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i&NIUON ENVELOPE CORP.
I |r ' ,., I ' -'*, W J,** 1 V.Jft&f** j-3' S
EDITED' "B V j: "T. :
W. S. GILBERT
STARS OF THE STAGE
A SERIES OF ILLUSTRATED BIO-
GRAPHIES OF THE LEADING
ACTORS, ACTRESSES, AND
DRAMATISTS
Edited by J. T. GREIN
Crown 8vo. Illustrated
First Volumes
ELLEN TERRY. By CHRISTOPHER ST.
JOHN
HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE. By
Mrs. GEORGE CRAN
W. S. GILBERT. By EDITH A. BROWNE
SIR CHARLES WYNDHAM, By Mrs.
TEIGNMOUTH SHORE.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW. By G. K.
CHESTERTON
ARTHUR WING PINERO.
HENRY ARTHUR JONES.
ILLUSTRATIONS
MR. GILBERT IN 1899
By permission of Messrs. Langfier, Lid., 0/230, Old
Bond Street, W.
Frontispiece
GRIM ? S DYKE, MR. GILBERT'S HOUSE AT
HARROW. WEALD .... To face p. 6
MR. GILBERT AS AN OFFICER IN THE 3RD
BATTALION GORDON HIGHLANDERS . ,, 14
ILLUSTRATIONS TO ' ' THE YARN OF THE NANCY
BELL " AND " MY DREAM "
Reproduced from " The Bab Ballads and Songs
of a Savoyard" by permission, of Mr. W. S.
Gilbert and Messrs. Macmillan 6* Co., Ltd.
ILLUSTRATIONS (2) TO " THE BUMBOAT WO
MAN'S STORY" AND FRONTISPIECE TO
" THE BAB BALLADS AND SONGS OF A
SAVOYARD ?? .....
Reproduced from " The Bab Ballads and Songs of
a Savoyard" by permission of Mr. W. S. GUbert
and Messrs. Macmillan 6* C0., Ltd.
ILLUSTRATION TO "MY DREAM" AND "ONLY
A DANCING GIRL" ....
Reproduced from ' * The Bab Ballads and Sonffs of
a Savoyard" by permission of Mr. W.S. Gilbert
and Messrs. Macmillan 6* Co. , Ltd.
22
x ILLUSTRATIONS
TRIAL BY JURY . ' . . . . To face p. 56
Reproduced by permission of the Dover Street
Studios, Ltd.
SCENE FROM "PATIENCE". . . . 58
Reproducedbypermissionof Messrs. Ellis & Walery
MR. W. S. GILBERT AND SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN 60
Reproduced by permission of The London Stereo
scopic Company
MR. D'OYLY CARTE . . . . . ,, 62
Reproduced by per mission of Messrs. Ellis 6* Walery
MR. ALFRED CELLIER AND MR. FRANCOIS
CELLIER ....., 64
MR. W. S. GILBERT LEAVING SAVOY THEATRE
AFTER REHEARS AL,, JANUARY 23, 1907 66
Reproduced by permission of the Dover Street
Studios, Ltd.
MISS JESSIE BOND ...... 68
Reproduced by permission of Messrs. Ellis & Walery
MR. RUTLAND BARRINGTON AND MR, GEORGE
GROSSMITH . . . . . ,, 72
Reproduced by permission of The London Stereo
scopic Company
MISS ROSIN A BRANDRAM . . . . ,, 76
Reproduced by permission of Messrs. Ellis & Walery
SCENE FROM "THE MIKADO " . . . 82
Reproduced by permission ofMessrs.Ellis & Walery
W. S. GILBERT
W. S. GILBERT
BY
EDITH A. BROWNE
WITH TWENTY-THREE
ILL USTRATION S
LONDON : JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK : JOHN LANE COMPANY. MCMVII
' 7 of
Printed by BALLANTYNHJ <Sr* Co, LIMITED
Tavistock Street, London
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I hope that all who have directly or indirectly helped me
with this biography will accept my sincere thanks for
their courteous and kind assistance. I am indebted to
Messrs. Macmillan & Co. for permission to quote from
the text of " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard/'
and to reproduce some of the illustrations originally drawn
by Mr. W. S. Gilbert for that volume, to Messrs. Chatto
& Windus for liberty to quote from their edition of
Mr. Gilbert's Original Plays, and to Mr. Carl Hentschel,
Mr. J. M. Bulloch, and Mr. J. Waters, for permission to
reprint parts of the Programme of the Savoyard Celebra
tion Dinner. -
Specially would I acknowledge a very deep debt~of
gratitude to Mr. Gilbert, who has so generously responded
to my many exacting demands on his time, memory and
literary rights ; in addition to giving me complete freedom
to quote from his Bab Ballads, Plays, and Libretti, he has
personally supplied me with all the biographical facts which
I have recorded, helped with the illustrations, and 'read
through the proofs of this book with a view to ensuring
vi AUTHOR'S NOTE
accuracy in historical details. I can only add that just as
it is often impossible to localise and designate valuable
assistance, so is it impossible adequately to acknowledge
it, for which reason I hope my thanks will be better under
stood than they have been expressed.
EDITH A. BROWNE.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE GENESIS OF AN IMPRESSIONIST SKETCH . I
II. THE NEBULOUS STAGE . . X' . . 8
III. THE BAB BALLADS . . . . . .20
IV. GILBERT AS PLAYWRIGHT . . , . 35
^V. OUR NATIONAL OPERA . . . . -55
VI. THE NATIONAL DEBT TO W. S. GILBERT . .86
LIST OF THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OPERAS . 84
THE O.P. CLUB SAVOYARD CELEBRATION DINNER,
TOAST LIST AND PROGRAMME . . 89
LIST OF SAVOYARDS PRESENT AT THE DINNER . 90
THE PLAYS OF W. S. GILBERT BIBLIOGRAPHY . 95
W. S. GILBERT
CHAPTER I
THE GENESIS OF AN IMPRESSIONIST
SKETCH
MY STAR
All that I know
Of a certain star,
Is, it can throw
(Like the angled spar)
Now a dart of red,
Now a dart of blue,
Till my friends have said
They would fain see, too,
My star that dartles the red and the blue I
Then it stops like a bird, like a flower, hangs furled ;
They must solace themselves with the Saturn above it*
What matter to me if their star is a world ?
Mine has opened its soul to me ; therefore I love it.-
BROWNING.
THE name of W. S. Gilbert is so generally associated with
jovial songs, merry jests, jocular stories and Sir Arthur
Sullivan's tuneful music, that I seem to hear an audience
of disappointed Savoy-Lovers exclaiming^ " Why this dis
cordant note ? We naturally expected you to ring up the
curtain on a festive scene in which we should behold our
favourite jester with cap and bells, and you bring on Browning
to speak a prologue that tells of a star with a soul. You
have made a mistake this is not the Court Theatre."
My defence will be anticipated by the many friends who
have met W. S. Gilbert in the " Theatre Royal, World,"
and already I feel they are in sympathy with me. For the
2 W. S. GILBERT
present, therefore, I address myself only to the right loyal
and loving subjects of King William of Topsy-Turvydom.
You, my fellow countrymen, know your king as humorist,
social satirist, fascinating rhymer and mirth-provoking
magician, and above all as the keen intellectual sportsman
who shoots those venomless Gilbertian arrows which never
fell to hit the target of weak human nature, A genuine
interest in this sprightly jester fosters a wish to discover
how far the child was " father of the man " ; our excursion
into the past should prove more enjoyable if the fuller iden
tity of the man is first revealed.
Gilbert is the author not only of the libretti of that cycle
of national comic operas reminiscent of his Bab Ballads
and known to fame as Savoy Opera, but of numerous plays
varying in treatment from farce to tragedy, and further
evidence of his versatile pen is to be seen in the many
whimsical drawings which bear his name or that of his
double, " Bab " ; he is, moreover, an expert stage-manager,
and the business-like manner in which he conducts a re
hearsal is characteristic of the man who answers his letters
by return of post, and who, in the course of amassing a
fortune by acting as honourable treasurer to the profits of
his imagination, has refuted the popukr fallacy that the non-
existence of the business instinct is one of the necessary
proofs of the existence of the artistic temperament. Facts
are never very convincing evidence when they are disso
ciated from the crucial drama of action in which they are
evolved, but embodied in this bare recital of Gilbert's
aclrievements is part of my defence for not striking the
humorous note as the key to his individuality ; to do so
even by quoting one of his own best jokes, would be but
meretricious artifice. Speaking quite conventionally he has
done serious work, and in the unconventional sense all his
work is serious, for on his own authority he has always
given us of his best, however far that best may be said to
fell short of the mark. Moreover, he is not a funny man j
GENESIS OF AN IMPRESSIONIST SKETCH 3
he is a very serious man, and therein lies the irresistible
charm of that peculiar quality known as Gilbertian humour.
The term " Gilbertian " is descriptive of a conflict between
the well-balanced mind of a serious man and the exuberant
spirit of his impish counterpart; the imp triumphs, but
according to the terms of the treaty between the two, the
serious mortal is allowed to keep his intelligence and to
make believe that he does not see anything funny in the
little imp's delightful nonsense. By this compact all intel
ligent mortals are saved the pain of watching their fellow-
men obviously playing the buffoon.
Say I have proved my case inasmuch as I consider that
the first impression of W, S. Gilbert to be snatched from a
biography is not that of a mere jester, the sentiment of the
prologue has yet to be justified ; to this end I must try to
bring you into touch with the personality of the man.
Even if we hold that a man's work should be judged
purely on its own merits there can be little doubt that the
merely human qualities of either artist or craftsman are of
considerable importance to those with whom bis work brings
him into contact.
" Well, from what I have heard, Gilbert "
There is no need to whisper, Gossip, it is an open
secret; Gilbert mentioned it at the Banquet recently given
in his honour by the O.P. Club as the outcome of a
suggestion made by Mr. Carl Hentschel, and it was one
of the best jokes of the evening. As he rose to reply to
the toast of " The Savoy Opera," gracefully proposed by
Mr. Sidney Dark, the President of the O.P. Club, the
strains of " For he's a jolly good fellow " were still hovering
in the air. " I may or may not be a good fellow," he began,
with a muffled ring of deep emotion in his voice, '< but at
the present moment I am certainly not a jolly one." In a
serious, heartfelt strain he went on to say how the kindly
instinct that had inspired this honour to himself and his
" dear old comrades of the Savoy campaigns of long ago "
4 W. S. GILBERT
had "stink into his soul"; he spoke of the happy days
gone by and said how it rejoiced his heart to remember
that during the twenty years he had been associated with
the Savoy as stage-manager and producer he had never
had a serious difference with any member of the company
who had so faithfully served him then glancing to left
and right at old comrades whose smiling faces corroborated
this sweeping statement, he quoted himself in that joco-
serious, sublimely unconscious style of diction which
Gilbertian humour demands, "Yet everybody says I'm
such a disagreeable man 1 And I can't think why ! "
All imaginative people are sensitive, thick skins being
mercifully reserved by Nature for those to whom the gods
are less liberal with the gift of originality. To the sensitive
man, one individual who speaks ill of him becomes the
world, everybody ; one remark wherein lurks the sting of
pain will wound him so deeply as to leave a scar that
cannot be obliterated by the ninety-and-nine signs and
tokens of appreciation which are showered on him by
friends who are slow to judge because they are quick to
understand. Gilbert was the pioneer of a dramatic revo
lution, for the Savoy libretti are the germ of our new
Drama of Ideas, and any man who has revolutionary ideals
together with the ability and strength of character to carry
his theories into practical effect must necessarily be an auto
crat. There is no reproach implied in the title of " autocrat "
when it is significant of a supremacy, which, as in the case
of Gilbert, makes itself felt in such a way that all who are
subject to it cheerfully obey orders with a feeling of implicit
confidence in their commander ; but we must be prepared
to hear the word " autocrat " as applied to the best leaders
in any great movement pronounced, sometimes, with a
slight inflection of voice and a significant gesture that
make it sound like " tyrant," and we must remember that
no estimate of the complex psychology of a leader of
men is worthy of consideration if it be not the outcome
GENESIS OF AN IMPRESSIONIST SKETCH 5
of sympathetic criticism by the man who has realised
for himself what it means to be in the grip of the
instinct for power*
Again, we must not forget that we have with us always a
few unfortunate beings who are utterly devoid of a sense of
humour. Under the stress of a guilty conscience they will
quietly submit to censure, they will not flinch even at a
" big, big D " provided their most trivial offences are treated
with unbecoming gravity, but they draw the line at witti
cism as a method of rebuke. In the name of reason let us
not blame anybody for drawing the line at what he cannot
understand, but at the same time we may fairly put these
poor humorless mortals to the credit of any man's reputa
tion for being a " good fellow " if he is charged discount on
ready wit.
Still there is the rift in the Gilbert and Sullivan lute, it
will be urged, the temporary dissolution of partnership
that cannot be explained away. No, but think of the happy
ending to that drama which centred around such vital
interests, the final scene pkyed on the Savoy stage before
a crowded house enthusiastically calling "Authors, authors ! "
as the curtain fell on Utopia. A moment's pause, the
curtain up once more, and Gilbert and Sullivan appeared
hand in hand ; Utopia had shown that the artistic partner
ship had been renewed, two strong men by a very simple
scene made a vast concourse of human beings feel the
dramatic intensity of reconciliation when character has
played a part in a threatened tragedy. What that recon
ciliation meant -to Gilbert personally may best be gathered
from his own words. Speaking of the late Sir Arthur
Sullivan in his speech at the Savoyard Celebration Dinner
he sai<d : " He was a composer of the highest genius, and
one who, because he was a composer of the highest genius,
was as modest and as unaffected as a neophyte should be,
but seldom is. Gentlemen, I am not at my merriest
when I think of all that he has done for me in allowing
6 W. S. GILBERT
his genius to shed some of its lustre upon my humbl(
name. It is a source of sincere gratification to me tc
reflect that the rift that parted us for a time had beer
completely bridged over long before his death, and thai
at that time the most cordial relations existed betweer
us."
This speech, andjthe banquet given by the members of the
O.P.Clubtoexpresstheirgratitude to Gilbert "for the golden
memories he has given them," are destined to figure in the
annals of dramatic history. On that memorable evening
of December 30, 1906, Gilbert's old comrades of the
Savoy gathered round him not to pay tribute to his work,
for as the guests of the O.P. Club they were, of course,
included in that dramatic ensemble to which the Club as a
representative body of playgoers wished to render homage;
they came from near and far to show their love for a
staunch and kind-hearted friend. We may rest assured,
too, that many humbler Savoyards were present in spirit
on this occasion, for Gilbert was always as courteous
and polite to super as to principal, always patient and
painstaking as stage-manager, where one less human
would have seen in nervousness nothing but stupidity,
and hastily created in the cast the kind of vacancy
which can be so quickly filled, Gilbert's business policy
was to ensure success for everyone connected with his
work, his professional policy to write like a gentleman
(using the word in its modern significance), and his human
policy was based on the theory that any difference between
the members of a theatrical company is sufficiently marked
by the difference in their salaries, for the rest they should
be treated as ladies and gentlemen till they prove them
selves the contrary.
Let us ^take a fleeting glance at Gilbert's life outside
the theatrical circle. He shuns publicity, or to use his
own more expressive words has a " holy horror " of it,
and in his delightful country home, Grim's Dyke, Harrow
GENESIS OF AN IMPRESSIONIST SKETCH 7
Weald, snugly nestling in its own grounds fringed by a wide
expanse of common, he lives the life of an English squire,
looking after his estate, entertaining his friends, filling the
position, by no means a sinecure, of private secretary to
himself, discharging the duties of a Justice of the Peace
and Deputy Lieutenant for Middlesex, and devoting his
leisure hours to the enthusiastic pursuit of his two hobbies,
croquet and photography.
Friends and Savoy-Lovers, you who have in your mind's
eye the picture you would paint of the Gilbert you treasure
in your hearts, believe me I sadly realise my inability to
reproduce or suggest your ideal ; still I crave your indul
gence for my humble efforts to make this little book the
life-story of a living man rather than a treatise on
dramatic astronomy. Besides, I have not had you all in
my mind's eye whilst I have been focussing your hero ; I
have been thinking chiefly of one of you who happened by
chance to see him when you were waiting to catch a train.
"That's Gilbert/' you remember exclaiming, as you
delightedly pointed him out to the friend by your side,
and you remember the reply : " That Gilbert ? why he
doesn't look a bit like a funny man."
Only for those of you, my readers, who might with much
justification have made this same reply, with maybe a
slight suspicion of disappointment in your tone, have I
ventured to snatch a few glimpses of W. S.Gilbert playing his
part in the " Theatre Royal, World," in the hope that the
impressionist picture you have meanwhile limned for your
selves will add to your interest in the story of his career.
There is something wrong with the picture it kcks the
Gilbertian atmosphere ? Let me give it a final touch,
" I propose calling an early chapter in my book The
Nebulous Stage" I said to Mr. Gilbert by way of breaking
the ice at my first interview with him ; " and "
" Does that refer to you or to me ? " he interrupted.
Do you hear the bells ?
CHAPTER II
THE NEBULOUS STAGE
WILLIAM SCHWENCK GILBERT was born in London on
November 18, 1836, at 17 Southampton Street, Strand,
in the immediate vicinity of the site on which now stands
the historic home of his fame, the Savoy Theatre.
In the search for any hereditary explanation of his
achievements we at once find ourselves in Topsy-Turvy-
dom. His father, William Gilbert, was a naval surgeon,
who on inheriting a moderate fortune at the age of twenty-
five resigned his official position, gave up the medical pro
fession and retired into private life, from which he did not
emerge till he was nearly sixty. He was born in .1804,
but it was not until 1863 that he published his first
novel, " Shirley Hall Asylum,'* in which semi-metaphysical
and semi-medical knowledge largely entered into the
reason (f&re of the story. In the advanced literary circle
of his day the book attracted considerable attention, and
Gilbert Senior continued to add to his reputation by the
ptiblication of many other specialised novels with a
scientific bearing on questions of philanthropy, meta
physics, and temperance, together with the issue of a
popular life of Lucrezia Borgia in which he vigorously
championed that famous toy of mediaeval politics, on the
authority of documents discovered in the library of
Florence. . Here we are confronted by a curious freak of
heredity ; when the father began his literary career the
THE NEBULOUS STAGE 9
son had already won a considerable literary reputation;
when Gilbert Senior started to write " Shirley Hall
Asylum," Gilbert Junior was twenty-seven years old, and
was known to the world as the promising young author of
the " Bab Ballads." The son was actually the incentive
from without which spurred into activity the innate but
dormant literary talent of the father.
" Yes, I think the little success which had attended my
humble efforts certainly influenced my father," Gilbert
admitted when I questioned him on this point ; " you
see," he added, with the suspicion of a smile, " my father
never had an exaggerated idea of my abilities ; he thought
if I could write, anybody could, and forthwith he began
to do so."
