Note 18 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
Frequent attempts were made by the authorities to suppress the scandals and abuses in the theatres, which, although the performances always took place by daylight, were inevitable in such a state of society as that we are now describing. It was forbidden, for instance, for men in the courtyard or pit to converse with women in the cazuela or on the stage; the actresses were not allowed to dress in masculine garb, and an alguacil was always to be on duty in the auditorium during the performance. See Schack's Historia del arte dramatica en España; Pellicer's Tratado Historico sobre el origen ... de la Comedia en España (1804); El Corral de la Pacheca, by Juan Comba; Origen Epocas y Progresos del Teatro Español, by Hugalde (1802), and the valuable MS. Memorias Cronologicas sobre el origen ... de Comedias en España, by Antonio de Armona, in the Royal Academy of History, Madrid.