The Conscious Lovers is a
comedy written by Sir Richard Steele. It was first performed in 1722 at Drury Lane,
and also published in the same year.
The hero of the story is Bevil, who is engaged to Lucinda, heiress to the wealthy Sealand. However Bevil loves his own ward, Indiana, a destitute orphan whom he found and has brought up. On the other hand, Myrtle, the friend of Bevil, loves Lucinda. In turn, Lucinda is being annoyed by Cimberton, a fortune-hunter.
Bevil is a decent man, and confesses to Lucinda his love for Indiana. Myrtle is angered by this in defense of Lucinda. He challenges Bevil to a duel, of which he refuses. It was eventually revealed that Indiana is in fact a lost child of Sealand, daughter from his first marriage, and therefore half-sister of Lucinda.
With the dowry shared between the half-sisters, Lucinda and Indiana are free to marry the man they love. Cimberton withdraws his pursuit of Lucinda, disinterested in the thought of half-inheritance.
In this interlude of a comical story, Richard Steele creates a sense of ethics and
decency in his characters.