Lady Frugal, her daughters and maid Milliscent enter and prate proudly about their finery and good looks. Lady Frugal entreats her daughters to use their uncle Luke as a slave. He is no better than one to her. Luke enters with more foppery for the ladies. He has been run all over London on foot to collect it. He secretly tells Goldwire that he also delivered some finery to Goldwire's lady, whom we later discover is the whore, Shavem.

Holdfast, the Frugal's steward (and a man of conscience), enters with porters to prepare for a large feast. Lady Frugal upbraids Holdfast for his niggardly plans. In fact, the plans are quite lavish. She wants something that will outdo the court feasts.

I.ii: Lacy and Plenty, the rivals for Anne and Mary, meet outside Frugal's house and flout one another. Lacy casts aspersions upon Plenty's humble parentage, and in turn Plenty upbraids Lacy for his lack of capital and his need to buy on credit. When they fight Frugal comes out to stop them. He takes them in to be with his daughters.

Hoist, Penury, and Fortune, three of Frugal's debtors, enter and plead with Luke to help them win clemency from Frugal. Luke promises he will back their requests.

Lord Lacy comes in and pities Luke's fallen circumstances and vows to help Luke if he can. He asks Luke how Frugal treats him and his debtors. Luke shows him in to watch secretly the three debtors' suit to Frugal.

I.iii: With Lord Lacy listening secretly, Frugal is persuaded by Luke to forbear undoing the three men. Lord Lacy is much impressed with Luke's impassioned speech for the men and believes Luke to be a true man of honor unfitted to be his nieces' drudge. Lord Lacy criticizes Frugal for the way Luke is treated. Frugal admits that Luke is not treated well, but he says that his wife and daughters will not allow Frugal to interfere. Furthermore, he says that Luke, being the younger brother, has already had his chance. He inherited everything from their doting father and squandered it by gaming and whoring. Frugal had to build his wealth himself. Frugal promises to be ruled by Lord Lacy in whatever manner he thinks fit in the matter of Luke.

II.i: Holdfast is complaining to Goldwire and Tradewell that Lady Frugal refused to touch the luscious banquet he had had prepared. He is at wits end to please the proud woman. He is determined to quit his service with the Frugals. Luke then persuades Goldwire and Tradewell to skim money from Frugal and use their extorted funds to go riot in the city; Luke promises to cover for them while they are gone. They require persuading, but at last Tradewell determines to go gambling and Goldwire to go whoring.

II.ii: Frugal promises ample dowries to young Lacy and Plenty. Lady Frugal, in full charge of the family (much to the young suitors' horror), dismisses her husband and brings in her astronomer, Stargaze, to read her daughters' futures. Stargaze perceives that they will be well married and have sovereignty in their households. This news again scandalizes the young men.

Lady Frugal calls upon her daughters to voice their marriage demands. Instructed by Lady Frugal, Anne tells Lacy that she must be obeyed in all things, have a box at the plays and be given new clothes for every performance she attends so that the gallants sitting on the stage will notice her.

Mary tells Plenty that Anne wants too little of her husband. Mary doesn't want city pleasures; she wants country pleasures. She wants full control of all the household accounts and condescends to give Plenty an allowance. In addition, Mary wants the neighbors instructed that all the property is to be termed her property with no thought to him.

Plenty and Lacy rage at the women's vainglorious pride and storm away. The girls cry to their mother that her advice didn't work. Lady Frugal beats Stargaze for leading her astray. Stargaze saves his position in the household by saying that these were not the two young men he had foreseen as the girls' future husbands. Lady Frugal gives him another chance.

II.iii: Lord Lacy has plotted with Frugal over something in secret and Frugal has agreed. The suitors, Lacy and Plenty, are made friends by their humiliation and vow to travel for three years to wash off the taint of this day's business. Lord Lacy wonders who will support his penniless son, but Plenty says they both will live out of Plenty's purse. This changes the Lacy-Frugal plot and the two men ride out to devise a fresh stratagem.

III.i: Shavem and her mother-cum-bawd lament the dearth of customers. Only Goldwire patronizes her. Some rowdies enter and are about to do her harm when a Justice of the Peace, a Constable and the Watch enter and drive the rowdies away. The Justice turns out to be Goldwire in disguise, the constable Dingem and the Watch musicians. The musicians play while Goldwire and Shavem go up to bed.

III.ii: Luke admits that he is worth only being the ladies' drudge. He tells Lady Frugal that Frugal went out riding with Lord Lacy. Lord Lacy enters with news that Frugal has given up his worldly cares and joined a monastery and left all his possessions to Luke. Luke, instantly magnanimous and altruistic, promises to raise his sister-in-law and nieces to new heights of fashion. The women stand speechless at their unexpected turn of good fortune from this unexpected source. Lord Lacy is secretly pleased that his initial estimate of Luke has proved true. Luke is a man of uncommon honor.

III.iii: Luke, returning from the money vaults, has changed his tune. His avarice begins to grow now that he has had a taste of wealth. He is suddenly afraid of thieves and cheats. Lord Lacy enters with three red Indians from Virginia (actually Frugal, young Lacy and Plenty in disguise). He tells Luke that Frugal's last request is that these pagans be taken in and turned to Christianity. Luke is reluctant, but when Lord Lacy suggests that Frugal will have to come out of his monastery and take back his property to see these pagans converted, Luke reluctantly accepts the charge himself.

