Synopsis
Lewis is a French nobleman who lives on his country estates, where he raises his only child, Angellina. He takes care to guide the girl away from the sybaritic sloth in which many aristocratic women indulge, encouraging her to "rise with the sun, walk, dance, or hunt, and learn the virtues of plants and simples" (Act I, scene 1). Yet now that she is fourteen years old, he judges it appropriate that she be married to a fitting husband. Lewis looks toward his neighbor Brisac, who has two eligible sons. The older, Charles (the play's title character), is a scholar, who ignores everyday concerns and prefers his books; the younger, Eustace, is a courtier, fashionable and worldly. Both Lewis and Brisac decide that Eustace is the right match for Angellina.
They face a problem, however: under the rules of primogeniture, Charles is heir to his father's estates, while Eustace is merely a younger son with no independent income. The two fathers scheme to oust Charles from his privileged place and convey his birthright to Eustace. The protests of Brisac's brother Miramount, who favors Charles and admires his intellectual pursuits, are dismissed. Brisac promises Charles an income that will provide for his bookish life; and Charles is naive enough to accept the offer — until he meets Angellina in person. He is instantly swept away by her, as she is with him; and he is inspired to defend his rights, knowing that he needs an estate to support a wife. He refuses to sign the legal documents that Brisac and Lewis have prepared, documents that would effectively disinherit him.
Brisac and Lewis are both outraged at the failure of their plan. Brisac orders Charles out of his house, as Lewis does Angellina; but the young couple find refuge with Miramount. Angellina is at first concerned about her honor and reputation — but Charles assures her that he will treat her with respect and discretion. Eustace and two of his courtier friends, Cowsy and Egremont, go to confront Charles; but the newly emboldened young man seizes Eustace's sword and drives the three of them out. Brisac and Lewis, meanwhile, have a falling-out over the bad outcome of their scheme.
In conversation with Cowsy and Egremont, Eustace is disillusioned by their frank cowardice and their self-centered disregard for considerations of honor; he obtains one of their swords, then chases them away and goes to confront his brother once again. The two brothers begin a duel over Angellina and their disrupted inheritance. Miramount tries to stop them, and they are interrupted by the news that Brisac has taken legal action over the matter, seizing both Lewis and Angellina. Miramount, Charles, and Eustace go to prevent this. The childless Miramount makes an offer that pacifies all concerned: he will make Eustace the heir to his estates and support the young man in finding a wife. Charles and Angellina can then proceed to the altar without hindrance.
Being written in prose rather than verse, the play lacks the embellishments of style normal for Fletcher and Massinger; it compensates with vigorous and entertaining vollies of invective. At one point, Miramount calls his brother Brisac "a flat dull piece of phlegm, shap'd like a man" (II,1). Other characters are described as "gaudy glow-worms," "a hair-brain'd puppy," "running ulcers," "owls," "mungrils," and many other imaginative insults.
The play also contains a noteworthy reference to Galileo Galilei, as "Galateo, the Italian star-wright" (II,4).
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