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
John Baldwin Buckstone Palace of Truth" (1870), "Pygmalion and Galatea" (1871) and "The Wicked World" (1873). Buckstone also produced Gilbert's dramas, "Charity" (1874) and "Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith" (1876), as well as his 1877 farce "Engaged". In 1873 Buckstone introduced the innovation of matinées starting at 2.00 pm. By the mid-1870s, however, Buckstone's company was disbanding, and in 1877, ill and bankrupt after sustaining heavy losses, he gave up management of the theatre. Buckstone was first married in 1828 to Anne Maria Honeyman, with whom he had at least five children before she died in 1844. For many years, Buckstone was closely associated with