The manuscript of the play is kept in the Soleinne collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (French national library, Ms FR 9319). According to Françoise Rubellin, who published the text, this prologue preceded Polichinelle Persée, also written by Denis Carolet. The title is a reference to L'Affichard and Romagnesi’s play L’Amour censeur des théâtres (Cupid critic of the theatres), premiered on April 2, 1737, at the Comédie-Italienne. In these two plays, “censeur” means “critic”: the goal is to mock one’s opponents by associating them with allegorical characters; many allusions to theatrical events of the time are made during the play. The character of the Charbonnier (Coal merchant) is borrowed from L’Assemblée des acteurs (The Meeting of the actors), a prologue written by Carolet and Pannard, and the character of the Harengère (Fishwife) from L’Affichard and Valois d’Orville’s L’Abondance; both plays were performed at the Opéra-Comique of the Foire Saint-Germain on March 21, 1737.

Polichinelle, the personification of puppet theatre, is visited first by the Opéra (Paris Opera), then by the Comédie-Française, followed by the Comédie-Italienne and finally the Opéra-Comique, which is accompanied by a Harengère (Fishwife) and a Charbonnier (Coal merchant).