Nevertheless, Gilbert would appear to be a topsy-turvy
example of inherited literary tendencies, and he himself
gratefully acknowledges his debt to his father for any natural
bent for literature. There is, however, no hereditary explana
tion of his dramatic achievements, unless we wander out of
bounds and allow fancy to indulge in speculative psychology
that suggests a scientific theory of desires, which may so
influence one generation as to find fulfilment in the next.
Gilbert's father had a persistent wish to write plays ; those
that he worked out on paper were of a model in which the
heroine makes her debut in the first act and does not
appear again till the last scene, the interest in her being
theoretically maintained during her lengthy absence by
sundry references in the dialogue. These plays were never
heard of outside the family circle, and their author's sole
consolation was the production at the Princess' Theatre of
his translation in verse of Lucia di Lammermoor. In
common parlance, therefore, W. S. Gilbert's dramatic
instinct seems to be a gift from the gods.
Gilbert's earliest recollections date back to the time
when he was two years old. " Bab " who was making the
Grand Tour with his parents, and was then in Naples, had
io W. S. GILBERT
been sent out for a walk with his nurse ; presently she was
accosted by two men who said that the English gentleman
bad sent them for the baby. In simple faith she handed
her little charge over to them, and they went their way
Gilbert had been stolen by brigands ! Blame not the
nurse too severely, think of The Pirates of Pengance^ and
remember that she was living in the days when the educa
tion of the masses was but a dream, and when railways
being still in their infancy even in England, " the English
gentleman " would be a comparatively accurate description
of Gilbert Senior in Naples* A small detachment of cara-
binieri, armed with ^25, was quickly despatched to the
mountains and the little hero of this adventure was safely
restored to his parents. Gilbert distinctly remembers
riding in front of a man on an animal through what seemed
to be a cutting with steep banks on either side ; in later
days, when he was again in Naples, he recognised in the
Via Posilippo the scene which had impressed itself on his
infant memory.
In due course Gilbert was sent to Great Ealing school,
where he speedily won the reputation of being a clever,
bright boy who was extremely lazy. It was soon discovered,
however, that he could work so quickly that this natural
tendency to idleness was no handicap to his abilities.
Besides, it was clear he was no ordinary loafer ; true, he
was never in the mood for routine lessons, but there was
one mood which haunted the boy persistently and could
be relied on to so assert itself at intervals that there was
no fear of his being outdistanced by his more plodding
schoolfellows. He had an instinctive horror of being left
behind, and spurred into activity by a healthy pride he
would, by an easy effort generally made in the last
moments of the term, catch up with the top boys of his
class. But there was one lesson which he never neglected,
one task into which he could throw himself whole
heartedly without being goaded on by character ; this was
THE NEBULOUS STAGE n
the weekly translation into verse of a set portion of the
classics, and he steadily won fame and prizes for his
English versification of Horace, Aristophanes, Homer,
Virgil, and their like.
In one respect Gilbert was a very ordinary boy, for the
happiest part of his schooldays was the time when he
was not at school. In his leisure hours and they must
have been many, seeing that he was even more favoured
than the schoolboy whose conscience is never haunted by
"the ghost of his Caesar unprepared" he was free to
follow his own inclinations ; his hobbies were dreaming,
drawing, desultory reading, and the hero-worship of every
thing and everybody connected with the stage. The last-
mentioned pursuit is responsible for an incident and an
escapade which might belong to any boy's story, but which
are particularly interesting as they happen to be reminiscent
of Gilbert's early youth. As a boy of thirteen he was
walking down the Strand one day when he happened to see
Barry, the famous clown. Fascinated by Barry's appear
ance in plain clothes, Gilbert started to dog his footsteps,
trying to make up his mind to ask the time for the mere
pleasure of speaking to the clown. On went Barry, on
followed Gilbert, now along the Strand, now doubling to
the right into Wellington Street, now crossing Waterloo
Bridge, till at last, just when the boy had summoned up all
his courage to make one mighty effort to murmur " Please
would you tell me the time ? " Barry turned into a public-
house ! But Gilbert was not to be disillusioned by this
momentary disappointment. He still continued to be a
reverential hero-worshipper of his theatrical idols, and even
began to write plays, which were acted by his school
fellows. Foreshadowing the future, the young author con
stituted himself stage-manager and scenic artist to these
early dramatic efforts, and in one of them, a melodrama
called Guy Fawkes, he played the principal part. At the
age of fifteen this theatrical bias led him into a more
12 W. & GILBERT
ambitious venture ; enraptured with a performance of The
Corsiam Brothers at the Princess' Theatre, then under the
management of Charles Kean, he packed up a few clothes
in a handbag, and actually succeeded in interviewing Kean
with a view to going on the stage. It was a very elated
stripling who received the message that Kean would see
him in his room, but once face to face with the great actor,
all the boy's courage forsook him.
" So you would like to go on the stage ? " said Kean.
"Yes," murmured Master Gilbert, trembling in every
limb.
" What's your name ? "
^ The boy's imagination failed him at a critical moment in
his life. " Gilbert," he replied, seeking refuge in the truth.
"Gilbert Gilbert," reiterated Kean, "are you the son
of my old friend William Gilbert ? "
" Y-yes," stammered the boy, and he was promptly sent
home to his father.
By intermittent spurts of easy hardwork Gilbert became
head boy at Great Baling school. At the age of sixteen
he went to King's College, and the time was fast
approaching the eve of his departure for Oxford, when many
a father's peaceful plans for his son were suddenly reversed
by the outbreak of the Crimean War. For nearly forty
years English fighting blood had been comparatively quies
cent and to the rising generation of 1853 Waterloo seemed
to have closed the door on the alluring possibilities of fight
ing for their country in a momentous European conflict.
But in the early days of 1854 the broad military path to
glory was suddenly opened up by our declaration of war
against Russia; martial enthusiasm spread like wildfire
over the country the moment it was rekindled, and young
England began to dream once more of being a Wellington
instead of a Stephenson, Cobden or Charles Kean. In the
grip of the fighting spirit Gilbert determined to sacrifice his
College life and join the Army. In coming to this decision
THE NEBULOUS STAGE 13
he met with little opposition, for there seemed good reason
to believe that he would be able to realise his newly awakened
ambition to be a Horse Gunner. The Government, hard
pressed for officers and faced with the disconcerting
evidence that there was a limit to the demand it could make
on military-college cadets, was offering a number of direct
commissions to men who could pass a stiff qualifying exami
nation. Gilbert began to work with various crammers
for one of these commissions ; he read hard for eighteen
months, when the War came to an end, and the exami
nations were forthwith postponed for a year. At the
probable date of the next examination he would not have
been able to comply with the age-limit regulations for can
didates, so he abandoned the idea of a military career, and
within a short time obtained a clerkship in the Privy
Council Office.
In a Government office Gilbert was a failure ; he found
it quite impossible to adapt his personality to a system
which expects every obedient servant to do his specific
duty from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. daily. "I was one of the
worst bargains any Government ever made," is his official
report on himself, but he is a brilliant example of the
necessity for keeping a watchful eye on all bad clerks. To
the personally disinterested supervisor doing duty for the
common fund of success, the way in which the bad clerk
uses leisure moments is of far greater importance than the
way he misuses office hours. During his spare time
Gilbert devised plans for breaking loose from the shackles
of red tape; in justice to the many Civil Servants who have
done so much to render the mechanism of the Service more
effective by the application of humane power, it must be
remarked that resignation is not the one and only way of
bursting red tape bonds, but resignation is certainly the
only loophole of escape for the man who can more easily
shake off his nationality than shake off his moods. Gilbert
spent five years in the infernal regions of routine, but he
14 W. S. GILBERT
did not sit down and bewail his fortune; never for a
moment did he stop scheming till he fixed on a definite
plan of campaign for gaining his freedom.
Under the influence of social intercourse with the many
literary and theatrical friends who frequented his father's
house, his bias for the stage naturally entered largely into his
ambitions, but to his modest disposition such dreams seemed
destined ever to remain castles in the air, and he was search
ing for a practical exit from office life. A strong logical
turn of mind attracted him to the Bar ; with his eye on
the Woolsack he went back to King's College to study for
a degree when his official day's work was finished.
Finding he still had some spare time at his disposal he
again turned his attention to soldiering this time only
as a hobby and at the age of twenty-two he secured
a commission in the Militia. He took his B. A. degree at
the London University, and about the same time he had
the good fortune to receive a gift of ^400. He immedi
ately resigned the clerkship that had simultaneously irked
and stimulated him, and proceeded to invest his newly
acquired capital in the judicial speculation, with the result
that in 1864, at the age of twenty-eight, he was called to
the Bar. This " call " was practically speaking the only
return the profession ever made for the ^400 which he so
carefully planned out ^"loo for the privilege of being a
student at the Inner Temple, ^100 to enable him to be a
pupil in the chambers of the late Judge Watkin Wilkins,
who was then a barrister, the third ^100 to pay his fee
of admission to the Bar, and the remaining ^100 to
set himself up^ in chambers in Clement's Inn. For four
years he practised ; the number of his briefs averaged five
per annum, the number of his fees was considerably under
that average, and this in spite of the fact that the first
opportunity of calling a judge Your wushup " was afforded
him by a Frenchman who manifested his warm appreciation
of his young counsel's oratorical powers by throwing his
THE NEBULOUS STAGE 15
arms round Gilbert's neck and kissing him in open court.
But even this warm-hearted Frenchman forgot to pay Gil
bert his fee, and the public display of affection in connection
with his maiden brief did not increase his popularity to the
extent of bringing him a case in which he could win either
fame or a substantial cheque. Day by day he waited in
vain for some " interesting client, victim of a heartle"ss wile,"
but she never came, neither did the " traitor all defiant,"
who would have been equally welcome ; not even an enter
prising burglar was enterprising enough to rely on the new
junior's orations, even though he might have been restored
" to his friends and relations " for a very small considera
tion, had he been wise in his generation. At last it
became clear that the Bar had given Gilbert up; mean
while he had established a literary reputation as the author
of the " Bab Ballads," and had written several farces, which
had been so successfully produced that they augured well
for a dramatic career. But even though the future looked
bright enough to the man who had achieved so much at
the age of thirty-two, yet it was with a feeling of disap
pointment that Gilbert accepted the verdict of the pro
fession to which he would fain have devoted his life.
He had, and still has, a strong affection for the Bar and its
surroundings ; even now he thinks that barristers are, with
the exception of the better class of artists, the most attractive
companions.
What was the incentive which first induced Gilbert to
wield the author's pen ? Simply the very ordinary desire
of the great majority he wanted to supplement his income.
He is doggedly frank on this point, and will not allow that
his ambition soared beyond a cheque when he dropped his
first manuscript into the post. Indeed, he is so over
anxious not to be taken for a man with a mission that he
may be relied on to spare no effort to convince any inter
viewer who engages him in conversation that his sole object
in life was to be a successful man* I have already related
16 W. S. GILBERT
how within a few seconds after he had welcomed me to
Grim's Dyke he donned the jester's cap ; for fully an hour
after that he systematically worked hard to persuade me
that if I was going to write his biography in at all a critical
way I must disabuse my mind of any theory which con
ceived him as a man with ideals ; he dexterously cut away
the ground that lay beneath the questions I put to him,
shaped his answers in the form of questions whereby he
interviewed me and discovered, amongst other things, that
I belong to the Stage Society, banteringly suggested that
I must surely be feeling what a heathen he was, anc 1
generally indulged his sense of humour quite good-naturedly
at my expense. He seemed thoroughly to enjoy his own
idea of himself as a heathen, and, as he enlarged on it,
moment by moment he grew more witty, moment by
moment I felt myself growing more serious and more dull,
as he apparently scoffed into nothingness all my cherished
Ideas of him which were to form the basis of the biography
I was to write. Was Gilbert just what Gilbert would have
me believe him to be? I was not quite convinced; I
remembered his three serious plays, but hesitated to refer
to them, knowing that they had not brought him the recog
nition he had hoped for. But I also remembered one of
the "Bab Ballads/' a wholly serious, artistic little human-
nature poem, which is a particular favourite of mine, and
I determined to play this as my trump card ; if I failed, then
I would accept Gilbert at his own estimate as merely a jester,
and conclude that it was only in a few stray moods that he
had written in a serious vein. The " heathen " had just made
an excellent joke, when suddenly I said in a nonchalant
tone, " By the way, there is one of the Bab Ballads * which
Is conspicuously different from the others, and it's rather a
fevourite of mine do you mind telling me how it was you
happened to write * At a Pantomime ' ? "
Gllberfs expression changed in a twinkling; bending
forward in his chair he exclaimed earnestly, even somewhat
THE NEBULOUS STAGE 17
excitedly, " * At a Pantomime * I Why that's one of the best
things I ever wrote and you're the first person who has
ever singled it out. I can do something more than wear
the cap and bells." It was one of the most triumphant
moments in my life when he answered me thus; I had
taken the great humorist off his guard, and from that
moment onwards whenever we talked together he was not
the humorist to me, but the man who took me into his
confidence as a friend privileged to look behind the veil
with which we all cover up our dearest joys and our
bitterest sorrows.
I have not told this little story with any idea of self-
glorification ; my only object has been to show that when
Gilbert asserts that his one and only idea in entering on a
literary career was to make money there is much behind
that statement that we must fill in for ourselves, much on
which his early life, his failures as well as his successes, his
artistic sense, his sense of humour, and his abhorrence of
any suspicion of affectation throw valuable light. With
these reservations, then, we may take him at his word as
a clerk in the Privy Council Office he looked around for
some means of supplementing his income. What stock-in-
trade had he by which there was any chance of making a
promiscuous living? A ieen ear for rhythm, distant
memories of praise lavished on him for verses written in
schooldays, a more vivid recollection of contributions
to the Kings College Magazine, to which the late Canon
Ainger was a contributor at the same time, and an entirely
self-taught facility for drawing which had enabled him to
relieve the monotony of many a weary day in the Privy
Council Office by sketching little grotesques to pacify his
rebellious imagination nothing much in the way of capital
here, he thought, as he introspectively reviewed his possibi
lities. He lacked confidence, but he lacked money, too,
and fortunately that pride which had made the schoolboy
so determined not to be left behind by his companions still
B
ig W. S. GILBERT
spurred on the man. With a view to leaving no step
unturned to improve his position, Gilbert thought to
combine his versifying facility with his hobgoblin art.
He despatched his first manuscript, a long quasi-humorous
poem, by name "Satisfied Isaiah Jones," to a paper
called Once a Week; it came back, but it does not
haunt the spectral regions of journalism as a ghost of
"copy declined with thanks"; it hovers around in
editorial space to encourage the ambitious litterateur by
showing that editors are not as bkck as they are painted
by unsuccessful journalists. " The editor of Once a Week
regrets that he cannot use the enclosed clever and amusing
poem owing to its length " ; such were the contents of the
letter with which " Satisfied Isaiah Jones " was returned to
its author, and remembering that the columns of a period*
ical have not an elastic quality we may spare a word of
congratulation to Gilbert's first critic in the open field of
literary competition. To hear Gilbert speak of his delight
on receiving this letter is to realise what it meant to him in
the way of encouragement. With little delay he sent off
his next effort to Fun and this second manuscript was
promptly accepted. Its publication in 1862 may well
be considered to mark the dawn of the Gilbertian star, for
Fun followed it up with the publication of the "Bab-
Ballads/' which in spirit, and often in the poetical flesh of
their characters, are the germ of Savoy Opera,
In the interval between the serial publication of the
" Bab Ballads." and the momentous collaboration with Sir
Arthur Sullivan, Gilbert made many varied and sincere!
attempts to shine within the horizon of the dramatic world ^
whether or not that world may be said to be peopled witlf
generations in whose changing ideals past memories are]
lost, we may judge when we review that intermediary work^
certain it is that the Savoy Operas, which are the grown-up,
c< Bab Ballads/ 7 have won for both author and composer aj
place among the fixed stars in the dramatic firmament. In
THE NEBULOUS STAGE 19
those operas we may re-read the life-story of Gilbert as
told by himself and that mischievous little sprite who
fought the serious man for nearly thirty years, and in a
moment of victory slipped a sceptre into his one hand, as
with the other he doffed the barrister's wig and donned the
jester's cap.
CHAPTER III
THE BAB BALLADS
GILBERT entered on his journalistic career under the nom
de plume of " Bab," which, as an abbreviated form of
" baby," had been his pet name in childhood's days. Cast
ing about for a pseudonym with which to veil his identity,
he suddenly bethought him of the name to which he had
answered in the earliest years of his life, and forthwith
adopted it in his journalistic infancy. Bab's first experi
ence of Fun was a profitable surprise ; it came in the
guise of a stranger who, having introduced himself as a
member of the staff, explained that Mr. H. J. Byron, the
editor, would be gkd if Bab would contribute to that
periodical a column of letterpress and a half-page block
weekly for the term of his natural life.
" But that little thing I sent you in the other day is all
I can do," replied Bab. However, by dint of persuasion
he was induced to try again on the same lines as he had
written and illustrated his first contribution; the result
gave him sufficient confidence to accept the invitation to
join the staff of Fun, to whose readers "Bab 57 soon
became a name to conjure with. Many of his contribu
tions were afterwards collected and published in book form,
but subsequently their author disinherited a great number of
them and issued a selection in a little volume entitled " Fifty
Bab Ballads, Much Sound and Little Sense/' to which
W. S. Gilbert contributed a preface that runs as follows :
THE BAB BALLADS 21
The "Bab Ballads" appeared originally in the columns of
Fun, when that periodical was under the editorship of the
late Tom Hood. They were subsequently republished in two
volumes, one called *' The Bab Ballads," the other " More Bab
Ballads." The period during which they were written extended
over some three or four years ; many, however, were composed
hastily, and under the discomforting necessity of having to turn
out a quantity of lively verse by a certain day in every week*
As it seemed to me (and to others) that the volumes were dis
figured by the presence of these hastily written impostors, I
thought it better to withdraw from both volumes such Ballads
as seemed to show evidence of carelessness or undue haste, and
to publish the remainder in the compact form under which they
are now presented to the reader.
Finally, however, the " Bab Ballads " were all reprinted
and published in one volume, together with " Songs of a
Savoyard," these latter being a selection of the most
popular songs and ballads in the Savoy Operas. To this
edition, which is still the current one, although it has passed
through many reprints, Gilbert has contributed the following
explanatory preface :
About thirty years since, several of the " Bab Ballads " (most
of which had appeared, from time to time, in the pages of Fun)
were collected by me and published. This volume passed through
several editions, and, in due course, was followed by a second
series under the title of " More Bab Ballads," which achieved a
popularity equal to that of its predecessor. Subsequently,
excerpts were made from these two volumes, and under the title
of " Fifty Bab Ballads " had a very considerable sale ; but I
soon discovered that in making the selection for this volume I
had discarded certain Ballads that were greater favourites with
my readers than with me. Nevertheless this issue was followed
by many editions, English and American, of " Bab Ballads/ 1
" More Bab Ballads/' and " Fifty Bab Ballads/' to the no little
bewilderment of such of the public as had been good enough
to concern themselves with my verses. So it became desirable
(for our own private ends) that this confusion should be definitely
cleared up ; and thus it came to pass that a reissue of the two
earlier collections, in one volume, was decided upon [" The Bab
Ballads, with which are included Songs of a Savoyard J> Mac-
millari\.
