London Assurance

Act One

As the play opens, servants Cool and Martin anxiously await the return of Charles, the son of their boss, Sir Harcourt Courtly. Eventually, Charles returns, still drunk after a night of excess. He has been busy evading his creditors and is accompanied by a man called Dazzle. With the help of Cool, he avoids running into his father (who is in the dark about Charles’s behavior) and disappears upstairs just in time.

Sir Harcourt, a vain fop of sixty-three--who tries to pass for twenty years younger--informs Cool that he is about to leave town in the middle of the season. He is engaged to marry Grace, the “blushing" eighteen-year-old niece of his old friend, Max Harkaway. Grace is young, beautiful, and rich…..a very desirable match for the aging Sir Harcourt. Sir Harcourt has not seen Grace since she was ten years old, but he is excited by the match. Grace does not have much choice in the matter--she must marry Sir Harcourt or forfeit her inheritance. If she refuses, the