Note 747 — Chapter XXVI
Reading edition
Manuel Morchon, at the end of his “Vitoria del Amor,” (Comedias Escogidas, Tom. IX., 1657, p. 242), says:—
Most honorable Mosqueteros, here Don Manuel Morchon, in gentlest form, Beseeches you to give him, as an alms, A victor shout;—if not for this his play, At least for the good-will it shows to please you.
In the same way, Antonio de Huerta, speaking of his “Cinco Blancas de Juan Espera en Dios,” (Ibid., Tom. XXXII., 1669, p. 179), addresses them:—
And should it now a victor cry deserve, Señores Mosqueteros, you will here, In charity, vouchsafe to give me one;— That is, in case the play has pleased you well.
Perhaps we should not have expected of such a condescension from Solís, but he stooped to it. At the conclusion of his well-known “Doctor Carlino,” (Comedias, 1716, p. 262), he turns to them, saying:—
And here expires my play. If it has pleased, Let the Señores Mosqueteros cry a victor At its burial.
Every thing, indeed, that we know about the mosqueteros shows that their influence was great at the theatre in the theatre’s best days. In the eighteenth century we shall find it governing every thing.