The Recruiting Serjeant

About the show

A recruiting sergeant visits a village and persuades Joe, a countryman with a wife and mother, to enlist. The women try to stop him. Joe asks the sergeant about battles, whose gruesome description makes him reconsider. Joe then admits his enlistment threat was revenge for his wife nagging him about going to the alehouse the previous night. She promises not to do so again, and they reconcile. The sergeant buys Joe a drink, and they toast King George.