Three Hours After Marriage

The wedding vows are scarcely cold when Doctor Fossile starts calculating the hour for fatherhood—and reaching for a vial to help him keep up with his twenty-three-year-old bride. Mrs. Townley is already wondering what sort of “good hands” she has fallen into.

In this 1717 comedy, the newlyweds arrive at Fossile’s house, where medicine, astrology and ambition crowd every room. The aging doctor calls his bride his “best of curiosities”; she answers his grand assurances with a wary wit, while his niece Phoebe Clinket is so absorbed in poetry that she can barely manage a greeting. Then a letter meant for Mrs. Townley falls into Fossile’s hands, and its sender sounds eager for a private meeting. How many people, exactly, believe they have a claim on this marriage?

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