Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack of Scene 1: This scene is based on one in Gilbert's short story, "The Adventures of Wheeler J. Calamity", which he had written for the "Fun Christmas Number" in 1865, with the song following this speech, "If you intend to stay with us, before you've been a day with us", appearing in both. "Dulcamara" was not widely reviewed, but "Fun" magazine – to which Gilbert was a regular contributor – gave it a long and favourable notice, declaring that "Mr W. S. Gilbert at once takes rank for both neatness of construction and brilliancy of dialogue beside Mr. Byron. The
Viktor Krylov Viktor Krylov Viktor Alexandrovich Krylov (, 2 February 1838 — 13 March 1908) was a Russian playwright (who occasionally used the pen name Viktor Alexandrov), theatre critic, librettist, Imperial Theatres official and one of the major contributors to the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. Born in Moscow to a lawyer, Krylov studied at the Moscow Engineering College where he became friends with César Cui. He started out as a lyricist and co-authored several romances with Cui, and later, in 1857—1859 wrote the librettos for his operas "Prisoner of the Caucasus", "William Ratcliff" and "The Mandarin's Son". In 1858 Krylov debuted