Act One
Act One begins by introducing the main participants in the drama as well as the provincial town of Bury. The most significant introduction at this point is that of Lady Fantast and her daughter as representatives of the highest breeding the small village has to offer as a counter to the big city of London. Mr. Oldwit and Sir Humphrey Noddy are additions to the conceptualization of Bury as a repository of fine wit. The visitor to whom this propaganda is being dealt, Mr. Wildish, is not buying any of it, however. He finds the Fantast women to be unspeakably unpleasant and unnecessarily conceited. Mr. Trim, a fervent admirer of the Fantast daughter, Wildish considers to be little more than a fop. Mr. Wildish, meantime, has come to Bury specifically for the purpose of meeting Gertrude, Mr. Oldwit’s daughter.
Meanwhile, Lord Bellamy is meeting with a page named Charles who has been recommended to him after learning that Charles had fled from his previous employer on account of ill treatment. When the page learns that Bellamy is himself traveling to Bury to court Gertrude, he is strangely startled. Wildish arrives and the two potential rivals for the hand of Gertrude argue over their differing lifestyles. This is interrupted by the arrival of a French wigmaker named La Roch whom Wildish engages to take part in a scheme to bring the conceited Fantast women down to size.
Act Two
Act Two introduces Gertrude as a woman grown exceedingly tired of living at her father’s house because her stepmother –Lady Fantast—and are constantly trying to show point out her lack of wit and sophistication which is all too easy for the exceedingly more intelligent Gertrude to dismiss out of hand. A visit to the Fair offers the opportunity for Gertrude to decline Bellamy’s attention and for La Roch to enter disguised as Count De Cheveaux as he commences his masquerade to trick the two gullible wits of the village.
Act Three
Act Three is dominated by Italian songs and the separation of characters by gender. However, it is this very separation which affords opportunities for Gertrude and Wildish to trade witty barbs as they commence their artful dance of mutual seduction. It is also at this point that Wildish and Lord Bellamy finally discover they are rivals in pursuit of her affection. Gertrude essentially rejects Bellamy by asserting that she is free to choose for herself whom she will marry. La Roch, meanwhile, continues to ravish the attention of the Fantast women.
Act Four
Upon upon the climax to the previous act, Wildish is forced to step in to prevent a duel between Mr. Trim, admirer of Mrs. Fantast, and La Roch who, as the Count, has gone too far as enticed away from Trim the attentions of his beloved. Sir Humphrey is also none too happy with the Count’s effect upon the Fantast women and expresses his own plans to meet with poor La Roch under battle conditions. Wildish manages to fix things by convincing the two Englishmen that the Count (La Roch) is an expert swordsman who would easily better them both in a fencing duel.
Lord Bellamy, meanwhile, has mistaken assumed that Charles, his page, is in love with Gertrude, representing yet another rival to his own rapidly diminishing hopes. Upon discovering a note written from Wildish intended for Gertrude, he instructs Charles to deliver it, but Charles is strangely timid in carrying out this order. Having managed to stop a duel between the Frenchman and either of the two Englishman, Wildish finds himself challenged to a sword fight by Bellamy who is intent on winning Gertrude away from him at the point of the foil. At this, Charles makes a break, Wildish drops his own sword and urged Bellamy to run him through only for Bellamy to offer Wildish his weapon. The strange turn of events results in a reconciliation between the two friends.
Meanwhile, the Count is determined to win the hand of the lady whom he was charged merely with fooling. As Wildish tries to stop his madness, Mr. Trim and Sir Humphrey actually windup dueling with swords. This engagement also winds up with a reconciliation and that reconciliation urges the two to push forward to locate the Count and have him served proper punishment for his act of cowardice in running away from confrontations with both men.
Act Five
In very short order, Charles the page is revealed to be Gertrude’s sister Philadelphia in disguise. She and Lord Bellamy declare their love for each other. The Count convinces the Fantast daughter to marry him only to be interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Trim and Sir Humphrey with the news of the real identity of the Count as La Roch, but they are not believed. Upon the eventual discovering of a hiding La Roch, it is admitted that his marriage is in proper legal standing. Both Lady Fantast and her daughter fled with the Count out of fear of repercussions from Oldwit. Bellamy and Philadelphia marry and the truth of La Roch is finally accepted by the returning Fantast women with the daughter now rejecting the contention that she is his wife.
As La Roch is arrested and escorted away, the Fantast women—true to their selves—now assert that how impossible it should have been for them to have mistaken him for anything other than what he was. Nevertheless, they make a decision that it would be best to take their leave of Bury forever. The play draws to a close with Gertrude making an announcement that effectively rejects and undoes everything she has said about marriage and women and women to that point, promising Wildish that she can be meek, submissive wife as any “simpering Milksop.”
