and break the hearts of.

Act Two opens with the arrival of Courtall and Freeman at The Mulberry Gardens, having left Sir Oliver too drunk to notice their absence.

When he appears this plan is swiftly abandoned for the original one of feigning knowledge of the meeting arranged by Mrs Sentry, who she sends out of the room.

Ariana and Gatty arrive to be told off by Lady Cockwood for walking in The Mulberry Gardens without a chaperone and risking their honour.

Freeman offers to help Courtall avoid Lady Cockwood, whilst they pursue Ariana & Gatty.

However, Lady Cockwood has locked away all of his fine clothes except his Sunday church outfit, so he cannot go out to be seen by the young women of the town.

Sir Joslin persuades him to come along to the party at The Bear Inn, which Lady Cockwood will never find out about.

When Lady Cockwood hears her husband boasting of him impending success with Rakehell's harlots, she feigns a fit and collapses.

This is to test how true Courtall's affections are for her, based on whether he accepts the young girls invitation or not.

After they leave, Lady Cockwood also heads to Spring Gardens to see whether Courtall will accept the fake invitation.

The girls on the other hand believe Lady Cockwood's version that the men are dishonourably in the gardens looking for fun with other women.

A conversation of cross purposes ensues, that increasingly convinces and entrenches all parties in their assumptions, until one of them mentions the letters.

Lady Cockwood and Sentry arrive, the discovery of their involvement with the letters is only avoided by the appearance of a drunk Sir Oliver attempting to fight Courtall to defend his wife's honour.

When Courtall asks what he has done to offend her and Sir Oliver, she flies into vague and overly dramatic denunciations of him and the harms he has done her.

He is confused by her sudden change of heart towards him, but in the middle of his visit Sir Oliver returns home, so Courtall has to hide under the table.

Ariana and Gatty arrive at the house, and when left alone in the room put all the pieces together and work out that Lady Cockwood has been chasing Courtall and she, or Mrs Sentry, wrote the letters.

Ignoring the fact that she herself hid them, Lady Cockwood expresses shock at how corruptible servants can be.

As the handwriting of the letters is discovered to be Sentry's, Courtall claims they were part of Lady Cockwood's naive attempt to scare Ariana and Gatty away from anything dishonourable.

Sir Oliver Cockwood - Country Knight My Lady Cockwood - His Wife Sir Joslin Jolly - Country Knight, friend of Sir Oliver Mr Courtall - Honest Gentleman of The Town Mr Freeman - Friend of Mr Courtall Ariana & Gatty - Young Ladies and Relations of Sir Joslin Mrs Sentry - My Lady Cockwood's Servant Mr Rakewell - A knight of The Industry Thomas - Sir Oliver's Servant Mrs Gazette & Mrs Trinket - Two Exchange-Women A Servant to Mr Courtall Waiters, Fiddlers, and Other Attendants