Imagine for the moment that you are living in the mid-
Victorian age, and that you know nothing whatever about
22 W. S. GILBERT
You pick up the current number of Fun, read a
fl^es and smile, hastily turn the pages to take a first
glance &T the contents, laugh over the illustrations, jot
down in your memory a funny little story that may come
in useful on a future occasion, and already well-nigh
acclimatised to the atmosphere of merriment, you tell your
self how absurd it was to think only this morning that life
is not worth living ; so you seriously settle down to enjoy
your paper, and here is your fare :
THE YARN OF THE NANCY BELL*
'Twas on the shores that round our coast
From Deal to Ramsgate span,
That I found alone on a piece of stone
An elderly naval man.
His hair was weedy, his beard was long,
And weedy and long was he,
And I heard that wight on the shore recite,
In a singular minor key :
" Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold,
And the mate of the Nancy brig,
And a bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain's gig."
And he shook his fists and he tore his hair,
Till I really felt afraid,
For I couldn't help thinking the man had been drinking,
And so I simply said ;
" Oh, elderly man, it's little I know
Of the duties of men of the sea,
And I'll eat my hand if I understand
How you can possibly be
" At once a cook, and a captain bold,
And the mate of the Nancy brig,
And a bo' sun tight, and a midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain's gig."
Then he gave a hitch to his trousers, which
Is a trick all seamen larn,
And having got rid of a thumping quid,
He spun this pitiful yarn :
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard." Macmillan.
ILLUSTRATION TO ! C THE YARN OF THE XAXCY BELL "
ILLUSTRATION TO "MY DREAM"
Reproduced from " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard" by permission of
Mr. W. S. Gilbert and Messrs, Macmiltan & Co., Ltd.
THE BAB BALLADS 23
" Twas in the good ship Nancy Bell
That we sailed to the Indian Sea,
And there on a reef we come to grief,
Which has often occurred to me.
'* And pretty nigh all the crew was drowned
(There was seventy-seven o' soul),
And only ten of the Nancy's men
Said ' Here 1 ' to the muster-roll.
" There was me and the cook and the captain bold,
And the mate of the Nancy^ brig,
And the bo' sun tight, and a midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain's gig.
" For a month we'd neither wittles nor drink,
Till a-hungry we did feel,
So we drawed a lot, and, accordin 7 shot
The captain for our meal.
" The next lot fell to the Nancy's mate,
And a delicate dish he made ;
Then our appetite with the midshiprnite
We seven survivors stayed*
" And then we murdered the bo'sun tight,
And he much resembled pig ;
Then we wittled free, did the cook and me,
On the crew of the captain's gig.
" Then only the cook and me was left,
And the delicate question, ' Which
Of us two goes to the kettle ? ' arose,
And we argued it out as sich.
" For I loved that cook as a brother, I did,
And the cook he worshipped me ;
But we'd both be blowed if we'd either be stowed
In the other chap's hold, you see.
" ' I'll be eat if you dines off me/ says Tom :
' Yes, that/ says I, ' you'll be,
I'm boiled if I die, my friend/ quoth I ;
And c Exactly so/ quoth he.
" Says he, ' Dear James, to murder me
Were a foolish thing to do,
For don't you see that you can't cook me t
While I can and will cook you 1 *
24 W. S. GILBERT
" So he boils^the water, and takes the salt
And the pepper in portions true
(Which he never forgot), and some chopped shalot,
And some sage and parsley too.
" ' Come here/ says he, with a proper pride,
Which his smiling features tell,
* 'Twill soothing be if I let you see
How extremely nice you'll smell.'
" And he stirred it round and round and round,
And he sniffed at the foaming froth ;
When I ups with his heels, and smothers his squeals
In the scum of the boiling broth.
" And I eat that cook in a week or less,
And as I eating be
The last of his chops, why, I almost drops,
For a wessel in sight I see 1
*****
" And I never grin, and I never smile,
And I never larf nor play,
But I sit and croak, and a single joke
I have which is to say :
" * Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold,
And the mate of the Nancy brig,
And a bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain's gig I' "
Blessed with a sense of humour that is too healthy to be
impaired by "isms," you look to see who has been
spinning this vivid yarn of the conscience-stricken cannibal
who cannot help seeing a joke; the author's name is
" Bab," you find, and the first question you will ask the
very next person you meet will be " Do you know who
Bab is ?
This was the question that was asked on all sides when
" The Yarn of the Nancy Bell " appeared in Fun. That
yarn was responsible for awakening the spontaneous
" Who's who " curiosity which is the first sign of popu
larity, and Bab soon realised that he had placed himself in
the exacting position of having to live up to a reputation.
We have ample evidence that he had the means at his
disposal not only to maintain that position, but to enhance
his popularity, although the singular minor key in which
THE BAB BALLADS 25
the elderly naval man spins his yarn is the keynote of the
singular humour which is *so original that we have had to
coin the adjective " Gilbertian " to describe it
The " Bab Ballads " naturally fall into two sections : in
the one we find the germ of Savoy Opera, in the other traces
of an artistic temperament seeking to express its interpre
tation of life.
Turning our attention first to the ballads which are in
the Gilbertian strain, we find in them not only the spirit
but much of the substance of Savoy Opera. Characters
and plots which were afterwards to develop in the more
spacious regions of comic opera, and witticisms destined
to be transplanted and so gain in point that they have
passed into everyday phraseology, meet us at every turn.
Little Buttercup, who tells " The Bumboat Woman's Story,"
is rejuvenated in H.M.S. Pinafore. Shrivelled with age in
the ballads she recalls the days of her youth :
A bumboat woman was I, and I faithfully served the ships
With apples and cakes, and fowls, and beer, and halfpenny dips,
And beef for the generous mess, where the officers dine at nights,
And fine fresh peppermint drops for the rollicking midshipmites.*
Plying her trade, she boards H.M.S. Pinafore, singing
merrily :
Hail, men-o' -war's men safeguards of your nation,
Here is an end, at last, of all privation ;
You've got your pay spare all you can afford
To welcome Little Buttercup on board.
For I'm called Little Buttercup, dear Little Buttercup,
Though I could never tell why,
But still I'm called Buttercup, poor Little Buttercup,
Sweet Little Buttercup, I.
I've snuff, and tobaccy, and excellent jacky ;
I've scissors, and watches, and knives ;
I've ribbons and laces to set off the faces
Of pretty young sweethearts and wives.
I've treacle and toffee and excellent coffee,
Soft tommy and succulent chops ;
Fve chickens and conies and pretty polonies,
And excellent peppermint drops.
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard." Macmillan,
26 W. S. GILBERT
Then buy of your Buttercup dear Little Buttercup,
Sailors should never be shy ; r *!
So buy of your Buttercup poor Little Buttercup,
Come, of your Buttercup buy !
It is Little Buttercup, too, who in her old age gives us a
peep at the well-bred crew of the Hot Cross Bun
When Jack Tars meet, they meet with a " Messmate, ho !
What cheer?"
But here, on the Hot Cross Bun, it was " How do you do, my
dear?"
When Jack Tars growl, I believe they growl with a big, big D.
But the strongest oath of the Hot Cross Buns was a mild "Dear
me I "
Yet, though they were all well bred, you could scarcely call
them slick :
Whenever a sea was on, they were all extremely sick ;
And whenever the weather was calm, and the wind was light
and fair,
They spent more time than a sailor should on his back back hair.*
Obviously H.M.S. Pinafore belonged to the same ex
clusive Navy as her twin-sister the Hot Cross Bun, for we
feel certain that the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B.,
who held that " on the seas, the expression c if you please, 3
a particularly ^gentlemanly tone implants," must have
been First Lord of a most aristocratic Admiralty, yet did
he not " seek the seclusion that a cabin grants," whenever
a breeze sprang up ? Moreover, although we are intro
duced to an old bumboat woman in the Ballads, here is
Captain Corcoran's evidence to prove that Bab was only
anticipating her pleasant recollections of younger days
passed in the company of H.M.S. Pinafores sea-faring
brethren :
Captain Corcoran. I am the Captain of the Pinafore !
Crew. And a right good captain, too !
Capt. You're very, very good,
And be it understood
I command a right good crew.
* ** The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard." Macmillan.
ILLUSTRATION TO "THE BUM BOAT WOMAN S STORY
ILLUSTRATION TO "THE BUMBOAT FRONTISPIECE, " BAB BALLADS
WOMAN'S STORY" AND SONGS OF A SAVOYARD"
Reproduced from " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard" by Permission of
Mr. W. 5. Gilbert and Messrs, Macniillan & Co., Ltd.
THE BAB BALLADS 27
Jill. We're very, very good,
And be it understood
He commands a right good crew
CapL Though related to a peer,
I can hand, reef, and steer,
And ship a selvagee ;
I am never known to quail
At the fury of a gale,
And I'm never, never sick at sea !
AIL What, never ?
Capt. No, never I
AIL What, never ?
Capt. Hardly ever !
AIL He's hardly ever sick at sea I
Then give three cheers, and one cheer more,
For the hardy Captain of the Pinafore !
Capt. I do my best to satisfy you all
All. And with you we're quite content.
Capt. You're exceedingly polite,
And I think it only right
To return the compliment.
AIL We're exceedingly polite,
And he thinks it only right
To return the compliment.
Capt. -**TBad language or abuse,
I never, never use,
Whatever the emergency ;
Though " Bother it/' I may
Occasionally say,
I never use a big, big D
AIL What, never ?
Capt. No, never I
AIL What, never/
Capt. Hardly ever !
AIL Hardly ever swears a big, big D
Then give three cheers, and one cheer more,
For the well-bred Captain of the Pinafore 1
Again we meet in the Bab Ballads " The Rival Curates,"
Mr. Clayton Hooper of Spiffton-extra-Sooper and the
Reverend Hopley Porter of Assesmilk-cum-Worter, To
all appearances each is mildly striving to win the
palm for being the mildest curate in the neighbour
hood but moralising being happily so foreign to Bab's
philosophy, it would be heresy to quote even from the
" Psalm of Life.' 5 Suffice to recall that when the Rev. C.
28 W. S. GILBERT
Hooper despatches his sexton and his beadle to Assesmilk-
cum-Worter with the clerical command to duly assassinate
the Rev. Hopley Porter unless he will consent to play
croquet, smoke, dance and gaily retire from the ee mild "
competition, that reverend gent admits that he has been
longing for years for an excuse to be himself, only now
that an excuse for making the change has come he adds ;
" I do it on compulsion 111"
In "The Rival Curates 7> we see the prototypes of Reginald
Bunthorne and Archibald Grosvenor, the rival poets in
Patience. Then, too, we have in the Ballads " The Fairy
Curate/' offspring of a " fairy light and airy " and a mortal
attorney, who reappears as Strephon in lolanthe^ and the
story of "The Baby's Vengeance," which turns on two infants
exchanging their luck in the cradle lottery, the pivot of the
plots of H.M.S. Pinafore and The Gondoliers,
But apart from the material properties of the Bab
Ballads which were assimilated by the Savoy Operas we
find in these ballads that sprightly wit allied with the keen
intellectual observation, unprejudiced outlook, and ethical
but unmoralising tendency which combine to form the
basis of Gilbert's appeal. Not for one moment would I
claim for all Bab's humorous ballads these indicative
qualities ; some of them are undoubtedly just the light but
always bright and entertaining nonsense rhymes of a first-
rate doggerel bard, but many have the added charm of
uncommon sense, witness " Bob Polter " dealing with the
temperance question, < c Mister William " suggestive of prison
reform, " Etiquette '* satirising the social convention of intro
duction as the bedrock of friendship, and many others, the
-most characteristic of the whole series being
MY DREAM.*
The other night, from cares exempt,
I slept and what d'you think I dreamt ?
I dreamt that somehow I had come
To dwell in Topsy-Turvydom
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard." Macmillan.
THE BAB BALLADS 29
Where vice is virtue virtue, vice :
Where nice is nasty nasty, nice :
Where right is wrong and wrong is right,
Where white is black and black is white.-
Where babies, much to their surprise,
Are born astonishingly wise ;
With every Science on their lips,
And Art at all their finger-tips*
For, as their nurses dandle them
They crow binomial theorem,
With views (it seems absurd to us)
On differential calculus.
But though a babe, as I have said,
Is born with learning in his head,
He must forget it, if he can,
Before he calls himself a man.
For that which we call folly here,
Is wisdom in that favoured sphere ;
The wisdom we so highly prize
Is blatant folly in their eyes.
A boy, if he would push his way,
Must learn some nonsense every day ;
And cut, to carry out this view,
His wisdom teeth and wisdom too.
Historians burn their midnight oils,
Intent on giant-killers' toils ;
And sages close their aged eyes
To other sages' lullabies.
!
Our magistrates, in duty bound,
Commit all robbers who are found ;
But there the beaks (so people said)
Commit all robberies instead.
Our judges, pure and wise in tone,
Know crime from theory alone,
And glean the motives of a thief
From books and popular belief.
But there, a judge who wants to prime
His mind with true ideas of crime,
Derives them from the common sense
Of practical experience^
30 W. S. GILBERT
Policemen marcli all folks away
Who practise virtue every day
Of course, I mean to say, you know,
What we call virtue liere below.
For only scoundrels dare to do
Wliat we consider just and true,
And only good men do, in fact,
"What we should think a dirty act*
But strangest of ttiese social twirls,
The girls are boys the boys are girls 1
The men are women, too but then,
Per contra, women all, are
To one "who to tradition clings
This seems an awkward state of things,
But if to think it out you try,
It doesn't really signify.
With them, as surely as can be,
A sailor should be sick at sea,
And not a passenger may sail
cannot smoke right through, a
A soldier (save by rarest luck)
Is always shot for showing pluck
(That is, if others can be found
With pluck enough, to fire a round).
" How strange ! " I said to one I saw ;
** You quite upset our every law.
However can you get along
So systematically wrong ? "
" r>ear me I " my mad informant said,
" Have you no eyes within your bead ?
You sneer when you your hat should doff
, -we begin -where you leave off !
** Your -wisest men are very far
Less learned than our babies are ! J>
I mused awhile and then, oh me !
I framed this brilliant repartee :
" Although your babes are wiser far
Than our most valued sages are,
Your sages, with their toys and cots,
Are duller than our idiots ! **
MISS JESSIE BOND
Reproduced by permission of Messrs. Ellis & tt'alery
ILLUSTRATION TO **MY DREAM"
ILLUSTRATION TO " ONLY A DANCING GIRL"
Reproduced from " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savovard" by permission of
Mr. W. 5. Gilbert and Messrs. Macwillan <& Co., Ltd.
THE BAB BALLADS 31
But this remark, I grieve to state,
Came just a little bit too late,
For as I framed it in my head,
I woke and found myself in bed.
Still I could wish that, 'stead of here,
My lot were in that favoured sphere !
Where greatest fools bear off the bell
I ought to do extremely well.
In striking contrast to these mirth-provoking Ballads,
standing apart as quite distinct even from those in which a
more or less serious subject is humorously treated, we
find three ballads in which an apparently mirthful subject
is handled with the universal touch of artistic compre
hension. All three deal with actors in a pantomime, a
super, a fairy, and Father Christmas. In " The Pantomime ^Jf
Super to his Mask " the super reviles the mask, addressing
it as "Vast empty shell! Impertinent, preposterous
abortion ! " He curses it as the beast that has destroyed
his heaven-born identity, in brutal passion he is half-
tempted to smash to atoms the senseless face with its
inane set smile, in tones of blatant superiority he reviles
the dull concavity to which he has been the brain, doomed
to counsel the human race to scorn himself as the
embodiment of its facial expression of depravity,
monstrosity and ferocity. But the pantomime has run its
course, now he is free to thrust aside the hateful mask, and
thus he bids it farewell :
'Tis time to toll
Thy knell, and that of follies pantomimical :
A nine weeks 7 run
And thou hast done
All thou canst do to make thyself inimical.
Adieu, embodiment of all inanity I
Excellent type of simpering insanity !
Unwieldy, clumsy nightmare of humanity !
Freed is thy soul ! *
Ere the super has time to strut forth to his vaunted
freedom the mask replies :
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard." Macmillan.
32 W. S. GILBERT
Oh ! master mine,
Look thou -within thee, ere again ill-using me.
Art thou aware
Of nothing there
Which might abuse thee, as thon art abusing me ?
A brain that mourns thine unredeemed rascality ?
A soul that weeps at thy threadbare morality ?
Both grieving that their individuality
Is merged in thine ? *
In the heart of this response we find one of Nature's
tragedies ; the super is no mummer, for as the fool and
knave of pantomime he is symbolic of himself, of all that
there is to show for a predestined man /
"Only a Dancing Girl/' half-clothed in the tawdry tinsel of
an artificial fairy, is an unromantic lie :
No airy fairy she,
As she hangs in arsenic green
From a highly impossible tree
In a highly impossible scene
(Herself not over-clean).
*****
But change her gold and green
For a coarse merino gown,
And see her upon the scene
Of her home, when coaxing down
Her drunken father's frown,
In his squalid cheerless den :
She's a fairy truly, then 1 *
Still more artistically suggestive and much more compre
hensive is the last of this trio of ballads which chant the
soul's self of a serious Bab ; pessimistic though it be in
tone, " At a Pantomime " Is undoubtedly one of Bab's best
efforts, personally I should say the best fulfilment of
Gilbert's artistic promise.
AT A PANTOMIME.*
An Actor sits in doubtful gloom,
His stock-in-trade unfurled,
In a damp funereal dressing-room
In the Theatre Royal, World.
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard." MacmiUan.
THE BAB BALLADS 33
He comes to town at Christmas-time,
And braves its icy breath,
To play in that favourite pantomime,
Harlequin Life and Death.
A hoary flowing wig his weird
Unearthly cranium caps,
He hangs a long "benevolent beard
On a pair of empty chaps.
To smooth his ghastly features down
The actor's art he cribs,
A long and a flowing padded gown
Bedecks his rattling ribs.
He cries, " Go on begin, begin !
Turn on the light of lime
I'm dressed for jolly old Christmas, in
A favourite pantomime i "
The curtain's up the stage all black
Time and the year nigh sped
Time as an advertising quack
The Old Year nearly dead.
The wand of Time is waved, and lo I
Revealed Old Christmas stands,
And little children chuckle and crow,
And laugh and clap their hands.
The cruel old scoundrel brightens up
At the death of the Olden Year,
And he waves a gorgeous golden cup,
And bids the world good cheer.
The little ones hail the festive King,
No thought can make them sad.
Their laughter comes with a sounding ring,!
They clap and crow like mad !
They only see in the humbug old
A holiday every year,
And handsome gifts, and joys untold,
And unaccustomed cheer.
The old ones, palsied, blear, and hoar,
Their breasts in anguish beat
They've seen him seventy times before,
How well they know the cheat !
