The Country Wife recap

Horner, a London rake, has a doctor spread the false report that he is impotent so husbands will trust him with their wives. Sir Jaspar Fidget accordingly gives Horner access to Lady Fidget and her circle, whose public claims of virtue conceal their affairs. The jealous Pinchwife brings his inexperienced country bride Margery to London and tries to hide her, but his restrictions intensify her attraction to Horner. Even disguising her as a boy lets Horner approach her under Pinchwife's supervision. A second courtship plot follows Alithea, Pinchwife's sister, who remains loyal to the vain Sparkish while Harcourt sincerely pursues her. At the final gathering, Pinchwife's suspicions falsely compromise Alithea, and Sparkish abandons her; she is then free to marry Harcourt. Margery nearly exposes Horner by declaring her love, but Lucy invents an explanation that protects everyone. Horner's deception and the ladies' secret survive, while Pinchwife takes Margery home without having secured her affection.

Harry Horner returns to London with a plan to gain private access to married women. At his request, a physician known as Quack circulates the false report that treatment for a venereal illness has left Horner impotent. Sir Jaspar Fidget quickly sees Horner as a convenient, harmless escort for Lady Fidget and Dainty, although the women publicly recoil from him. Horner's acquaintance Pinchwife has recently married a young country woman and is determined to keep her hidden from fashionable men. His jealousy alerts Horner to Margery's existence and makes her a new object of interest. A parallel courtship also takes shape: Harcourt is attracted to Pinchwife's sister Alithea, but she is promised to Sparkish. Sparkish is so confident in his own wit and importance that he treats Harcourt's obvious interest as friendly entertainment rather than rivalry.

Margery Pinchwife is eager to experience London, especially the theater and the people she has seen there. She innocently admits noticing Horner, provoking her husband's fear and anger. Pinchwife tries to instruct her in suspicion while keeping her indoors, but his questioning teaches her more about flirtation than her country upbringing did. Alithea urges him to treat his wife less harshly, while defending her own intention to marry Sparkish because she has given her word. Harcourt continues to court Alithea directly. Sparkish refuses to recognize the seriousness of the courtship and even assists the two in meeting, imagining that his lack of jealousy proves his sophistication. Pinchwife's efforts to secure both women therefore have the opposite effect: Margery becomes more curious about Horner, and Harcourt gains repeated opportunities to argue that Alithea should choose him.

To take Margery through the city without exposing her to admirers, Pinchwife dresses her as a young man and claims that she is his brother. The disguise fails as protection. Horner and his companions meet the supposed youth, and Horner recognizes enough of the situation to draw Margery away, kiss her, and send her back with gifts while Pinchwife struggles to intervene without revealing the truth. Harcourt continues to press his suit to Alithea whenever Sparkish's vanity creates an opportunity, but she still regards her prior promise as binding. Horner's false reputation also begins serving its intended purpose. Lady Fidget can seek his company under a respectable pretext while Sir Jaspar remains confident that no sexual betrayal is possible. The women around Lady Fidget likewise become interested in the unusual freedom that his supposed condition permits.

Pinchwife tries to end Margery's interest in Horner by forcing her to write a contemptuous letter under dictation. Once left enough freedom to act, she substitutes a message expressing her affection. His surveillance repeatedly supplies the secrecy and urgency that her courtship requires. Horner, meanwhile, receives Lady Fidget privately while Sir Jaspar and the other guardians continue to regard him as safe; talk of acquiring china provides a respectable cover for the visit and prompts further competition for his attention. Harcourt uses a clerical disguise and Sparkish's credulity in an effort to turn the planned wedding to his own advantage. Alithea recognizes him and refuses to break her engagement by a trick, continuing to distinguish Harcourt's genuine affection from the obligation she believes she owes Sparkish. The plots move toward collision as Pinchwife discovers more evidence of Margery's feelings and tries to redirect the apparent scandal away from his marriage.

Pinchwife brings the confusion to Horner's lodging, where his attempts to manage Margery's correspondence lead him to accuse Alithea of secretly pursuing Horner. Sparkish accepts the accusation without trusting Alithea's denial and repudiates their engagement, proving the weakness Harcourt had identified. Harcourt remains loyal and can now marry Alithea. Margery then appears and speaks openly of her love for Horner, threatening to expose both Horner's false condition and Pinchwife's failure to control his wife. Lucy invents a face-saving explanation: Margery was supposedly pretending in order to expose Sparkish and help unite Alithea with Harcourt. Quack supports the original medical lie, and the assembled characters accept the convenient account. Lady Fidget and her companions keep their own relations with Horner secret. Horner's scheme therefore remains intact, Alithea ends with Harcourt rather than Sparkish, and Pinchwife takes Margery away with the public appearance of his marriage preserved but its distrust unresolved.

At Horner's lodging, Pinchwife's attempt to control Margery turns into a public accusation against his innocent sister. Sparkish immediately believes the accusation against Alithea and rejects her, clearing the way for the faithful Harcourt to marry her. Margery's arrival threatens a different exposure when she openly declares her love for Horner. Lucy rescues the group from scandal by claiming that Margery's behavior was a device meant to test Sparkish and bring Alithea and Harcourt together. The explanation is false, but the company accepts it because it preserves their interests. Quack again supports Horner's supposed incapacity, so Pinchwife has to accept the public fiction and take Margery home. Horner's affairs with Lady Fidget and her circle remain concealed, and his fraudulent reputation survives. Alithea gains a more suitable husband in Harcourt, while Margery returns to a jealous marriage with her desires unchanged and Horner remains free to continue exploiting the husbands' misplaced confidence.