[1] Since 1666 the writing of Il Cromuele is accompanied by an extensive correspondence with Jean Chapelain,[2] as Graziani was waged by Colbert on behalf of Louis The Great.

During the voyage, their ship has been wrecked, and their lifeboat was pushed by the wind to English coast, from where they reached London under the identities of Henrico (Henry) and Edmondo (Edmund).

In this guise, they have been housed in the Palace of Odoardo (Edward) and Anna Hide, a family in pectore still loyalist despite it shows fidelity to the usurper Cromuele.

The beauty and the singing qualities of Edmondo/Delmira, have meant that the two women were both introduced in Whitehall to attend a major Costume party that Cromuele has ordered, to distract Londoners from the consequences of his despotic government and a looming plague.

Upon awakening, Cromuele receives the glad tidings of the existence of a newborn daughter believed dead, but actually still alive because exchanged with Orinda's one while in bassinet.

The cause of the probable non-representation is the dynastic marriage which occurred in 1673 (then only two years after the first publication) between Maria Beatrice d'Este and James Stuart, the latter newly widowed by that Anne Hyde with whom, in the Il Cromuele, he appears in love.