34 W. S. GILBERT
They've seen that ghastly pantomime,
TheyVe felt its blighting breath,
They know that rollicking Christmas-time
Meant Cold and Want and Death,
Starvation Poor Law Union fare
And deadly cramps and chills,
And illness illness everywhere,
And crime, and Christmas bills.
They know Old Christmas well, I ween,
Those men of ripened age ;
They've often, often, often seen
That actor off the stage I
They see in his gay rotundity
A clumsy stufied-out dress
They see in the cup he waves on high
A tinselled emptiness.
Those aged men so lean and wan,
TheyVe seen it all before,
They know they'll see the charlatan
But twice or three times more.
And so they bear with dance and song
And crimson foil and green,
They wearily sit, and grimly long
For the Transformation Scene.
A critical review of Bab's humorous ballads, with the
luminous exposition of Savoy Opera to assist our judgment,
reveals the fact that Gilbert relies to a great extent on
intellect when seeking to excite laughter, but in the few
grave themes characteristic of a small minority of these
Ballads, we see the disquieting assertiveness of the artistic
temperament responsible for Gilbert's dominating ambition
to excel in the domain of serious dramatic art.
CHAPTER IV
GILBERT AS PLAYWRIGHT
GILBERT owes his first commission to write a play to Tom
Robertson, who in 1866 brought him under the notice of
Miss Herbert. Miss Herbert was then managing the
St. James's Theatre and she asked Robertson to write her
something suitable for a Christmas entertainment As he
was too pressed with work to comply with her request he
suggested that she would do well to apply to W. S. Gilbert,
the talented young author of the Bab Ballads, who had a
strong dramatic bent and would undoubtedly make his
mark in the theatrical world. As the result of this recom
mendation Miss Herbert arranged for an interview with
Gilbert, the outcome of which was that Gilbert undertook
to write the play required and deliver his manuscript within
ten days. He chose for his subject the Elixir of Love, and
wrote his play, which he called Dulcamara^ or the Little Duck
and the Great Quack, in eight days ; it was produced after
being rehearsed for ten days and enjoyed a five months'
successful run. All the arrangements had to be made so
hurriedly that the question of fees was not discussed till
after Dulcamara had been produced and favourably noticed
by the Press, when Mr. Emden, Miss Herbert's business-
manager, sent for the author and asked what he expected
to be paid for his work. Gilbert thought for a moment ;
it had taken him a week to write the play, and 20 for a
week's work might be considered quite good pay ; then he
3 6 W. S. GILBERT
remembered the ten rehearsals; reckoning his time at i
for each rehearsal he totted up the total to ^30, and after
a little more mental arithmetic and reflection he named thirty
guineas as his fee.
" Oh," replied Emden, " we never pay in guineas, make
it thirty pounds " ; and Gilbert closed with the offer.
After Emden had struck his bargain he turned to
Gilbert and quietly remarked : " Now take an old stager's
advice, never you sell as good a play as that for thirty
pounds again."
" And I never did," adds Gilbert when he tells the story.
As we think of that first fee it is interesting, from the
financial standpoint, to gather some idea of the market
value of his work at a later stage in his career ; for The
Wedding March , an adaptation of " Le Chapeau de
Paifle d'ltalie," which was completed in two days, he
received ^2500, for the early Gilbert and Sullivan Operas
produced at the Opera Comique, he was paid five guineas
a night during the run, and his third share of the profits
of Ruddigore^ the least monetarily successful of the Savoy
cycle, was ^7000.
The moment Gilbert scored his first success as a play
wright all his inborn passion for the theatre laid hold on him
with the full strength of accumulated force. He renounced
journalism, resigned his position as dramatic critic to the
Illustrated London Times and devoted his whole energy to
writing for the stage. From the numerical point of view
he has scored a record with his plays, and even if we. take
into consideration his natural ability to work with extra
ordinary rapidity, we cannot help but be impressed by the
steadyperseverance with which he pursued his life's purpose,
directly he had made up his mind that he would make for
the theatrical goal. Farce, burlesque, pantomime, operetta,
extravaganza, comedy and tragedy, one after another they
followed in such quick succession that even Gilbert himself
now quite forgotten what some of these plays were
GILBERT AS PLAYWRIGHT 37
about, and as an incidental result of his dogged energy I
find myself confronted with the Herculean task of having
to attempt to deal with about fifty plays in one short
chapter of a short biography.
Gilbert's achievements as a playwright may roughly be
classified under three headings ; first, the plays which have
had their heyday of theatrical life ; secondly, the stock pieces
which are still played outside the barriers of critical
dramatic circles and are favourites in the amateur's
repertoire, and thirdly, three plays, The Wicked World^
Broken Hearts^ and Gretchen^ which are dearest of all his
work to Gilbert, being the plays in which he strove, in the
name of Art, to express his conception of life.
Amongst the plays which have had their day of dramatic
success are Gilbert's farces. Old-fashioned farces may, as
we are told, have been much better acted than the modern
article of that description, but even with such compensation
we cannot wish them back with us ; they are as forced as
the laughter they could excite in the days when the so-
called comic stage character relied on a grotesque make-up
for applause. I have not the slightest desire to foster a
wholesale condemnation of farce Gilbert himself has
shown us its legitimate possibilities in Trial by Jury ;
exaggeration for caricature's sake may be an amusing form
of entertainment, but a conglomeration of artificial ab
surdities bearing absolutely no relation to the possible or
the probable is not to be tolerated. Take the three
farcical plays which are still preserved amongst Gilbert's
collected works, compare them with Trial by Jury, and I
think you will give me your sympathy in my present
Gilbertian situation. As a sincere admirer of Gilbert in
his role of merry-making reformer I rejoice to be able to
point out that Tom Cobb> Engaged, and Foggerty*s Fairy
were written in the days when exaggeration for exaggera
tion's sake was still a popular form of entertainment even
though he had begun to adapt the circumstances of the
3 S W. S. GILBERT
stage, but as a wholly unsentimental advocate where the
reputation of the drama is at stake, I should be obliged to
admit that when reading these plays I hear the crackling of
thorns under a pot, even though I am not blind to the fact
that Foggert)?s Fairy is based on an original idea.
In addition to these farces, dramatic literature has handed
down to the present generation The Princess, Rosencranfe
and GuHdenstern^ and Charity. The Princess is a " respectful
perversion of Tennyson's poem." The movement for the
higher education of women has made such rapid strides
that any play dealing with it in its early stages must lose in
interest by being date-stamped. Much as we may admire
Tennyson's attitude with regard to this cause it must be
admitted that a good deal of his philosophising has already
become platitudinous, in these days when women do not
lay down their love for education, and for a like reason
some of the humour of Gilbert's Princess falls short of the
mark. Both versions have the merit of historical interest :
Gilbert's is certainly more in accordance with the modern
tendency amongst women themselves to ridicule the idea
that they can be unsexed by education, and to smile good-
naturedly at the dear old gentleman who regales the chiffon-
disguised Newnham graduate at a dinner-party with his
views on the woman question, and whispers to her in con
fidence that she is his beau ideal of a womanly woman.
I ain sure I voice the sentiments of many of my sex when
I say that I hope Mrs. D'Oyly Carte is going to include
Gilbert's operatic version of his Princess in the Savoy re
vivals ; it is always amusing when we have grown up to look
at photographs of ourselves as children. All these versions
of The Princess always remind me of the days when I
possessed a small book entitled " The Leading Dates of
English History," on the fly-leaf of which was penned in
bold roundhand : " Girls, knowledge is now no more a
fountain seal'd drink deep ! "
JRosmcnmte and Guildenstern is a clever burlesque of
GILBERT AS PLAYWRIGHT 39
Hamlet. King Claudius and Queen Gertrude are much
distressed at their son's tendency to soliloquise, and the
Queen in her anxiety sends for Rosencrantz and Guilden-
stern, two merry knaves, to bid them devise such revels in
the Court "as shall abstract his meditative mind from sad
employment.' 7 They produce in comedy vein a tragedy
written by the King ; Hamlet plays the principal part so
successfully that by request he stops in the middle of the
first Act as it is feared that the audience will die with
laughter ! King Claudius, who has meanwhile recognised
his tragedy, which having been condemned as a tragedy
none may now mention under pain of death, wrathfully
declares that both his worthless son and his worthless play
shall perish. The Queen pleads for Hamlet, who, on his
knees, cries imploringly to his father : " Hold thine hand !
I can't bear death I'm a philosopher." The King realises
the logic of this appeal, but is troubled to know how to
dispose of Hamlet, when Ophelia suddenly exclaims :
A thought 1
There is a certain isle beyond the sea
Where dwell a cultured race compared with whom
We are but poor brain-blind barbarians ;
'Tis known as Engle-land. Oh, send him there !
If but the half I've heard of them be true
They will enshrine him on their great good hearts,
And men will rise or sink in gocd esteem
According as they worship him, or slight him !
Claudius.
Well, we're dull dogs in Denmark. It may be
That we've misjudged him. If such a race there be
(There may be I am not a well-read man)
They're welcome to his philosophic brain
So, Hamlet, get thee gone and don't come back again (
[HAMLET, who is delighted, at the suggestion, . . .
strikes an attitude, exclaiming : " To EngU-
land!"~\
V
I can well imagine that in the dim and distant future
the authorship of Rosencrants and Guildenstern will be the
40 W. S. GILBERT
subject of as many heated discussions as the Bacon-
Shakespeare controversy; there will be some who bring
forward indisputable evidence to show that Gilbert wrote
it, and there will be others who bring forward equally
indisputable evidence to prove that none but George
Bernard Shaw would have dared to write it !
In Charity we have a complete exposition of Gilbert's
ethics ; his creed, summed up in his own words, is the only
possible basis of relationship between art and morality:
" I believe in the morality of God Almighty and not in
that of Mrs. Grundy." The play is written round society's
dictum " that a woman who has once forfeited her moral
position shall never regain it, 57 The woman in this case,
a Mrs. Van Brugh living as a widow under the shield of
her dead lover's name, practises charity in the widest
sense of the word. For instance, Ruth Tredgett, a tramp,
is found in Mrs. Van Brugh's pantry, and the wild-looking
woman is dragged by the servants before their mistress,
who is shown a decanter of sherry with which she was
about to decamp. On her own confession she was brought
up to be a thief, and is an old ticket o> leave who, ruined
by a "psalm-singing villain" in her search for honest
work, has again taken to stealing as the only means of
livelihood : but Mrs. Van Brugh sees in her the victim of
circumstances and offers to be her friend. When this
apostle of charity exclaims : " Who shall say what the very
best of us might not have been but for the accident of
education and good example ? " it is Gilbert himself who
speaks, Gilbert the Justice of the Peace, who says that
whenever he has a prisoner in the dock before him he
always asks himself : " What chance in life has this man
had? " Gilbert who frankly admits that he is an honest
man because he has never had the temptation to be other
wise. A conversation in Charity between Dr. Athelney, a
Colonial Bishop-Elect, and Ruth Tredgett, expresses the
attitude of Gilbert, the humane magistrate.
GILBERT AS PLAYWRIGHT 41
Dr. Athelney. Well, you hear what this man says ; did you
take this wine ?
Ruth. Ay, I took it, sure enough.
Dr. A . Why did you take it ?
Ruth. Why, to drink, of course. Why should I take it ?
Dr. A. You shouldn't take it.
Ruth. Don't you never take wine ?
Dr. A. Not other people's wine except, of course with
their permission.
Ruth. Maybe you've got a cellar of your own.
Dr. A. Maybe I have.
Ruth. Well, maybe I haven't. That's my answer.
The broad-minded spirit of charity in this play is
thoroughly progressive, witness an altercation between
Fred Smailey, a smug saint, and Mrs. Van Brugh, who has
just scandalised the village by putting a real live Dissenter
into one of her almshouses, where a Roman Catholic and
a Jew are already installed.
Fred. But, my dear Mrs. Van Brugh, you mean well I'm sure
but a Jew, a Catholic, and a Dissenter ! is there no such thing
as a starving Churchman to be found ?
Mrs. V. B. There are but too many starving men of all
denominations, but while I'm hunting out the Churchman, the
Jew, the Catholic and the Dissenter will perish, and that would
never do, would it ?
Fred. That is the Christianity of Impulse. I would feed
him that belonged to my own church, and if he did not belong
to it, I would not feed him at all.
Mrs. V. B. That is the Christianity of Religious Politics. As
to these poor people, they will shake down and agree very well
in time. Nothing is so conducive to toleration as the knowledge
that one's bread depends upon it.
Do not imagine from this little conversation that Gilbert
is identifying himself with party politics ; recall the invita
tion in lolanthe to rejoice with loud Fal lal,
That Nature wisely does contrive Fal, lal, la 1
That every boy and every gal,
That's born into the world alive,
Is either a little Liberal,
Or else a little Conservative !
42 W. S. GILBERT
In the light of this invitation a subsequent incident in the
history of these almshouses will not seem at all incongruous.
When the village learns that Mrs. Van Brugh is Miss
Brandreth, albeit she has a daughter, Gilbert wields the
Moderate pen and indulges in a delicate satire on Pro
gressive ideals ; here is the letter which Mrs. Van Brugh
received from her undenominational pensioners :
We, the aged occupants of the Locroft Almshouses, are
humbly pained and respectfully shocked at the disclosures that
have recently been made with reference to Miss Brandreth's
relations with the late Captain Van Brugh. We trust that it is
unnecessary for us to add that, if it were not that the Almshouses
pass at once from Miss Brandreth's hands into those of an
upright and stainless Christian, whom it is an honour respect
fully to know and a satisfaction humbly to profit by, we would
not have consented to occupy them for another day ; we would
rather have worked for our living.
The " upright and stainless Christian " is the villain of
the play, who publishes the story of Mrs. Van Brugh's
free-love match in order to help forward his own mean
scheme for obtaining her money, and is ultimately con
victed of forging a burial certificate to get some trust-funds
into his possession. We take leave of Miss Brandreth as
sbe voices her intention of sailing to a new land to teach,
as a humble penitent, the lessons of Charity. I have dealt
somewhat fully with this play, because it so clearly shows
the nature of the moral conscience that is constantly in
evidence in the libretti of the Savoy Operas. There are
some very dramatic situations in Charity, but the plot is a
little involved, and when the dialogue is in the wholly serious
vein it is inclined to be stilted and would hardly carry the
emotions of the characters over the footlights of the modern
theatre in a way calculated to do justice to their ethical
views.
One other form in which Gilbert cast his plays with
great success fora time must be noticed : this is The Fairy
Comedy^ to which the present generation has recently been
GILBERT AS PLAYWRIGHT 43
Introduced by the Mermaid Society's production of The
Palace of Truth. In this particular play the only sugges
tions of fairyland are an enchanted palace in which every
one is bound to speak " the simple, unadulterated truth/ 1
and a talisman which enables its fortunate possessor, who
ever he may be, to counteract the charm. Given such
supernatural assistance the satirist has boundless oppor
tunities, and Gilbert has contrived in his comedy to enter
tainingly parry and thrust many simple, unadulterated truths,
but unless one happens to be a fatalist, credulity is over
strained by the length of this play, in which the poignant
satire demands serious consideration.
Foremost amongst Gilbert's plays which are still acted
are Pygmalion and Galatea, Creatures of Impulse, Dan'l
Druce, Sweethearts, and Comedy and Tragedy, all of which
are well known, and popular as " stock " plays particularly
amongst amateur theatrical companies. These were
all written, as Gilbert himself says, with an idea to pleasing
everybody \vho pays for admission to the theatre where
they are played, on the assumption that an audience Is
composed of two classes, " stalls and gallery." The
Gallery First-Nighters would, of course, all be included in
the " stalls " class under this policy; they would quickly
weed out all the conventional sentiment that is not meant
for them, and pronounce their own share to be of a fair
average quality, good in craftsmanship, except that the
" asides " are now technically out of date, weak in prose
dialogue, but generally approaching a very fair literary
standard in verse. Dan* I Druce is specially interesting as
being one of the earliest London productions in which
Marion Terry had a leading part ; Gilbert, with his natural
ability for recognising mimetic talent, was confident that she
had a career before her, and engaged her to play Dorothy
in Dan 7 1 Druce at a salary of ^7 a week. Since that play
was produced at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, on
September n, 1876, Marion Terry has steadily continued
44 W. S. GILBERT
to win the hearts of the theatrical public by her wholly
delightful, magnetic personality.
Two of the three plays which are Gilbert's personal
favourites, viz., The Wicked World and Broken Hearts,
belong to the Fairy Series, whilst the third, Gretchen^ is a
version of the Faust legend.
The scene of The Wicked World opens in a pure fairy
land, " where mortal love is utterly unknown " ; the spotless
inhabitants live happily together out of temptation's reach
in a state of tranquil brotherhood; and imagination could
not picture more ideal beings, although the keen observer
might discover that they suffer from "an overweening
sense of righteousness. 3t They have often wandered in
fancy through that wicked, wondrous world that rolls in
silent cycles at their feet, but it seems highly improbable
that they will ever know anything definite about it, when
suddenly Lutin, one of their community, is summoned to
mid-earth by the Fairy King. Lutin returns to fairyland
with the news that their monarch is contemplating the
bestowal of a new privilege on his subjects, and sends a
royal command for Ethais and Phyllon to accompany him
back to mid-earth to learn the nature of the boon to be
conferred. Before the three representatives set forth,
Selene, the Fairy Queen, and Darine and Zayda her
fairy friends, beg Lutin to tell them about the Wicked
World* on which he has .been the first of their race to set
foot. He explains that everything he saw "is utterly
improper to be seen," declares that his tongue shall wither
ere he repeats the details of his experience, and bids them
read his story in his blushes of indignant shame. When
Lutin, Ethais, and Phyllon have departed to mid-earth,
Selene, Darine, and Zayda recall a half-forgotten law which
says ;
That when a fairy quits his fairy home
To visit earth, those whom he leaves behind
May summon from the wicked world below
GILBERT AS PLAYWRIGHT
That absent fairy's mortal counterpart ;
And that that mortal counterpart may stay
In fairy land and fill the fairy's place
Till he return.
In a philanthropic spirit they upbraid themselves for
having neglected to use their power " to shape the fortunes
of mankind " by having held aloof from the foul creatures
in the wicked world, leaving them to pursue their blind
and wayward will, and at length they decide to summon to
fairyland the mortal counterparts of Ethais and Phyllon.
These mortals shall see for themselves the beauties of a
sinless life, and without a doubt they will return to earth
and regenerate the wicked world whose sole compensation
for sin and misery is mortal love. But directly the mortals
appear in their midst the fairies sigh their love for them,
jealous rivalry springs up, the immortals stoop to every
conceivable form of meanness to win a mortal lover, till at
length, when the fairies are thoroughly demoralised, the
fairy prototypes of the visitors come back from mid-earth,
and the mortals cheerfully return to the wicked world with
out the slightest desire to remodel it on fairy lines. The
fairies have ignominiously failed in their mission, as they
realise when mortal love is no longer in their midst, and
when this love is offered them by their own Ethais in the
name of the Fairy King as the new privilege, the priceless
gift that is henceforth to be theirs for evermore, the
repentant fairies beg that such a baneful influence be not
allowed to assail their stronghold ; in their name Selene
the Fairy Queen cries eagerly :
No, no not that no, Ethais not that !
