Denis Fodor wrote:

>What is wrong with Sellars's reading of Nozze, at least as Schwartzo
>renders it, is that, right off, sexual harrassment today is considered
>politically incorrect, while the droit de seigneur, in its time, was
>considered politically correct.

and Margaret Mikulska wrote:

>"Droit du seigneur" didn't exist - it was an 18th-century notion,
>symbolizing the power of aristocrats.

Perhaps whether or not the "droit" existed as common practice is rendered
moot by DaPonte's text itself, according to which the count had enjoyed
certain privileges which he renounced and now wants to reclaim:

Susanna: Ei la destina
Per ottener da me certe mezz'ore
Che il diretto feudale....

Figaro: Come!  feudi suoi
              Non l'ha il Conte abolito?

Susanna: Ebben, ora e pentito e par che tenti Riscattarlo da me.

(Susanna: He intends it
 To obtain from me certain half-hours
  Which feudal privilege.....

Figaro: What!  Didn't the Count
              Abolish that in his domain?

Susanna: He did, but now regrets it, and it seems He wants to bring it
back for me.

Walter Meyer