IV.i: Dingem and Gettall, a pimp and a gambling box holder, come to Luke with news that both Goldwire and Tradewell have ruined themselves. Holdfast advises Luke to let them go their ways, but Luke tells them to have Tradewell and Goldwire meet him at Mistress Shavem's establishment in two hours. There he will give them all they need.

Penury, Hoist, and Fortune enter to meet their former champion, Luke. Fortune brings news that two of his ships have been recovered from a storm. He begs Luke not to take possession of them against his debt; if Fortune is allowed to redeem the ships and sell the goods, he will profit enough to pay back his debt and redeem his own status.

Hoist's uncle has died and left him enough to redeem his lands held in mortgage to Luke if Luke will only have patience for three days.

Penury has hopes of buying a ship whose master has defaulted if Luke will advance him ten pounds. The ship's goods are sufficient to satisfy Penury's debt to Luke and set him up again. Luke promises to grant all their requests. He gives Holdfast a list of secret instructions.

IV.ii: Luke comes to Shavem's bawdyhouse with the sheriff and constables. He has Goldwire and Tradewell arrested along with Shavem. Gettall is made to disgorge Luke's extorted money that Goldwire and Tradewell have gambled away. Goldwire and Tradewell complain that Luke had set them on. Luke replies that he encouraged their riot before the money was his, when it was still Frugal's.

IV.iii: Constables have arrested Penury, Hoist, and Fortune. The debtors claim that there has been a mistake, but Luke enters and gloats that he has taken Fortune's ships, Hoist's property, and paid the ten pounds himself for the ship that Penury hoped would redeem him. He has the three debtors taken away to prison screaming insults at him.

IV.iv: Holdfast informs Stargaze and Milliscent that they are no longer required. They say they will appeal to good master, Luke. Lady Frugal, Anne, and Mary enter wearing coarse garments, their finery having been taken away by Holdfast. When Luke enters, the aggrieved people fall on him and beg him to fire Holdfast.

Luke says that the women look like true city women in their simple attire and refuses to allow them to make fools of themselves in court attire any longer. He castigates the women for their haughty airs. They become contrite. Holdfast is pleased to see them get their desserts. Milliscent and Stargaze are sent packing with only the clothes on their backs, which is what they came in with. The women lament their folly. Holdfast becomes uncomfortable that Luke may have been a bit too stern with them.

V.i: The red Indians tell Luke that they are minions of the devil and promise him a mine of gold if he will get them two virgins and an honest matron to be taken back to Virginia for sacrifice to the devil. Luke immediately offers his sister-in-law and nieces. He has decided that they eat too much. He convinces them to go on the pretense that they will be made great tribal queens in Virginia. They reluctantly agree to go.

When the red Indians offer to celebrate, Luke remembers it is his birthday. However, he has no desire to spend money on a feast. The Indians promise to create a feast with their magic. Luke agrees, but insists upon being the only celebrant. He wants the rest of the world to envy his abundance.

V.ii: Lord Lacy is talking with Old Goldwire and Old Tradewell about Luke's harshness to their sons. Both men are willing to forfeit their bonds (bonds given for their sons' apprenticeships) and hope to appeal to Luke's leniency. Luke, however, insists upon on thousand pounds apiece-a hard sum. This sum threatens to ruin both the Goldwires and the Tradewells. Lord Lacy suggests to them that comfort may be forthcoming.

V.iii: Frugal has revealed himself to Holdfast and brought him into his scheme. The banquet is set, and pictures are placed out. The Indians entertain Luke with ghostly spectacles of Orpheus charming Cerberus and Charon. Then they present a spectacle of all the men Luke has undone. They are wailing to him for mercy. This delights Luke and makes him "more flinty" towards their plight. Next his nieces appear as a vision to take leave of their former suitors (who are represented by "statues").

Lady Frugal's shape enters and begs forgiveness of Frugal, who she drove to the monastery. Luke is unmoved by the pitiful spectacle, except to delight in the suffering he has caused. The Indians reveal themselves to be Frugal, young Lacy and Plenty. Lord Lacy enters and confesses that he was wrong about Luke's honor. The women are contrite and, through Luke's harshness, have seen the error of their pride. Luke slinks away ashamed to hide someplace where honest men never go. Frugal instructs Lady Frugal to make good her reformation and instruct other city madams to bear themselves within their station and not feign to emulate the finery of the court.

Luke is a strange chameleon who shifts from a penitent slave to a deceptive slave (when he convinces the apprentices to waste his own brother's money); from an altruistic gentleman to a hard and avaricious gentleman. He is never wholly likeable or detestable, but becomes a comic villain who is not particularly interesting in his hard dealings. He has no humorous idiosyncrasy to make him fun; he becomes simply a nasty fellow with no touch of mirth about him.