It is a deadly snare beware of it !
Such love is for mankind, and not for us ;
It is the very essence of the earth,
A mortal emblem, bringing in its train
The direst passions of its antitype.
No, Ethais we will not have this love ;
Let us glide through our immortality
W. S. GILBERT
Upon tlie placid lake of sister-love,
Nor tempt the angry billows of a sea,
Which, though it carry us to unknown lands,
Is so beset with rocks and hidden shoals,
That we may perish ere our vessel reach
The unsafe haven of its distant shore,
No, Ethais we will not have this love !
To be in the presence of a favourite child dearly
beloved by Its creator is to be gripped by a sentiment with
which it is not easy to break, but The Wicked World was
written in the name of Art, and in the name of Art must it
therefore be criticised. The root idea of this play is
vital, so vital that it calls for masterly treatment, and at
the outset it is undoubtedly a master hand that deals with
the subject of the Great Untempted. The opening scene
is so poetic in quality and dramatic in form that it seems
to herald one of the finest plays of the poetic drama. We
have the happy, but self-righteous fairies in a beauteous
doudland exempt from the storms of passion that play
such havoc with our wicked world ; through a rent in the
cloud we catch a bird's-eye view of a mediaeval city
inhabited by human nature's sinful counterparts of these
perfect supernatural beings, and poetic fancy wandering
through that city reveals to us and to the fairies both the
misery and the charm of mortal life with its great gift of
mortal love. The fairies' lot is the tranquil life of purity j
what is the mortal's inheritance ?
" I wonder what my counterpart is doing now ? "
murmurs Darine, as she looks down on that mediaeval
city:
Selene. Don't ask.
No doubt, some fearful sin !
Darine* And what are sins ?
Selene* Evils of which we hardly know the names.
There's vsrnity a quaint, fantastic vice,
Whereby a mortal takes much credit for
The beauty of his face and form, and claims
As much applause for loveliness as though
GILBERT AS PLAYWRIGHT 47
He had designed himself ! Then jealousy
A- universal passion one that claims
An absolute monopoly of love.
Based on the reasonable principle
That no one merits other people's love
So much as every soul on earth by turns !
Envy that grieves at other men's success,
As though success, however placed, were not
A contribution to one common fund !
Ambition, too, the vice of clever men
Who seek to rise at others' cost ; nor heed
Whose wings they cripple, so that they may soar.
Malice the helpless vice of helpless fools,
Who, as they cannot rise, hold others down,
That they, by contrast, may appear to soar.
Hatred and avarice, un truthfulness,
Murder and rapine, theft, profanity
Sins so incredible, so mean, so vast,
Our nature stands appalled when it attempts
To grasp their terrible significance.
Such are the vices of that wicked world 1
Yet why do men live on in such a world when they can
summon death at will ?
Selene.' With all their misery, with all their sin,
With all the elements of wretchedness
That teem on that unholy world of theirs,
They have one great and ever-glorious gift,
That compensates for all they have to bear
The gift of Love ! Not as we use the word,
To signify mere tranquil brotherhood ;
But in some sense that is unknown to us.
Their love bears like relation to our own,
That the fierce beauty of the noonday sun
Bears to the calm of a soft summer's eve.
It nerves the wearied mortal with hot life,
And bathes his soul in hazy happiness.
The richest man is poor who hath it not,
And he who hath it laughs at poverty.
It hath no conqueror. When death himself
Has worked his very worst, this love of theirs
Lives still upon the loved one's memory.
It is a strange enchantment, which invests
The most unlovely things with loveliness.
The maiden, fascinated by this spell,
Sees everything as she would have it be :
48 W. S. GILBERT
Her squalid cot becomes a princely home ;
Its stunted shrubs are groves of stately elms ;
The weedy brook that trickles past her door
Is a broad river fringed with drooping trees ;
And of all marvels the most marvellous,
The coarse unholy man who rules her love
Is a bright being pure as we are pure ;
Wise in his folly blameless in his sin ;
The incarnation of a perfect soul ;
A great and ever-glorious demi-god 1
When the fairies determine to take up their responsibility
of shaping the fortunes of mankind we seem to hear the
clash of swords in a dramatic conflict between Destiny
and Free Will ; when they cast to earth two roses, newly
plucked, with the gentle command, " Go, send thy mortal
namesake to our cloud," we think of the Fairy Queen's
sympathetic revelation of human love, and in the intensity
of the seconds in which the air is charged with music
whilst we await the coming of mortals to fairyland, we say
to ourselves, "Here is a great dramatic subject, a vital
theme, the mystic love of the gods matching its strength
against the magic flame that burns in the heart of the
demi-god Man."
Unfortunately Gilbert seems to have overlooked the
deeper significance of bis theme at precisely the moment
when he dropped the roses to earth, for the mortals who
forthwith appear in fairyland are not at all the sort of
human beings that we associate with the ideal of a demi
god. They are of the commonplace philandering type,
with no comprehension of the mortal love whose magic
power Gilbert has so poetically charmed into the opening
scene of his play. There is no lack of skill in the portrayal
of these characters, but there is an artistic error in their
selection; undoubtedly the fairies are humorously shown
up to the worst advantage when their love for such poor
specimens of humanity prompts them to indulge in mean,
petty jealous strife and passionate outbursts of frenzied
adoration for such men, but the author has selected his
GILBERT AS PLAYWRIGHT 49
mortals with a view to pointing the moral that the
untempted saint should be careful not to cast stones
at the sinner in a world of action, and the selection is
inartistic because we feel that it was influenced by that
moral, instead of the moral being the natural significance
of an unbiased selection of characters who should bring
mortal love into contact with self-righteous perfection.
Gilbert's mortals are not typical of the great love which is
a strange enchantment, but merely of that debased aspect
of it which he reveals when he makes one of them
exclaim :
Why, Love's the germ
Of every sin that stalks upon the earth : *
The brawler fights for love the drunkard drinks
To toast the girl who loves him, or to drown
Remembrance of the girl who loves him not !
The miser hoards his gold to purchase love.
The liar lies to gain, or wealth, or love ;
And if for wealth, it is to purchase love.
The very footpad nerves his coward arm
To stealthy deeds of shame by pondering on
The tipsy kisses of some tavern wench 1
Be not deceived this love is but the seed ;
The branching tree that springs from it is Hate f
Such love lends itself to levity of treatment which is
inconsistent with the great underlying theme of The Wicked
World*, it should only have been introduced into fairyland
as the counterfeit of love to act as a foil to the pathos and
joy of the inspiring Love which chains man to the battlefield
of life and makes his every sin pale into insignificance
beside the sin of that overweening self-righteousness which
haunts the peaceful citadel of the untempted soul. As I
reflect on the possibilities of the theme of The Wicked
World I recall the mythological legend of Marpessa, and
am reminded of Stephen Phillips 7 poetical re-creation of
the scene in which Marpessa, given her choice between the
;od Apollo and the mortal Idas, chooses Idas. In ima
gination I piece such a scene into the wider scheme of
So W. S, GILBERT
The Wicked World, and then as I look back at Gilbert's
masterly opening scene I feel as if some mischievous imp
had cheated the world of a masterpiece.
pTTfc Wicked World was produced at the Haymarket
fTheatre in 1873, and ran for 200 nights. Shortly after
its production Gilbert conceived the idea of rewriting
the play in a wholly humorous vein as a political skit:
the fairies should summon to their abode of bliss three
leading politicians of the day, Gladstone, Ayrton, and
Lowe, and learn for themselves the nature of that in
estimable boon, the spirit of Party Politics, which has been
conferred on mere man by the powers that be.
Gilbert drew up his scenario of The Happy Land and
wrote the musical numbers of the play which was com
pleted by Gilbert a Becket and produced by Miss Marie
Litton at the Court Theatre. The success of this huge
political joke was instantaneous and phenomenal ; at first
the public flocked to the Court to uproariously enjoy the
fun of seeing the three stage politicians made up as the
living images of their actual counterparts, but in a very short
time the Lord Chamberlain put his veto on this personal
touch, and the make-up had to be altered so that the stage
should in no way encroach on the traditions of political
dignity. But Gladstone, Ayrton, and Lowe were easily
recognisable even in disguise as they merrily acted their
parts in The Happy Land, and night after night a packed
house rocked with delight as they played havoc with fairy
government by bringing it into touch with modern politics.
The whole joke was perpetrated in a quite good-natured
spirit and Gilbert is happy in the recollection of having seen
Gladstone himself convulsed with laughter in the stalls as
Jie/ollowed his own adventures in fairyland.
To return to Gilbert's serious work, we have yet to con
sider the two other plays written in the name of Art, Broken
Hearts and Gretchm. Broken Hearts is the result of a whole
year's earnest work, and at the end of the published copies
GILBERT AS PLAYWRIGHT 51
of the play is a note which gives us some idea of the demand
made on the soul's self of the author by that work
" Finished, Monday, ijth November, 1875, at ^2-40 A.M.
Thank God." Broken Hearts enjoyed an 85 nights' run
When it was produced at the Court Theatre almost
immediately after it was finished. Were I not pressed
for space, I would not be so heartless as to pass on
to the weakness of its appeal after merely recording the
feet that it enshrines Gilbert's finest interpretation of human
nature as the motive-power of a really human being, the
Ipoetically-drawn, tragic character of Mousta, a deformed
dwarf. Broken Hearts relies on pathos for its appeal, but
Vavir, the sweet, gentle Vavir, who ends the story by
apparently dying of love so that her sister Hilda may marry
Prince Florian, to whom they have both given their hearts,
is not a genuinely pathetic character. In the tenderness
of his heart Gilbert has fallen in love with Vavir, because she
is naturally delicate ; in the fulness of his pitying love he
invests her fragile body with the soul of an angel, only
allowing she is human by making her weak and ailing. The
only real pathos of the death-scene is the pathos of the sick
room, for death in Vavir's case is the result of a weak heart
rather than a broken heart, although the strain of feeling
that she stood in her sister's way may have somewhat
hastened her end. Still we cannot help feeling here that
death is merciful since it saves Hilda and Prince Florian,
who really love each other, from being prompted by pity to
sacrifice themselves for an angel who is physically unfit for
marriage. Vavir was certainly born with a sweet disposition,
but she is hardly the character weshouldexpectto find selected
for the heroine's part in a play written by a man who has
shown us in The Wicked World his broad-minded estimate
of original goodness and original sin ; her delicate constitu
tion is mainly responsible for her taking to her death-bed as
the means of escape from a triangular problem, whereby we
miss in Broken Hearts that inevitable fight with the devil,
52 W. S. GILBERT
which must take place in the solution of any such problem
if one of three human beings is to come out of the miserable
tangle as a conquering angel } and leave the other two free
to enjoy their Earthly Paradise.
It is the devil, too, that we miss in Gretchen^ Gilbert's
version of the Faust legend, which took nine months to
write, and was produced at the Olympic Theatre in 1 879 ; it
was withdrawn after a fortnight's run, the theatre having been
sold from that date during rehearsals. True, the Spirit ot
Evil plays an active part in Gretchen^ but there is no subtle
demand on his powers. Goethe's Mephistopheles is weary
of winning easy victories in the tavern and the gaming-house,
and when in a moment of inspiration he hears the call of
the blood echoing in Faust's study, he is fired with the
desire to add a student to his list of conquests. Gilbert's
Faustus is a man-about-town in the guise of a monk ; his
Mephisto is mainly concerned with winning Gretchen, who,
by her pure and blameless life, has done more harm to bis
cause in eighteen years "than all the monks in Christendom
can mend " ; consequently Mephisto is willing to waive any
question of a compact with Faustus when he frees him from
a monastery, whither he has repaired in a temporary revulsion
of feeling against all women on finding that men have not
the monopoly of deception. Faustus is burning to get back
into the world of action, when Mephisto appears at his
bidding, and seeks to restore his faith in womankind by
telling him of Gretchen. Faustus takes up an offensive
attitude ;
Faustus. If there live such a one as thou hast painted
A maiden pure as the blue breath of Heaven,
Into whose virgin heart no dream of ill
Hath ever crept the bloom of whose pure lips
Is yet unbrushed by man's polluting touch ;
Whose life is open as the very truth
A perfect type of blameless maidenhood,
Take me to her, and I will learn of her.
Mephisto. Humph ! No, I'd rather not r
CHAPTER V
OUR NATIONAL OPERA
THE honour of introducing Gilbert to the late Sir Arthur
Sullivan belongs to Fred Clay the composer, to whom the
world at large is therefore indebted for the initial move in
what has proved such an eventful partnership. Gilbert had
collaborated with Fred Clay in writing a musical play
called Ages Ago for the German Reeds; Sullivan, on
hearing that the author of the " Bab Ballads " was working
with his friend Clay, expressed a wish to meet Gilbert and
was invited by Clay to go to a rehearsal of Ages Ago at
the old Gallery of Illustration, Regent Street, where the
momentous introduction took place. This was in 1871,
long before Arthur Sullivan was rewarded by his grateful
country with a knighthood ; the acquaintance soon ripened
into a friendship in which author and composer joined
forces, but no striking success resulted from the collabora
tion till the early days of 1875 when Trial by Jury was
produced.
Trial by Jury had already been published in Fun by
Bab. Gilbert elaborated it for the Parepa-Rosa Opera
Company and it was set to music by Carl Rosa, but the
arrangements for producing it fell through owing to the
death of Parepa-Rosa, Carl Rosa's wife. Gilbert then took
the libretto to Sullivan, who was ill in bed at the time, but
happily not too ill to enter heartily into the spirit of the
fun as Gilbert read his merry satire on the Law Courts.
W. S. GILBERT
Delighted at the idea of giving, the musical finish to this
one-act play, Sullivan set to work at once on the score and
Trial by Jury was produced at the Sqho Theatre, now the
Royalty, on March 25, 1875, The success of the venture
can hardly be said to be remarkable, for bearing in mind
the whimsical and dramatic qualities of both libretto and
music,, it would indeed have been remarkable if such an
operetta had not instantaneously met with the appreciation
it merits.
With the instinct of the dramatist, Gilbert cuts straight
away into his story in this one-act parody of a breach of
promise case. The scene is a Court of Justice, in which
Barristers, Attorneys, Jurymen and Usher are discovered,
and as the curtain goes up the chorus at once makes the
situation clear :
Hark, the hour of ten Is sounding !
Hearts with anxious fears are bounding ;
Hall of Justice crowds surrounding,
Breathing hope and fear
For to-day in this arena,
Summoned by a stern subpoena,
Edwin, sued by Angelina,
Shortly will appear.
The Usher then marshals the Jury into the Jury-box,
and we quickly find out the spirit in which this trial is to
be conducted :
Usher*
Now, Jurymen, hear my advice
All Mnds of vulgar prejudice
I pray you set aside :
With stern judicial frame of mind,
From bias free of every kind,
This trial must be tried.}
Chorus.
From bias free of every kind
This trial must be tried.
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard." Macmillan.
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 57
Usher.
Oh, listen to the plaintiff's case :
Observe the features of her face
The broken-hearted bride.
Condole with her distress of mind
From bias free of every kind
This trial must be tried.
Chorus*
From bias free of every kind
This trial must be tried.
Usher.
And when amid the plaintiff's shrieks,
The ruffianly defendant speaks
Upon the other side ;
What he may say you needn't mind
From bias free of every kind
This trial must be tried.
Chorus.
From bias free of every kind
This trial must be tried.
In the short compass of this trial Gilbert contrasts a
romantic plaintiff, a disenchanted boyish defendant, a
judge with an eye for beauty and a pretty contempt for the
law, designing bridesmaids, and jurymen who, even if they
are unbiased, can hardly be expected to be proof against
feminine charm, and by widely different but always original
methods these characters all contribute to the spontaneous
fun which prevails whilst the broken-hearted Angelina sues
the fickle-hearted Edwin and bewitches the judge into
settling the case by offering to marry her himself. In Trial
byjuryvre find authorand composer looking at the humorous
side of life from exactly the same point of view, and we at
once realise how Gilbert and Sullivan have been able to do
for Comic Opera what Wagner has done for Grand Opera by
combining words and music so as to make of them one Art.
The hearty reception accorded to this operetta naturally
encouraged Gilbert and Sullivan to think of collaborating
in a more ambitious venture, and it was whilst they were
busy discussing their future plans that they were approached
58 W. S. GILBERT
by the keen-sighted D'Oyly Carte, who had been acting-
manager of the Soho Theatre at the time Trial by Jury was
produced. D'Oyly Carte was now busily engaged in pro
moting an English Comic Opera Company to carry out his
enterprising idea of developing comic opera and providing
for it a permanent London home. He was an excellent man
of business, and he had already enlisted sufficient practical
sympathy with his scheme to justify him in looking round
for a new opera that would enable his company to demon
strate by its first production that it had a new and definite
policy. Trial by Jury had shown him that Gilbert and
SulHvan also had some idea of developing comic opera on
original lines, and to them he instinctively turned with the
request that they would write the first opera for his new
company. They readily acquiesced, and set to work on
The Sorcerer, which was produced by the Comedy Opera
Company at the Opera Comique Theatre on November 17,
1877. The success of The Sorcerer fully justified the
company in giving its authors a further commission, as
a result of which H.M.S. Pinafore was produced at the
Opra Comique on May 25, 1878. After this production
the Comedy Opera Company was wound up, but D'Oyly
Carte took over the lease of the Opera Comique, and for
him Gilbert and Sullivan wrote The Pirates of Penzance,
first produced on April 3, 1880, and Patience, which was
first played on April 23, 1881. Meanwhile the Gilbert
and Sullivan operas had become so popular that they had
quite outgrown the limited accommodation of the Opera
Comique, and D'Oyly Carte saw that the happy time had
now come when he might build a theatre such as he had
dreamed of as the permanent home of English Comic Opera,
which was now no longer a dream but a very successful
reality. Under his direction the spacious Savoy Theatre
was erected, with a view to providing suitable accommoda
tion for the -adequate representation of the Gilbert and
Sullivan Operas, and ensuring the comfort of the public
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 59
who flocked to see them. The new theatre was opened
on October 10, 1881, with Patience , which was transferred
from the Opera Comique, and for the space of nearly ten
years following on this auspicious opening, Gilbert and
Sullivan Operas were played nightly at the Savoy, prac
tically speaking, without a break. Iolanthe> Princess Ida t
The Mikado^ Ruddigore^ The Yeomen of the Guard, and The
Gondoliers were the new productions during this period,
and the ten years' programme was interspersed with various
revivals of Gilbert and Sullivan work dating back to Trial
by Jury. The run of The Gondoliers terminating on June 20,
18913 completed this era of unbroken popularity, when for
two years Gilbert and Sullivan Opera was banished from
the Savoy owing to an unfortunate misunderstanding
between the three partners, which although it parted author
and composer was in no way connected with their actual
collaboration in these roles. Meanwhile in 1892 Gilbert
collaborated with Alfred Cellier in The Mountebanks^ which
was produced at the Lyric. Welcome indeed was the news
which a few months later announced that the gulf between
the ideal partners had been bridged, and unbounded was
the enthusiasm with which the public greeted back in
their home the dramatic triumvirate when Utopia was pro
duced at the Savoy on October 7, 1893. The next
Gilbert and Sullivan opera was The Grand Duke, which
was produced at the Savoy on March 7, 1896, and this
was destined to be the last opera of the famous cycle, for
death claimed Sir Arthur on November 22, 1900, robbing
the world of one of its most brilliant composers and Gilbert
of his ideal collaborator and dearly beloved friend. With
persistent success the old operas were revived between
1895 and 1901, whilst in 1894 His Excellency, by W. S.
