This harangue to the audience, mocking those that used to be delivered in big theatres, including the Comédie-Française, preceded the performance of La Grand-mère amoureuse (The Grandmother In Love), a parody, written by Lesage, Fuzelier and d'Orneval, of Quinault and Lully’s opera, Atys (1676), which had just been staged again for the fiftieth anniversary of its creation. Another parody of Atys, with Arlequin, had been created by the Comédie-Italienne in January 1726. A third one followed at the Opéra-Comique, on the 19th of February, the day after the parody with puppets.

The manuscript of the harangue belongs to the Soleinne collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (French National Library, Théâtre inédit de Fuzelier et d’Orneval, Ms. FF 9336). It was published for the first time by Charles Magnin in his book Histoire des marionnettes en Europe (History of puppets in Europe, 1852), which indicated that John Riner’s dressing room (rue des Fossés-Monsieur-le-Prince) was the place of performance. However, the Parfaict brothers , François and Claude indicated Bienfait’s dressing room instead, in their Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire des spectacles de la Foire (Memoirs retracing the history of the performances at the Foire, 1743)

Polichinelle explains to the audience that, in the fashion of larger theatres, he will harangue them. He justifies the fact that he is presenting a new parody of Atys, which was already performed by Italian comedians, and advocates for the rights of the puppets, “let’s polish the most mischievous” of the Fair.