The title character, presumably Lady Frugal, does not deserve the distinction of nominal heroine in the plot. She represents only a secondary plot, subordinate to Luke's avaricious intrigues. She is rather foolish and detestable as the proud city matron who wishes to be a fine lady, but at this she is no more interesting that was Lady Eyre in Dekker's Shoemker's Holiday. Her conversion and deep contrition at the end, therefore, is difficult to accept. We would like to continue thinking of her as a laughable character, but we cannot after her sincere conversion.

What is said of Lady Frugal applies also to Anne and Mary; they are nothing more than their mother's creatures.

Goldwire and Tradewell seem at first to be virtuous young nobles working honorably at their apprenticeships; their raging excesses after they take "that fatal first step" renders them unsympathetic, rather ridiculous, and worthy of punishment. While Luke plays his part in setting them on the wrong path, they go notwithstanding and riot with abandon.

Sir Lacy (the youthful suitor) is a pompous young knight. He has no money but flouts Plenty because he hasn't a title or pedigree. His indignation at Anne's requirements for marriage might be justified, but running away for three years hardly seems the action of a mature young man.

Plenty is as snobbish as Lacy. He has money and flaunts it before the young Lacy, calling Lacy names because he must buy on credit. He acts no better to Mary's marriage requirements than does Lacy to Anne's'.

We would like to feel sorry for the plights of the debtors: Hoist, Penury, and Fortune. But they have entered into their trouble by going into debt to Frugal. Luke is doing only what is lawful in proceeding against them when they become best able to repay their debts. That he deals with them harshly is contemptible, but it is the law that allows such hard dealing that should be condemned rather than the men who take advantage of such harsh laws. In the end the debtors are not as sympathetic as one might find in, for example, a Dickensian plot. They have, after all, brought their own fortunes upon themselves (unlike a Macawber). They, as had Luke, bring themselves to mischief through their own extravagance and excesses-they each were rich once.

Lord Lacy, who would appear to be the voice of reason throughout, is himself proved wrong in Luke. It is ultimately his fault that everyone suffers. It is he who convinces Frugal to give Luke the power through which Luke terrorizes everyone else. To be sure, Luke's scourge brings balance to the play world (as Angelo's had in Measure for Measure), and perhaps that is the vision Massinger wishes the audience to see.

The underworld characters-Shavem, Secret, Gettall, Dingem-are wholly unsympathetic. Unlike the riotously funny bawds in Middleton and Jonson, they do nothing endearing nor make any pithy commentary about their profession, but merely scrape their victims for whatever they can. They do not deserve the leniency they would appear to obtain at the end of the play.

In short, it is difficult to like anyone here.

In reading the "academy of valor" reference at I.ii.22, some commentators tend to think of it as a reference to Jonson's harangue against dueling in The Magnetic Lady (October 1632). While this might be true, it seems more likely that this is another example of Massinger's inability to be original. The "Academy of Valor" savors strongly of the "roaring schools" mentioned, inter alia, in Middleton and Rowley's A Fair Quarrel and in Jonson's The Alchemist. In both cases a country fool who has acquired property (Chough or Kastril) come to town to learn to roar and also to court (or marry off) a girl. This describes Plenty exactly and would seem to associate the "Academy of Valor" with the "roaring schools" and also indicate that Massinger cannot think up one original joke on his own. To be fair, though, Plenty is more than a simple fool and gull as the other clowns were, but that change in mental capacity really doesn't add much either to Plenty's character or to this play.

Goldwire's trick (running off the rowdies at Shavem's) while disguised as a Justice of the Peace seems contrived. The rowdies add nothing to the scene. Nothing is learned about Shavem and her mother-bawd, Secret, nor do the rowdies ever again appear. We never learn the reason for Goldwire's need to disguise or why he chose that particular disguise. The whole trick is a cracker that fails to pop.

The recent popularity of Milton's Comus might be reflected in the reference to Comus at IV.ii.33. Luke is there referred to by Tradewell and Goldwire as their "god of pleasure," "our Comus."

There is an oddity occurring between the end of act IV and the beginning of act V. Luke has the last line in IV and the first in V. This would require an immediate reentrance-often considered bad form in the theatre unless there is an act break as there would be in the children's theatre. Some research might be required here.

Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday (for

the action of purchasing a ship's goods whose owner has defaulted and by such means to improve one's status and/or wealth
for the comparison between Lady Eyre and Lady Frugal's city pretensions and
for the further interesting note on how the "French hood" fell out of favor between Dekker's play, where it is desired by Lady Eyre, and this play, where Lady Frugal laments having to wear one
for the insight into apprenticeship both plays provide (we learn in this play that a nobleman's son went to work for a master to learn the trade, but the nobleman had to put up a bond against the dishonesty of his son to assure the master that he would not lose money in taking on the apprentice-see II.i.75-6);

Marston's The Dutch Curtezan (for the mother-bawd/daughter-whore relationship);

Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, Chapman's Bussy D'Ambois, and Webster's The White Devil (for the trope of calling on devils to provide entertainment at parties or show actions in other parts of the world, which is parodied here in act V);

Massinger's A New Way to Pay Old Debts (for the comic villain's insatiable greed and lack of contrition (Overreach and Luke). Luke sees the error he's made while Overreach simply goes mad).