Gilbert and Dr. Osmond Carr, was produced at the Lyric;
but Musical Comedy had meanwhile been invented, and the
fiat went forth that Comic Opera was dead. In deference
to Gilbert's express wish, I am sacrificing myself to the
6o W. S. GILBERT
extent of here suppressing my opinions with regard to
Musical Comedy, but I think I may venture to repeat a
remark of his anent this particular form of entertainment :
" Gags are inartistic, but Adrian Ross's lyrics are delightful/ 3
I console myself with the reflection that Gilbert has partly
expressed my own views, and the public has summarised
anything else I might like to say on the subject by its
enthusiastically appreciative support of the present Savoy
revivals, under the direction of Mrs. D'Oyly Carte.
Such briefly is the history of Savoy Opera. So far we
have only dry bones, but we know that the mere mention
of the word Savoy " conjures up a living picture of quaintly
charming personalities romping fantastically amongst the
shadows of an historic building, making the walls of their
home echo with merry laughter, and weaving a tradition
that is dear to the heart of the playgoing world ; how
comes it that a charm has crept into that word " Savoy"?
What is the spirit, what the substance of the incantation
that worked the spell ?
"""^"TJilbert and Sullivan entered into partnership with the
object of achieving a definite ideal. When they began to
write together for the stage the popular form of musical
entertainment consisted in bowdlerised adaptations of the
operas of such composers as Offenbach, Audran and Lecocq ;
if straightforward translations of foreign comic operas were
produced they frequently savoured of impropriety, and so
far as the staging was concerned " the ladies' dresses sug
gested that the management had gone on the principle of
doing a little and doing it well." Gilbert and Sullivan
were convinced that comic opera need not rely on any
suggestion of vulgarity for its humour, and furthermore
they aspired to being able to prove in some measure that
England need not rely wholly on translations and adapta
tions for its humorous operatic fare. " We resolved," says
Gilbert, " that our plots, however ridiculous, should be cohe
rent, that our dialogue should be void of offence, that, on
a
A
3
w
>
" b
i!
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 61
artistic principles, no man should play a woman's part,
and no woman a man's. Finally, we agreed that no lady
of the company should be required to wear a dress that she
could not wear with absolute propriety at a private fancy
ball ; and I believe I may say that we proved our case."
With "no vulgarity" as the keynote of their policy the
two set to work and their general method of procedure
was as follows Gilbert, having first decided on his plot,
drew up the scenario in a very detailed manner ; he then
went through this scenario with Sullivan and the two
marked in the musical situations* Gilbert next wrote all
the musical numbers of the first act with a short epitome
of the dialogue that was to connect them, and sent his
manuscript to Sullivan, and whilst Sullivan was composing
the music of the ist Act, Gilbert wrote the musical numbers
of Act 2 ; he usually confined his libretti to two Acts, and
whilst Sullivan was setting the 2nd Act to music Gilbert
wrote up the dialogue of his play.
After the production of Trial by Jury the authors had
not to concern themselves with finding a manager willing
to produce their operas; D'Oyly Carte, with ideas and
ambitions coinciding with their own, was entirely at their
service. Much of the success of these operas was pri
marily due to the way in which author and composer
worked together at the Savoy. Gilbert and Sullivan
had an absolutely free hand both in writing and pro
ducing their operas, whilst D'Oyly Carte controlled the
business side of the enterprise ; all three were experts with
implicit confidence in one another, and their work dove
tailed into one harmonious whole with the development of
English Comic Opera as its dominating spirit
The opera having been written, Gilbert next planned
out all the scenery and roughly designed the costumes,
which were generally elaborated by Mr. Percy Anderson :
then came the task of allotting parts and arranging the
Chorus. Two somewhat exacting demands are made by
62 W. S. GILBERT
Savoy Opera on the members of a cast ability to sing and
to act* At fibrst the Savoy trio had to face the serious
difficulty of finding promising interpreters ; true they were
producing comic opera, but it afforded no scope for the
so-called comic man. They looked around for their
principals amongst the younger musical entertainers such
as took part in the German Reeds' drawing-room enter
tainments, feeling that their best chance was to secure
talent that they could mould to suit the requirements ot
their new technique of humour. What they wanted to
find can best be inferred from a speech made by Hamlet
to the players in Gilbert's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
when he is about to produce King Claudius' five act
tragedy : " I hold that there is no such antick fellow as
your bombastical hero who doth so earnestly spout forth
his folly as to make his hearers believe that he is uncon
scious of all incongruity ; whereas, he who doth so mark,
label and underscore his antick speeches as to show that
he is alive to their absurdity seemeth to utter them under
protest, and to take part with his audience against himself.
(Turning to players.] For which reason, I pray you, let
there be no huge red noses, no extravagant monstrous
wigs, nor coarse men garbed as women, in this'comi-tragedy ;
for such things are as much as to say * I am a comick
fellow I pray you laugh at me, and hold what I say to be
cleverly ridiculous.' Such labelling of humour is an im
pertinence to your audience, for it seemeth to imply that
they are unable to recognise a joke unless it be pointed
out to them. I pray you avoid it." Probably, too, the
Savoy partners thought they could do best with young
blood, because with older, trained mimes they might run
the risk of having their ideas met in the spirit in which
Hamlet's suggestions were received by his First Player
" Sir, we are beholden to you for your good counsels. But
we would urge upon your consideration that we are ac
complished players, who have spent many years in learning
MR. D'OYLY CARTE
Reproduced y permission of Messrs. Mis & ll'afery
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 63
our profession ; and we would venture to suggest that it
would better befit your lordship to confine yourself to such
matters as your lordship may be likely to understand."
Owing to the steady way in which the Savoy trio adhered
to their determination to seek out young and promising artistes
we number amongst the memory-fixed Savoyard stars,
George Grossmith, Rutland Barrington, Walter Passmore,
Miss Jessie Bond,the late Miss RosinaBrandram, Miss Nancy
Mclntosh, and many other distinguished favourites. The
Chorus, too, was recruited on much the sameprinciple; D'Oyly
Carte was always ready to test any applicant ; experience
was not necessary, but "voice" was indispensable. As it
soon became known that any member of the chorus who
showed special ability was quickly singled out for small
parts and given every opportunity to rise to the position
of a principal, a superior class of candidates sought to join
the ranks, and the tone of the Savoy Chorus was con
siderably raised in the scale of refinement. This was a
matter of great importance in the production of comic
operas whose delicate humour would be much impaired by
any indelicacy in methods of interpretation.
Opera written, scenery and costumes arranged, parts
allotted, the next step was for all th$ members of the cast
to learn their words and music. Here Sullivan was to
the fore, as Gilbert, notwithstanding his keen ear for
rhythm, has no ear for music; he revels in Sullivan's tuneful
airs but confesses that he could not be trusted to detect
anything wrong if they were sung out of tune, in fact the
impromptu insertion of a discord would probably give him
a little extra pleasure.
Sullivan always insisted on having his music sung and
played exactly as he had written it, and in the carrying out
of his express wish in this respect he received much
valuable assistance from Alfred Cellier, who conducted the
early Gilbert and Sullivan Operas at the Opera Comique,
and from Frangois Cellier, under whose able Mton the
64 W. S. GILBERT
permanent Savoy Orchestra contributed to the general
scheme of a homogeneous performance.
When the whole cast was word perfect and note perfect
Gilbert appeared on the scene as stage-manager ; this was
the signal for a general squaring of shoulders ; no one gave
the word of command but none the less clearly it echoed
through the ranks, and the whole company ^sprang to
attention under the subtle influence of penetrating power.
Everyone knew that Gilbert did not call a rehearsal in
order to make experiments ; he did all the rehearsing of
his rehearsals at home, on a model stage, and went to the
theatre knowing exactly what he wanted done and prepared
to spare no trouble to get the effects he had in his mind's
eye. He could be relied on never to lose patience under
the most trying circumstances, never to summon anyone
to attend on the mere chance of being needed, always
respectfully to consider any suggestions, and quietly but
wittily assert his authority should any over-zealous mime
venture to improvise without permission or to show a too
ready desire to claim the centre of the stage. By humane
consideration he won the hearts of his company, by sheer
ability he won their confidence, and to the discipline that
ensued, together with the complete confidence placed in him
by the management, he owed those numerous opportunities
of producing the Savoy Operas in the days gone by exactly
in the spirit in which they were written and composed. A
few rehearsal incidents will best re-create the disciplinarian
atmosphere of the Savoy stage under Gilbert's regime. A
rehearsal of The Mikado was to all appearances progress
ing favourably when Gilbert suddenly called out, " There
is a gentleman in the left group not holding his fan
correctly," whereupon his second-in-command explained,
" There is one gentleman who is absent through illness."
"Ah!" replied Gilbert very gravely, "that is not the
gentleman I am referring to." On another occasion
arrangements were being made for the revival of H.M.S.
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 65
Pinafore, and Grossmith tells a story of the lady who had
been selected to play the part of Josephine. She " objected
to standing anywhere but in the centre of the stage,"
sweetly insinuating to the author that she was always
acccustomed to enjoy the privileges of that position ; said
the gallant Gilbert to her in the most ingratiating tone :
"Oh, but this is not Italian Opera; this is only a low
burlesque of the worst possible kind." But there is a story
concerning Grossmith which throws even more light on
Gilbert, the autocratic stage-manager. It was the first
night of The Mikado; Grossmith was singing " The
flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la," when suddenly
he stumbled and fell; he quickly picked himself up, the
audience thoroughly enjoyed this unrehearsed effect,
imagined it " had to do with the case " and Grossmith
finished his duet with Nanki-Poo and made his exit.
He did not hear the outburst of applause calling him back,
his mind was too full of that fall; he made his way
to Gilbert who was standing in the wings, and in great
distress apologised for having lost his balance ; " I am so
sorry," he said, "I'm afraid I quite spoiled the song."
" Not at all," replied Gilbert, quick to gauge the spontaneity
of the laugh which greeted the tumble; "fall down in
exactly the same way whenever you sing the song, but don't
get up again till you've finished." And nightly after that
Grossmith added to his quaint interpretation of this duet
by slipping to the ground at the same point where he had
involuntarily stumbled and fell on the first night, and to
the added amusement of the audience he maintained a
fantastic sitting posture till the end of the song.
Gilbert is one of the most capable stage-managers and pro
ducers that our theatre can boast. He is naturally endowed
with the qualities of a ruler who can inspire discipline ; and
even now at the age of seventy this finely-built, erstwhile officer
of the Gordon Highlanders, whose volunteer experience
served him so well in drilling a stage crowd, walks into a
E
66 W. S. GILBERT
room or on to the stage with the alert step and dignified
carriage of a commander who charges his whole environ
ment with power. Merely to see him is to be instinctively
impelled mentally to stand at attention, but to know. him
is to realise that he is as just and generous as he is strong,
and to feel that what the Stage has gained from Gilbert's
regime the Army and the Bar have lost. Under that
regime in the old days the Savoy Operas were not merely
stage-managed by the author up- to the last moment of
the dress rehearsal as has been the case with the present
revivals, but they were actually produced under his personal
direction. Producing and stage-managing a play are two
very different things, and although one man may double
the parts of stage-manager and producer, and even play
at the same time a third role as actor, yet whenever these
various duties are consigned to separate officials the producer
has the freest hand, the broadest scope, and the greatest
authority amongst every one connected with the artistic
side of the theatre. The producer is the author's repre
sentative responsible for seeing that a play is interpreted
under conditions in which the whole is greater than the
part, and for materialising the whole setting of the play
in the artistic spirit in which scenery, dresses, and stage'
properties are outlined in the stage directions or
suggested by the text of the play. The ideal producer
must have the dramatic instinct, the artistic temperament,
a keen imagination, a wide historical knowledge together
with a sympathetic appreciation of the arts, crafts, customs,
and general characteristics of various periods, a sufficient
knowledge of stagecraft to enable him to obtain effects
without a constant resource to the expensive luxury and
undesirable blessing of blatant realism, and the strength
of mind to insist on having a voice in the casting of
any play that he takes the responsibility of producing.
To these exacting qualifications he may or may not be
able to add the ability to stage-manage, a task which
M! , W. s. G.LBEKT LE AV, N G SAVOY THEATRE AFTBH KEHEAKSAL JANUAKY 23 H,, ^
Reduced by /.ermtKicn ,./ ttf Dover Slmt StuJw. f-IA
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 67
demands from those who accept office an intelligent com
prehension of plays, a detailed knowledge of stagecraft,
a certain instinct for acting by which the purely imitative
mime may be trainedj the business instinct and the personal
qualities of a disciplinarian. But the most competent
stage-manager has to face the fact that his power is limited
by the utmost possibilities of given material selected by a
higher authority, whereas the producer is well-nigh a free
agent, particularly if he enjoys the complete confidence of
the management. Possibly he may have to keep his
expenditure within a certain margin; but the artist generally
manages to rise superior to money difficulties, and with
carte blanche to present a play as he thinks it should
be presented, and a voice in the casting of the play, the
producer should be able to do the author full justice if he
is fit to be placed in command of the artistic side of the
theatre. In the old days Gilbert was both producer and
stage-manager to the Savoy ; he approved the cast he was
to train, and enjoyed complete artistic and even financial
freedom in the presentation of each successive Gilbert and
Sullivan opera. The artistic quality of the performances
which resulted will always be a Savoy tradition bearing
testimony to his special qualifications for both positions.
The present revivals mark the first occasion on which
during his long connection with the Savoy he has not
been called upon to fill the office of producer ; and Savoy-
.lovers generally agree that these performances are not up
to Gilbertian pitch, the while they agree that Mr. Workman
is a Savoyard star, and that no playgoer should miss the
opportunity of renewing or making the acquaintance of
the Gilbert and Sullivan operas in their own home.
After the dress rehearsal Gilbert's work was practically
finished ; he only stage-managed his plays up to this point
as a vital part of the actual artistic production of them for
which be and Sullivan were jointly responsible. Then
came the " first night," which Gilbert spent in the wings of
68 W. S. GILBERT
the Savoy, always in that state of mind which may f be briefly
described as stage- writer's cramp. The affection is generally
cured for the time being by a call such as rang through the
Savoy on those first nights, but Gilbert's attacks must have
been painfully severe, for he could never be induced to
see thorough a complete public performance of any one of
the Savoy Operas even when they had been hall-marked
with success.
The call does not quite mark the last stage in the evolu
tion of a Savoy Opera ; the final touch was given behind
the curtain, where a pleasing first-night custom, too spon
taneous to be called a ceremony, was enacted ; while the
men of the cast expressed their congratulations and thanks
to Gilbert and Sullivan, the gentler sex gave a very genuine
ring to such words by claiming in turn the right to kiss the
author. This custom was revived on the occasion of the
recent production of The Yeomen of the Guard, when
Jessie Bond, one of the many old Savoyards present,
hastened behind the scenes at the close of the performance,
and set the old-time example to the New Guard.
A review of Gilbert's libretti naturally falls under the
headings of plots, scenes, characters, musical numbers and
dialogue. In constructing his plots he worked on the theory
that even if a whole play is nonsensical, the parts should
be consistent, and given an illogical basis the treatment
must still be logical. Many of his plots were suggested, as
we have seen, by the " Bab Ballads/ 1 The Yeomen of the
Guard was inspired by a Beefeater as the subject of an
advertisement of the Tower Furnishing Company, which
attracted his notice whilst he was waiting for a train at
Uxbridge Station; The Sorcerer was founded on one of
his own stories, which appeared in The Graphic; The
Mikado was the result of a train of thought first set in
action by a casual glance at a Japanese executioner's
sword, which used to hang in his library; and The Gondoliers
was suggested by a view of the Piazzetta at Venice, Patience
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 69
according to popular belief was the outcome of an over
whelming desire on Gilbert's part to ridicule the aesthetic
movement of the day as inspired by Oscar Wilde's cult of
the beautiful ; in the name of that cult to which the
artistic world owes so much I rejoice to be able to point
out that Gilbert had practically completed the scenario
of Patience before he gave a thought to aestheticism. In
the original plot all the aesthetes of the present version
were curates ! Gilbert started Patience with the idea of
satirising the lesser dignitaries of the Church and their
sighing admirers on the lines of" The Rival Curates " in the
" Bab Ballads," but he was attacked by scruples, thought
he might give offence, and looking round for a substitute
for black cloth his eyes lit on the Liberty garb. There
was at the time a small band of genuine aesthetes endeav
ouring to foster a love of the beautiful, a somewhat larger
clique of spurious followers, and a vast majority of
practical souls with early Victorian ideas on beauty and
a strong tendency to ridicule the new movement. It was
this majority that might have been particularly offended by
the curates who originally figured in Patience, and for
their conscience sake Gilbert made a sacrifice. By
satirising the pretentious followers of the new cult he knew
he would not hurt the feelings of the genuine aesthete, and
would certainly provide a very palatable entertainment for
the practical souls ; but he also realised that he would have
to pay the penalty of date-stamping his libretto by changing
the curates into poets. Patience and The Princess Ida are
the only Savoy Operas based on a passing phase ; indeed,
so alive is Gilbert to the fact that a play dealing with
mere mannerisms becomes old-fashioned as those
mannerisms inevitably die out, that not only did he usually
choose plots that " age cannot wither," but he even care
fully avoided in most of his libretti such topical allusions
as fast changing custom quickly stales.
Gilbert, who has a keen sense of the beautiful, delighted
70 W. S. GILBERT
in choosing a picturesque environment for his scenes ; the
Japanese setting of The Mikado^ the Venetian surroundings
of The Gondoliers^ and the old Tower of London as the
home of The Yeomen of the Guard are three notable
examples amongst the many instances of an aesthetic taste
which was always in evidence in the mise-en-scene of the
Savoy operas.
Gilbert's characters where do they come from, those
grotesque personalities, which seem so familiar to everyone
whilst no one can recall exactly how, when and where he
has met them in the flesh ? " I am the very pattern of a
modern Major-Gineral," sings Major-General Stanley in
The Pirates of Penzance^ and he gives us an insight into the
unique policy adopted by Gilbert in creating his characters \
ordinary human beings would not suit his purpose, so
forthwith he devised patterns of types such as combine all
the characteristics of popular systems, theories and convic
tions; these army, navy, judicial, aristocratic, democratic
and such-like patterns all act as if they were under the
magic spell that enchanted The Palace of Truth, and by
the guileless way in which they take themselves quite
seriously they disclose the humorous elements in the
systems with which they are identified. Gilbert had an
abundance of raw material from which to create his
pattern characters ; his experiences in a Government
office, in the Army and at the Bar offered boundless oppor
tunities to his penetrating observation, and furthermore he
was brought into contact with many naval men by a sea
faring hobby which induced him to make himself acquainted
with all the intricacies of a full-rigged ship, to study for a
master mariner's certificate, and to build himself a no-ton
yacht in which he passed much of his spare time cruising
about in home waters. Gilbert is indeed a living proof
that the life of a rolling stone is the ideal life for a
dramatist, who is always far better employed in collect
ing experiences than in gathering moss; an intimate
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 71
acquaintance with many walks in life prevents the necessity
for a monotonous repetition of types. Moreover, Gilbert has
the necessary technical knowledge to enable his characters
to be correct in details when they talk about peaceful
and warfaring administration, consequently they never fall
into traps such as are laid for unwary characters who have
to glean an amateur knowledge of technicalities from
bewildering encyclopaedic tutors, who surely must have
inspired the sage to prophesy that " two of a trade never
agree."
When Gilbert's characters talk they keep brains and risible
muscles in a constant state of activity. Frequently they are
servants of the public, and so zealous and energetic are they
that they do not even hesitate to impose on themselves the
exacting duties of a combination of offices ; to such lengths
do they carry their disinterested labours that in Titipu the
whole duties of the State are shared between Ko-Ko, Lord
High Executioner, and Pooh-Bah, Lord High Everything
Else. Who has not wept copiously for poor Pooh-Bah,
First Lord of the Treasury , Lord Chief Justice, Commander-
in-Chief, Lord High Admiral, Master of the Buckhounds,
Groom of the Back Stairs, Archbishop of Titipu, and Lord
Mayor, when he is placed in the awkward predicament of
arranging the State celebrations in honour of Ko-Ko's
wedding ?
Ko-Ko. Pooh-Bah, it seems that the festivities in connection
with my approaching marriage must last a week. I should like
to do it handsomely, and I want to consult yon as to the amount
I ought to spend upon them.
Pooh-Bah. Certainly. In which of my capacities 1 As
First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chamberlain, Attorney-General,
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Privy Purse, or Private Secretary ?
K o. Suppose we say as Private Secretary.
Pooh. Speaking as your Private Secretary, I should say
that, as the city will have to pay for it, don't stint yourself, do
it weU.
Ko. Exactly as the city will have to pay for it. That is
your advice.
72 W. S. GILBERT
Pooh. As Private Secretary. Of course, you will understand
that, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, I am bound to see that
due economy is observed.
Ko. Oh. But you said just now " Don't stint yourself, do
it weH."
Pooh. As Private Secretary.
Ko f And now you say that due economy must be observed.
Pooh. As Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Ko. I see. Come over here, where the Chancellor can't hear
us. Now, as my Solicitor, how do you advise me to deal with
this difficulty ?
Pooh. Oh, as your Solicitor, I should have no hesitation in
saying, ** Chance it "
Ko. Thank you. (Shaking his hand) I will.
Pooh. If it were not that, as Lord Chief Justice, I am bound
to see that the law isn't violated.
Ko. I see. Come over here where the Chief Justice can't
hear us. Now, then, as First Lord of the Treasury ?
Pooh. Of course, as First Lord of the Treasury, I could
propose a special vote that would cover all expenses, if it were
not that, as leader of the Opposition, it would be my duty to
resist it, tooth and nail. Or, as Paymaster- General, I could so
cook the accounts, that as Lord High Auditor I should never
discover the fraud. But then, as Archbishop of Titipu, it would
be my duty to denounce my dishonesty and give myself into
my own custody as First Commissioner of Police.
Ko. That's extremely awkward.
Pooh. I don't say that all these people couldn't be squared ;
but it is right to tell you that I shouldn't be sufficiently degraded
in my own estimation unless I was insulted with a very con
siderable bribe.
Ko. The matter shall have my careful consideration.
Another very delightful trait in these characters is their
love of equality. Whenever they discourse on the levelling
theory they never speak slightingly of rank, they seem to
thoroughly realise that exclusiveness is of the essence of
snobbery in all classes of society, and they always manage to
be true to their principles in a way that leases no " probable,
possible shadow of doubt " that they are human. For in
stance, we have those redoubtable champions of liberty,
Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri in The Gondoliers^ who sud
denly find themselves called upon to jointly assume the
reins of government in the Kingdom of Barataria ; think
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 73
how ideally they reconcile what they want to do with what
they think they ought to want to do.
Giuseppe. We are jolly gondoliers, the sons of Baptisto
Palmieri, who led the last revolution. Republicans, heart and
soul, we hold all men to be equal. As we abhor oppression, we
abhor kings ; as we detest vain- glory, we detest rank ; as we
despise effeminacy we despise wealth. We are Venetian
gondoliers your equals in everything except our calling, and in
that at once your masters and your servants.
Don Alhambra del Bolero. Bless my heart, how unfortunate !
One of you may be Baptisto's son, for anything I know to the
contrary ; but the other is no less a personage than the only son
of the late King of Barataria.
All What I
Don Al. And I trust I trust it was that one who slapped me
on the shoulder and called me his man,
Giu. One of us a king 1 \
Marco. Not brothers ! (,
Tessa. The King of Barataria 1 |
Gianetta. Well, who'd have thought it 1 J
Marco. But which is it ?
Don A 1. What does it matter ? As you are both Republicans,
and hold kings in abhorrence, of course you'll abdicate at once.
(Going.)
Tes. and Gia. Oh, don't do that. (MARCO and
"
Gin. Well, as to that, of course there are kings and kings.
When I say that I detest kings, I mean I detest bad kings.
Don Al. I see, It's a delicate distinction.
Giu. Quite so. Now I can conceive a kind of king an ideal
king the creature of my fancy, you know who would be
absolutely unobjectionable. A. king, for instance, who would
abolish taxes and make everything cheap, except gondolas.
Mar. And give a great many free entertainments to the
gondoliers.
Giu. And let off fireworks on the Grand Canal, and engage
all the gondolas for the occasion.
Mar. And scramble money on the Rialto among the gondo
liers.
Giu. Such a king would be a blessing to his people, and if I
were a king, that is the sort of king I would be.
Don AL Come, I'm glad to find your objections are not
insuperable.
Mar. and Giu. Oh, they're not insuperable.
Tes. and Gia* No, they're not insuperable.
Giu. Besides, we are open to conviction. Our views may
74 W. S. GILBERT
have been hastily formed on insufficient grounds. They may
be crude, ill-digested, erroneous. I've a very poor opinion of
the politician who is not open to conviction !
Then, too, we have Alexis in The Sorcerer , burning to
break down the artificial barriers of rank, wealth, education,
age, beauty, habits, taste and temper, who has already
" made some converts to the principle that men and women
should be coupled in matrimony without distinction of
rank." Speaking to Aline his betrothed on his pet project
he says :
I have lectured on the subject at Mechanics' Institutes, and
the mechanics were unanimous in favour of my views. I have
F reached in workhouses, beershops, and lunatic asylums, and
have been received with enthusiasm. I have addressed
navvies on the advantages that would accrue to them if they
married wealthy ladies of rank, and not a navvy dissented.
Aline. Noble fellows ! And yet there are those who hold that
the uneducated classes are not open to argument !
Then again there is Captain Corcoran, who attaches but
little value to rank or wealth, but in a tender, fatherly way
warns his daughter that " the line must be drawn some
where " and he cannot quite see that the marriage of a
captain's daughter with a humble sailor would make for
happiness although it might make for ideals. In contrast
to this situation we recall the scene in lolanthe in which
Lord Tolloller implores the " lowly-born " Phyllis to
Spurn not the nobly born
With love affected,
Nor treat with virtuous scorn
The well connected.
*****
Hearts just as pure and fair
May beat in Belgrave Square
As in the lowly air
Of Seven Dials ! *
Genuine Social Reformers are many of these characters ;
the trend of their views suggests a Social Aristocratic
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard." Macmillan.
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 75
Federation rather than a Democratic League, but it is
evident that the leader of their progressive movement is an
Anythingist, a looker-on in the social game who claims the
right of independent thought and judgment.
It has already been suggested that Gilbert and Sullivan
combined words and music in such a way as to make of them
one Art ; so essential are they to each other in Savoy Opera,
that it frequently happens that when the words and the
music are dissociated neither has exceptional value, whereas
together they have uncommon merit. For this reason,
some of Gilbert's lyrics have no appreciable literary
value, although there are others which show that the
art of tone-poetry does not necessarily involve poetic
sacrifice, whilst Sullivan's music which is wedded to them
proves a similar theory from the musician's point of view.
But Savoy-lovers do not criticise libretti and music 01
Savoy Opera as two distinct things; they take them
together, as Gilbert and Sullivan wrote them to be taken
together, and they rejoice and are thankful. I recall these
Operas with the object of trying to provide a short Savoy
entertainment, and remind myself that I am not handi
capped by my inability to provide an orchestra since
Sullivan's music will surely be heard as Gilbert's lyrics are
read by their joint\ admirers; here I am in a maze of
delight ; the air is charmed with melody, and at every turn
I am accosted by "a Savoy-lover singing, whistling or
humming his favourite refrain, asking me to tell everybody
else I meet that this\ or that is the best thing Gilbert
and Sullivan ever wrofe, Where am I to begin, where
end, for if I recalled all the best things Gilbert and
Sullivan ever wrote I should want much more space than
I have been given for the whole of this little book, " When
in doubt, be selfish," is the only motto I can coin to help
me out of my difficulty, so I shall draw up a short
programme of Savoy selections from my own best favourite
numbers. *
7 6
The Three.
Yum-Yum.
Peep-Bo f
Pitti^Sing.
The Three.
W; S. GILBERT
CHORUS.- (The Sorcerer.)
Now to the banquet we press ;
Now for the eggs, the ham,
Now for the mustard and cress,
Now for the strawberry jam !
Now for the tea of our host,
Now for the rollicking bun,
Now for the muffin and toast
Now for the gay Sally Lunn t
TRIO. (The Mikado.)
YUM-YTJM, PEEP-BO AND PITTI-SING.
Three little maids from school are we,
Pert as a schoolgirl well can be.
Filled to the brim with girlish glee,
Three little maids from school !
Everything is a source of fun.
Nobody's safe, for we care for none 1
Life is a joke that's just begun 1
Three little maids from school 1
All (dancing). Three little maids who, all unwary,
Come from a ladies* seminary,
Freed from its genius tutelary
The Three Three little maids from school !
(suddenly demure).
Yum-Yum. One little maid is a bride, Yum -Yum
Peep-Bo. Two little maids in attendance come
Pitti-Sing. Three little maids is the total sum.
The Three. Three little maids from school 1
Yum- Yum. From three little maids take one away
Peep-Bo. Two little maids remain, and they
Pitti-Sing. Won't have to wait very long, they say.
The Three. Three little maids from school !
All (dancing). Three little maids who, all unwary,
Come from a ladies' seminary,
Freed from its genius tutelary
The Three Three little maids* from'school.
(suddenly demure).
SONG. (The Gondoliers.)*
MARCO.
Take a pair of sparkling eyes,
^ Hidden, ever and anon,
In a merciful eclipse
Do not heed their mild surprise
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard/ 1 Macmillan.
MISS RGSINA BKANDRAM
Reproduced by permission of Messrs, tillis & Wahry
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 77
Having passed the Rubicon.
Take a pair of rosy lips ;
Take a figure trimly planned
Such, as admiration whets
(Be particular in this) ;
Take a tender little hand,
Fringed with dainty fingerettes,
Press it in parenthesis ;
Take all these, you lucky man
Take and keep them, if you can 1
Take a pretty little cot
Quite a miniature affair
Hung about with trellised vine,
Furnish it upon the spot
With the treasures rich and rare
I've endeavoured to define.
Live to love and love to live
You will ripen at your ease,
Growing on the sunny side
Fate has nothing more to give.
You're a dainty man to please
If you are not satisfied.
Take my counsel, happy man ;
Act upon it 4 if you can 1
BALLAD. (The Sorcerer.)*
DR. DALY.
Time was when Love and I were well acquainted.
Time was when we walked ever hand in hand,
A saintly youth, with worldly thought untainted
None better loved than I in all the land !
Time was when maidens of the noblest station,
Forsaking even military men,
Would gaze upon me, rapt in adoration.
Ah me ! I was a fair young curate then !
Had I a headache ? sighed the maids assembled ;
Had I a cold ? welled forth the silent tear ;
Did I look pale ? then half a parish trembled ;
And when I coughed all thought the end was near.
I had no care no jealous doubts hung o'er me ;
For I was loved beyond all other men.
Fled gilded dukes and belted earls before me.
Ah me I I was a pale young curate then 1
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard/' Macmillan.
78 W. S. GILBERT
SONG. (Trial by Jury.)*
JUDGE.
When I, good friends, was called to the Bar,
I'd an appetite fresh and hearty,
But I was, as many young barristers are,
An impecunious party :
I'd a swallow-tail coat of a beautiful blue
A brief which I bought of a booby
A couple of shirts and a collar or two,
And a ring that looked like a ruby !
In Westminster Hall I danced a dance,
Like a semi-despondent fury ;
For I thought I should never hit on a chance
Of addressing a British jury
But I soon got tired of third-class journeys,
And dinners of bread and water ;
So I fell in love with a rich attorney's
Elderly, ugly daughter.
The rich attorney, he wiped his eyes,
And replied to my fond professions ;
" You shall reap the reward of your enterprise,
At the Bailey and Middlesex Sessions.
You'll soon get used to her looks," said he,
" And a very nice girl you'll find her !
She may very well pass for forty-three
In the dusk, with a light behind her 1 "
The rich attorney was good as his word :
The briefs came trooping gaily,
And every day my voice was heard
At the Sessions or Ancient Bailey.
All thieves who could my fees afford
Relied on my orations,
And many a burglar Fve restored
To his Mends and his relations.
At length I became as rich as the Gurneys
An incubus then I thought her,
So I threw over that rich attorney's
Elderly, ugly daughter.
The rich attorney my character high
Tried vainly to disparage
And now, if you please, I'm ready to try
This Breach of Promise of Marriage !
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard." Macmillan.
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 79
DUET. (The Mikado.)
NANKI-POO ANI> Ko-Ko.
Nanki. The flowers that bloom in the spring,
Tra la,
Breathe promise of merry sunshine
As we merrily dance and we sing,
Tra la,
We welcome the hope that they bring.
Tra la,
Of a summer of roses and wine ;
And that's what we mean when we say that a thing
Is welcome as flowers that bloom in the spring.
Tra la la la la la, &c*
Ko-Ko. The flowers that bloom in the spring,
Tra la,
Have nothing to do with the case.
I've got to take under my wing,
Tra la,
A most unattractive old thing
Tra la,
With a caricature of a face ;
And that's what I mean when I say, or I sing,
" Oh bother the flowers that bloom in the spring ! "
Tra la la la la la, &c.
SONG. (The Pirates of Penzance.)*
SERGEANT,
Sergeant. When a felon's not engaged in his employment
AIL His employment,
Serg. Or maturing his felonious little plans
AIL Little plans,
Serg. His capacity for innocent enjoyment
AIL 'Cent enjoyment
Serg. Is just as great as any honest man's
AIL Honest man's.
Serg. Our feelings we with difficulty smother
AIL 'Culty smother.
Serg. When constabulary duty's to be done
AIL To be done,
Serg. Ah, take one consideration with another
AIL With another,
Serg. A policeman's lot is not a happy one.
AIL When constabulary duty's to be done,
The policeman's lot is not a happy one.
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard." Macmittan.
8o W. S. GILBERT
Serg. When the enterprising burglar's not a-burgling
AU. N t a-burgling,
Serg. When the cut- throat isn't occupied in crime
AIL 'Pied in crime,
Serg. He loves to hear the little brook a-gurgling
AIL Brook a-gurgling,
Serg. And listen to the merry village chime
All. Village chime.
Serg* When the coster's finished jumping on his mother
AIL On his mother,
Serg. He loves to lie a-basking in the sun
AIL In the sun.
Serg. Ah, take one consideration with another
AIL With another,
Sergi The policeman's lot is not a happy one. :J8
AIL When constabulary duty's to be done
To be done,
The policeman's lot is not a happy one
Happy one.
DUET. (The Yeomen of the Guard.)*
POINT AND ELSIE.
Point. I have a song to sing, O I
Elsie. Sing me your song, O I
Point. It is sung to the moon
By a love-lorn loon,
Who fled from the mocking throng, O !
fit's the song of a merryman, moping mum,
[Whose soul was sad, and whose glance was glum
fc Who sipped no sup, and who craved no crumb,
As he sighed for the love of a ladye !
Heighdy I heighdy !
* ~* Misery me, lackadaydee !
He sipped"no sup, and he craved no crumb,
As he sighed for the love of a ladye.
Elsie. I have a song to sing, O !
Point. Sing me your song, O i
Elsie. It is sung with the ring
Of the songs maids sing
Who love with a love life-long, O !
It's the song of a merrymaid, peerly proud
Who loved a lord, and who laughed aloud
At the moan of the merryman, moping mum,
Whose soul was sore, whose glance was glum,
Who sipped no sup, and who craved no crumb,
As he sighed for the love of a ladye !
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard." Macmillan
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 81
Heighdyl heighdy!
Misery me, lackadaydee !
He sipped no sup, and he craved no crumb,
As he sighed for the love of a ladye.
Point. I have a song to sing, O !
Elsie. Sing me your song, O !
Point. It is sung to the knell
Of a churchyard bell,
And a doleful dirge, ding dong, O !
It's a song of a popinjay, bravely born,
Who turned up his noble nose with scorn
At the humble menymaid, peerly proud,
Who loved that lord, and who laughed aloud
At the moan of the merryman, moping mum,
Whose soul was sad, whose glance was glum,
Who sipped no sup, and who craved no crumb,
As he sighed for the love of a ladye !
Both. Heighdyl heighdy!
Misery me, lackadaydee !
He sipped no sup, and he craved no crumb,
As he sighed for the love of a latfye.
Elsie. I have a song to sing, O !
Point. Sing me your song, O !
Elsie. It is sung with a sigh
And a tear in the eye,
For it tells of a righted wrong, O !
It's a song of a merrymaid, once so gay,
Who turned on her heel and tripped away
From the peacock popinjay, bravely born,
Who turned up his noble nose with scorn
At the humble heart that he did not prize :
So she begged on her knees, with downcast eyes,
For the love of the merryman, moping mum,
Whose soul was sad and whose glance was glum,
Who sipped no sup, and who craved no crumb,
As he sighed for the love of a ladye !
Both. Heighdyl heighdy 1
Misery me, lackadaydee I
His pains were o'er, and he sighed no more,
For he lived in the love of a ladye !
W. S.. GILBERT
SONG. (The Mikado.)
NANKI-POO.
A wandering minstrel I
A thing of shreds and patches,
Of ballads, songs and snatches,
A dreamy lullaby !
My catalogue is long,
Through every passion ranging,
And to your humours changing
I tune my supple song 1
Are you in sentimental mood ?
I'll sing with you,
Oh, willow, willow !
On maiden's coldness do you brood ?
I'll do so too
Oh, -willow, willow !
I'll charm your willing ears
With songs of lover's fears,
While sympathetic tears
My cheeks- bedew
Oh, willow, willow !
But if patriotic sentiment is wanted,
I've patriotic ballads cut and dried ;
For where'er our country's banner may be planted,
All other local banners are defied !
Our warriors, in serried ranks assembled,
Never quail or they conceal it if they do
And I shouldn't be surprised if nations trembled
Before the mighty troops of Titipu 1
And if you call for a song of the sea,
We'll heave the capstan round,
With a yeo heave ho, for the wind is fre
Her anchor's a- trip and her helm's a-lee,
Hurrah for the homeward bound !
Yeo-ho heave ho
Hurrah for the homeward bound 1
To lay aloft in a howling breeze
May tickle a landsman's taste ;
But the happiest hours a sailor sees
Is when he's down
At an inland town,
With his N*ancy on his knees, yeo ho 1
And his arm around her waist I
SCENE FROM ''THE R1IKADD
Reproduced by pet m: Win of Messrs, At/ft tP- H't
OUR NATIONAL OPERA 83
Then man the capstan off we go,
As the fiddler swings us round,
With a yeo heave ho,
And a rumbelow,
Hurrah for the homeward bound 1
A wandering minstrel I, &c.
SELECTION. (H.M.S. Pinafore.}*
He is an Englishman !
For he himself has said it,
And it's greatly to his credit,
That he is an Englishman I
For he might have been a Rposian,
A French, or Turk, or Proosian,
Or perhaps Itali-an I
But in spite of all temptations
To belong to other nations,
He remains an Englishman 1
Hurrah 1
For the true-born Englishman !
* " The Bab Ballads and Songs of a Savoyard.** Macmillan.
THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN
OPERAS
Reprinted from the Programme of the. Savoyard Celebration Dinner try kind
Permission of Mr. Carl Hentschel and Mr. J. Waters, who procured the statistics
from Mrs. UOyly Carte.
PRODUCED AT THE ROYALTY THEATRE.
Produced Withdrawn Performances
Trial by Jury . . . Mar. 25, 1875 . Dec. 18, 1875 -
(Including summer break
from June 13 to Oct. u.)
PRODUCED AT THE OPERA COMIQUE.
The Sorcerer . . . Nov. 17, 1877 . May 22, 1878 . 175
H.M.S. Pinafore , . May 25, 1878 . Feb. 20, i88o-\
HM.S. Pinafore (children) Dec. 16, 1879 . Mar. 20, 1880 J ' 7
The Pirates of Penzance . April 3, 1880 . April 2,1881 . 633
Patience . . . April 23, 1881 . Oct. 8, 1881 . 170
PRODUCED AT THE SAVOY.
Patience (transferred from
Opfra Comique) . . Octl 10, 1881 . Nov. 22, 1882 . 408
lolanthe . . . Nov. 25, 1882 . Jan, i, 1884 . 398
Princess Ida . . . Jan. 5, 1884 . Oct. 9, 1884 . 246
The Sorcerer (first revival)
and Trial by Jury * Oct. n, 1884 Mar. 12, 1885 . 150
The Pirates of Penzance
(children's matinees) . Dec, 26, 1884 Feb. 13, 1885 . 36
The Mikado . . . Mar. 14, 1885 . Jan. 19, 1887 . 672
Ruddigore . . . Jan. 22, 1887 * Nov. 5, 1887 . 288
THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OPERAS 85
H.M.S. Pinafore (first re
vival).
The Pirates of Penzance
(first revival)
The Mikado (first revival)
The Yeomen of the Guard .
The Gondoliers
Utopia, Limited
The Mikado (second re
vival) . " .
The Grand Duke
The Mikado (matinees) .
The Mikado (third revival)
The Yeomen of the Guard
(first revival)
The Gondoliers (first re
vival) ....
The Gondoliers (second re
vival) ....
The Sorcerer (second revi
val) and Trial by Jury .
H.M.S. Pinafore (second
revival)
The Pirates of Penzance
(second revival) .
Patience (first revival)
The Yeomen of the Guard
(second revival) .
The Gondoliers (third revi
val) ....
Produced
Nov. 12, 1887
Mar. 17, 1888
June 7, 1888
Oct. 3, 1888
Dec. 7, 1889
Oct. 7, 1893
Nov. 6, 1895
Mar. 7, 1896
May, June, July,
July u, 1896 .
May 5, 1897
Mar. 22, 1898
July 1 8, 1898 .
Sept. 22, 1898 .
June 6, 1899
June 30, 1900 .
Nov. 7, 1900
Dec. 8, 1906
Jan. 22, 1907
Withdrawn Performances
Mar. 10, 1888 . 120
June 6, 1888 . 80
Sept. 29, 1888 . 116
Nov. 30, 1889 4 2 3
June 20, 1891 . 554
June 9, 1894 . 245
Mar. 4, 1896 . 127
July 10, 1896 . 123
1896
Feb. 17, 1897 . 229
Nov. 20, 1897 . 1 86
May 21, 1898 . 62
Sept. 17, 1898 ; 63
Dec. 31, 1898 . 102
Nov. 25, 1899 . 174
Nov. 3, 1900 . 127
April 20, 1901 . 150
CHAPTER VI
THE NATIONAL DEBT TO W. S. GILBERT"
MY first Instinct is to rejoice that Gilbert is an Englishman,
but at the mere thought of chronicling a grateful nation's
thanks the patriotic air is rent by snatches of that
refrain
He might have been a Roosian,
A French, or Turk, or Proosian,
Or perhaps Itali-an.
Consequently I am constrained to admit that he might well
have been of some other nationality, since Savoy Opera in
many other languages, and in almost every civilised country
except France, has proved as popular as in its native set
ting. As a merry-maker Gilbert is practically speaking a
cosmopolitan, and England may well be proud that he has
contributed in her name to the common fund of intellectual
laughter. Many a cosmopolitan has been able to make the
world think and sigh, but few have been born with the
great gift of making the world think and laugh, and to this
little handful of rare Universals the British Isles, the com
mercial, uncultured British Isles have contributed two of
the finest intellectual wits William Schwenck Gilbert and
George Bernard Shaw, both of whom have elected to write
for the stage. Is it not nearly time that we were recognised
in the theatrical world as something more than a nation of
shopkeepers who by accident once produced Shakespeare,
or is it always to be a case of give a flog a bad name ?
NATIONAL DEBT TO W. S. GILBERT 87
Not for one moment do I wish to claim that Gilbert is a
great artist, any more than I should seek to place Bernard
Shaw on that particular pedestal I speak, of course, in a wholly
unprophetic strain of the spontaneous, un-Archerised Shaw.
It is generally admitted, with or without reservation, that
art is a presentment " of life seen through temperament," and
temperament is the result of all the physical, psychological
and psychical influences which may affect a human being*
Gilbert's artistic temperament is certainly felt in some of
his poetry, but that temperament was subdued in his best
work by an intellect that was strong enough to gain the
mastery over other qualities and hold them in subjection.
A similar autocratic intellect has stood between Bernard
Shaw and Art up to the present time, but Gilbert is
Gilbert and Shaw is Shaw, praise be to intellect ; together
they are two of our greatest men whose names are
associated with the drama, and they have both played leading
parts in arousing intellectual laughter within the walls of
our theatres. The one makes us think to laugh and the
other makes us laugh to think, but not merely because we
find intellect and humour combined in the Savoy libretti and
Plays, Pleasant and Unpleasant, do I couple the names of
Gilbert and Shaw in claiming that the nation owes a debt
of gratitude to intellect for having foreshadowed that the
theatre is the medium par excellence for circulating and
stimulating ideas. They are strangely alike, these two
intellectual wits ; both are really serious men who have
created a theatrical public by forestalling and catering for
the much-maligned public taste, which is a very different
thing from pandering to public appetite; both have an
original appreciation of Shakespeare and both use strikingly
similar methods while indulging their sense of humour.
Gilbert parodied The Wicked World in The Happy Land>
Bernard Shaw parodied Candida in How He Lied to Her
Husband; certainly the motives for these sportive jokes
were different, but the spirit of the tun is the same. " I
88 W. S. GILBERT
am a disciple of Bernard Shaw," says Dubedat in The
Doctors Dilemma^ when his morals do not give satisfaction;
" I can hum a fugue of which IVe heard the music's din
afore, And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense,
Pinafore" exclaims the modern major-general whilst he is
relating his qualifications for the post. Again, to realise
that poor Punch's puppet-show had already suffered con
siderably from the onslaughts of the Savoy Superpunch
before contemporary dramatic history inspired J. M.
Same's one-act compliment to ideas in general and Shaw
in particular, is to be reminded that there are two brothers
Superpunch, both so overflowing with ideas that they are
very justly accused of making their characters talk Gilbert
and Shaw respectively; on artistic grounds this is, of
course, indefensible, but we should surely remember that
seeing we demand' ideas in our plays, the dramatist would
be somewhat too limited at present in his choice of
characters if he were bound to make them all speak
naturally! Gilbert has created and Shaw is creating
thinking folk, from amongst whom the dramatist of the
day after to-morrow will be able to make a good selection
of characters who will be intellectually interesting and at
the same time amusing if they are selected by an artist
who can trick us into feeling that his characters talk
naturally on the stage. Meanwhile, do we not owe a deep
debt of gratitude to the characters who now talk Gilbert
and Shaw respectively ? They are so suggestive, so stimu
lating, and, above all, we never feel that they have offered
up their sense of humour as a sacrifice to their intellect ;
consequently they never bore us as we are frequently bored'
by the worthily sensible and pathetically funny people we
meet in real life. As the two great exponents of the new
Drama of Ideas, Gilbert and Shaw may be accused of
creating unnatural characters, but their defence is a strong
one. Granted that Art alone can get to the heart of
Nature, yet Intellect can probe much deeper than that
THE O.P. CLUB
SAVOYARD CELEBRATION DINNER
Guest of the Evening, MR, W. S. GILBERT
The President, MR. SIDNEY DARK, in the Chair
Sunday, December 30, 1906, Hotel Cecil, Strand, W.C.
TOAST LIST AND PROGRAMME
Uoast TZbc frtng
THE PRESIDENT
Uoast Ube Savo
THE PRESIDENT Mr. W. S* GILBERT
SONG .... IC I can't think why" . . . Princess Ida
Mr, C. HERBERT WORKMAN
SONG . . " Kind Sir, you cannot have the heart " The Gondoliers
Miss LILIAN COOMBER
SONG . . . * ' Ida was a twelvemonth old ** . . Princess Ida
Mr. ROBERT EVETT
Mr. T. MCDONALD RENDLE Miss ROSINA BRANDRAM
Mr. GEORGE GROSSMITH
QUARTETTE . " Brightly dawns our Wedding Day " . The Mikado
Miss AGNES FRASER, Miss JESSIE ROSE,
Mr* SCOTT RUSSELL, and Mr. RICHARD TEMPLE
SONG . . . "A pair of sparkling eyes" . The Gondoliers
Mr. COURTICE POUNDS
SONG . "The Moon and I" . . . The Mikado
Miss ISABEL JAY
tToast Hbe Saves tovers
Mr. RUTLAND BARRINGTON Mr, CARL HENTSCHEL
SONG . "The Vicar's Song" . . . The Sorcerer
Mr. RUTLAND BARRINGTON
SONG . . "The Lord Chancellor's Dream" . . lolantte
Mr. WALTER PASSMORE
Accompanist - Mr, Sinclair Mantell
\
Reprinted from the General Programme of the Savoyard, Celebration
Dinner, by kind permission of Mr, Carl Hentsckel.
SAVOYARDS PRESENT AT THE DINNER
Mr. W. S. GILBERT
Miss LEONORA BRAHAM Mr.
Miss JESSIE BOND Mr.
Miss LILIAN COOMBER Mr.
Miss FORTESCUE Mr.
Miss AGNES FRASER Mr.
Miss JULIA GWYNNE Mr.
Miss SYBIL GREY Mr.
Miss HENRI Sir
Miss ISABEL JAY Mr.
Miss NANCY MC!NTOSH Mr.
Miss DECIMA MOORE Mr.
Miss LOUIE POUNDS Mr.
Miss JESSIE ROSE Mr.
Miss GERALDINE ULMAR Mr.
Miss RUTH VINCENT Mr.
Mr.
Mr. RUTLAND BARRINGTON Mr.
Mr. FRAN9OIS CELLIER Mr.
J. H. CLULOW
ROBERT EVETT
GEORGE GROSSMITH
RICHARD GREEN
JOHN LE HAY
DURWARD LELY
HENRY LYTTON
GEORGE POWER, Bart.
COURTICE POUNDS
WALTER PASSMORE
Powis FINDER
PACIE RIPPLE
SCOTT RUSSELL
W. R. SHIRLEY
RICHARD TEMPLE
FRANK THORNTON
FRANK WYATT
C. HERBERT WORKMAN
Reprinted ty kind permission of Mr. Carl HentscheL
NATIONAL DEBT TO W. S. GILBERT 91
Realism which Is concerned with the superficial rather than
with the essential. Having shown that in evolving the
new Drama of Ideas England and*Ireland have at least one
idea in common, I must pass on to record further items on
the credit side of Gilbert's account,
Gilbert has proved beyond all dispute that the theatre
can provide suitable entertainment for happy family parties
without being turned into a parish hall. Personally, I am
of those who maintain that it is impossible for Art to be
Immoral; but whilst I want to see every theatre free to
produce any play dealing with any subject, provided it
could pass a censdr whose sole duty it should be to
suppress ribald vulgarity, I should like to see some theatres
voluntarily and exclusively devoted to family-party enter
tainment, as was the Savoy in the Gilbert and Sullivan
days. As things are at present, the lover of the drama
is constantly being sacrificed for the sake of the young
person, whilst parents, who wax indignant on the subject
of " indecent and immoral plays," take their children indis
criminately and indiscreetly to see any licensed entertain
ment. I hope I have made it quite clear that I am no
Puritan when I say that we owe our thanks to Gilbert for
proving that the theatre can cater for the family without
having recourse to a milk-and-water diet.
Thankful, too, should we be that one oi the traditions
of the Savoy is a highly respectable reputation, because in
weaving that tradition Gilbert and Sullivan attracted many
people to their dramatic home who had never before set
foot in a theatre ; when they found that the Savoy was not
at all like what they had Imagined a theatre to be it is
difficult to imagine what people who never go to the
theatre do imagine they ventured to cross the threshold
of other playhouses, and the drama began to be discussed
In circles where previously the mere mention of the word
" stage " was a sin. Puritanism receives its first blow 'in
any house when the word " stage " is taken off the con-
9 2 W. S. GILBERT
versational index expurgcdorius^ and many is the blow
which Gilbert has thus struck at that deadly enemy of the
drama by the methods which have made Savoy Opera
popular with an intelligent public, and won for him a place
of honour amongst the intellectual stars of the stage.
At the age of seventy Gilbert, the doyen of our drama
tists is a modern, and a modern he will still remain when
the Savoy Operas are reproduced in the days to come as
nineteenth-century classics, for his delightful nonsense
always has that delicacy of touch which ensures everlasting
freshness. Moreover, he levels his intellectual sallies at
the fundamental principles of the social system and the
inherent weaknesses of human nature ; such primary
causes are so slowly changed that their effects vary almost
imperceptibly, and whilst generation after generation swarm
round the banner of Progress and choose either the im
plements of War or the peaceful weapons of Science and
Art to fight against these causes, generation after genera
tion armed with a sense of humour can appreciate the
absurdities of their effects. By the intelligently enter
taining, broad-minded and comprehensive way in which
Gilbert has drawn attention to vital absurdities he becomes
a public benefactor, for the man who can make the world
laugh whilst it thinks, holds Progress in the balance by
checking the ravages of serious fanaticism.
It is one of the privileges of a Nation to be able to
reward the public benefactors it produces, and the British
lover of the Drama, optimistically rejoicing over its Sir
Henry Irving and its Sir Charles Wyndham, is eagerly
awaiting the day when England will claim that privilege in
connection with a British dramatist. Meanwhile the
people's love can alone twine the laurel-wreath for the
British people's playwright, whilst a few playgoing enthu
siasts may be found amongst those who favour the scheme
for placing tablets on the homes of famous men. The
hoiise where Gilbert was born has been pulled down, so let
NATIONAL DEBT TO W. S, GILBERT 93
me bring to a conclusion my estimate of the national debt
to W. S. Gilbert by telling a story in the name of every
Savoy-Lover.
Soon after Sir Luke Fildes had been rewarded by a
grateful country for his services to Art, Gilbert met him at
a social gathering and congratulated him on his new
honours. In the course of conversation Sir Luke reminded
Gilbert that the Dairy Maid "Patience" had been
made up to exactly resemble the subject of his first
successful picture, Where are you going to, my pretty
maid? "Yes, I remember borrowing the idea for my
milkmaid's costume from your picture," replied Gilbert,
"but I have repaid that debt long ago by being the
responsible cause of your new title."
" Responsible for my new title, how do you make that
out ? " asked the puzzled Sir Luke.
"Oh, it's easily explained," answered Gilbert. "Didn't
I write in Utopia :
" Who knows but we may count among our intellectual chickens
Like you, an Earl of Thackeray and pVaps a Duke of Dickens
Lord Fildes and Viscount MiHais (when they come) we'll welcome
In short, this happy country has been Anglicised completely I"
Well, your prophecy is certainly a pattern of modified
accuracy," exclaimed Sir Luke, " I would like to be similarly
accurate in your case."
In Savoy Opera Gilbert will live amongst the Immortals,
but he will also be handed down to posterity in that
fascinating new history of Modern Britain which has yet
to be written. It will be the delightful task of some
historian in the future to hand down the times in which
we live as the Age of Ideas, and of all the interesting
upheavals that will have to be dealt with in connection
with this Age, none will exceed in interest the Dramatic
Revolution which is now in progress. Amongst the
94 W. S. GILBERT
authors, managers, critics and societies who will be revered
as pioneers of that Revolution, Gilbert will have a place of
honour as the Public Exploder who leads the dance of the
Flowers of Progress on the ruins of decadent perfection,
the while he lays a powder mine of intellectual merriment
under the foundation of multitudinous Utopias. In the
interests of everyone's Utopia someone's ideas must be
exploded, but since Universal Peace is fast becoming a
universal ideal, let us hope that the office of Public Exploder
will always be filled by someone who inherits Gilbert's
sense of humour, and his power of proving that laughter,
as a prime factor of the sporting instinct, is a far more
fearsome explosive than dynamite or evenTears.
Z
102738
