Chapter IX: Gilbert and Sullivan (3)

When it ascends once more on the same scene, the old housekeeper of the Tower, Dame Carruthers, chides the Yeomen on their failure both to keep and to re-capture Fairfax. Then Point and Shadbolt appear in very low spirits. For the Merry-man's dolefulness there is ample cause, and he himself laments how ridiculous it is that "a poor heart-broken man must needs be merry or he will be whipped." Shadbolt, envious of his companion's gifts, confesses to a secret yearning of his own to follow the jester's vocation, and the lugubrious fellow tells how deft and successful are his own delicate shafts of wit in the torture chamber and cells! Jack Point agrees, for a consideration, to teach Shadbolt "the rules that all family fools must observe if they love their profession." The consideration is that the jailor must declare that he shot Fairfax with an arquebus at night as he was attempting to swim over the Thames. The bargain is struck, and in a short time a shot is heard, and the jailor re-enters to declare that the escaped prisoner has been shot and drowned in the river. Fairfax himself has been lamenting that, although free from his fetters grim, he is still bound for good and ill to an unknown bride, a situation that leads up to the first of those delightful quartettes, "Strange Adventure." He meets Elsie, is attracted at once by her beauty, and learns the secret of her perplexity, though how can he proclaim his real self while he is still Leonard Meryll?

It is told us in a tuneful trio that "a man who would woo a fair maid should 'prentice himself to the trade and study all day in methodical way how to flatter, cajole and persuade." Certainly Fairfax knows these arts much better than Point. Before the jester's eyes he begins to fascinate the girl with sweet words and tender caresses, and the utter disillusionment of poor Jack Point, a victim of the fickleness of womankind and outwitted in love, is reflected in that haunting number, "When a wooer goes a wooing." Events now race towards their end--an end that to two at least has all the joyous warmth of romance, but to the one pathetic figure in his motley the blackness of despair. Leonard hastens in with the belated reprieve, and Elsie soon learns with happiness that the gallant Yeoman who has captured her heart is, in truth, her own strangely-wed husband, Fairfax. For her the hardship of the stroller's life has passed. So also has it for the broken Merry-man. Sadly he kneels by the girl who has forsaken his arms for another's, gently fondles and kisses the hem of her dress, bestows on her the sign of his blessing, and in the last tremor of grief falls at her feet--dead!

"THE GONDOLIERS." _Produced December 7th, 1889._

"The Gondoliers" tells of the strange and romantic fortunes of two sturdy Republicans who are called upon jointly to assume the responsibilities of Monarchy. They are Marco and Guiseppe Palmieri, who ordinarily follow the calling of Venetian gondoliers, and who hold staunchly to the doctrine that "all men are equal." Kingship does, indeed, seem rather less abhorrent to their ideas when they are summoned to fill that exalted office themselves, but at the same time they do concede that neither their courtiers nor their menials are their inferiors in any degree. Indeed, when they rise in the scale of social importance they see that their subjects rise too, and perhaps it is not surprising that in this quaint court of Barataria are functionaries basking in the splendour of such titles as the Lord High Coachman and the Lord High Cook. Even in the heart of the most democratic of mankind does the weakness for titles eternally linger!

It is in Venice, with a picturesque canal in the background, that the opera begins. The girls, their arms laden with roses white and roses red, are waiting for the most handsome and popular of all the gondolieri, who are coming to choose their brides from amongst this comely throng. So that, amidst such a bevy of loveliness, fate itself may select whom their partners shall be, the brothers decide to be blindfolded and to undertake to marry whichever two girls they catch. In this way Gianetta is claimed by Marco and Tessa by Guiseppe. And both were the very girls they wanted! Singing and dancing like the lightsome, joyous people they are, the couples hasten to the altar without more ado.

A Spanish grandee, the Duke of Plaza-Toro, now arrives by gondola with his Duchess and his daughter, Casilda. With them are their suite--the drummer-lad Luiz. The Duke is a celebrated, cultivated, underrated nobleman of impecunious estate, shabby in attire but unquestionably gentle in breeding. He laments that his entry into the town has not been as imposing as his station requires, but the halberdiers and the band are mercenary people, and their services were not available without pre-payment in cash. Luiz is sent to announce the arrival of the ducal party to the Grand Inquisitor. While he is absent the Duke and Duchess tell their daughter the reason of their visit to Venice. She was married when only six months old to the infant heir to the Baratarian Throne. For State reasons the secret could not be told her before, and it seems that when her husband's father, then the reigning King, became a Wesleyan Methodist and was killed in an insurrection, the baby bridegroom was stolen by the Inquisition.

Casilda takes no pleasure in this sudden accession to Queenship. She has nothing to wear, and besides that, the family is penniless. That fact does not disturb the Duke. He has anticipated the problem already. Seeing that his social prestige is enormous, he is having himself floated as a company, the Duke of Plaza-Toro, Limited. He does not regard the proceeding as undignified. This Duke never did follow the fashions. He has made it his business to lead them, and he recalls how "in enterprise of martial kind" when there was any fighting, he "led" his regiment from behind, because "he found it less exciting," Such was this unaffected, undetected, well-connected warrior, the Duke of Plaza-Toro.

Left alone, Luiz and Casilda show themselves to be secretly in love with each other, and they bemoan the miserable discovery that has ruined the sweet dreams of the future. The Duke and Duchess in the meanwhile have gone to pay their respects to the Grand Inquisitor. They return with this lugubrious personage, garbed all in black, and present to him the little lady who, as he says, is so unexpectedly called upon to assume the functions of Royalty. Unfortunately he cannot introduce her to her husband immediately. The King's identity is a little uncertain, though there is no probable, possible shadow of doubt that he is one of two men actually in the town and plying the modest but picturesque calling of the gondolier. It seems that, after the little prince was stolen, he was placed in the charge of a highly-respectable gondolier who had, nevertheless, an incurable weakness for drink, and who could never say which of the two children in his home was his own son and which was the prince. That matter can be solved by their nurse, Luiz's mother, who is being brought from the mountains and whose memory will be stimulated, if need be, by the persuasive methods of the Inquisition.

The gondoliers now return with their brides. Tessa tells in a beautiful number how, when a merry maiden marries, "every sound becomes a song, all is right and nothing's wrong." It was too sanguine a thought! The Grand Inquisitor, a gloomy figure amidst these festivities, finds the fact that Marco and Guiseppe have been married an extremely awkward one, and no less awkward their declaration that they are heart and soul Republicans. He does not tell them that one is married already--married to Casilda in infancy--but he does startle them by the news that one of them is a King. Sturdy Republicans as they are, they are loath to accept the idea of immediate abdication, and it is agreed that they shall leave for their country straightaway and, until the rightful heir is established, jointly hold the reins of government. The Grand Inquisitor for good reasons will not let their wives accompany them, but the separation may not be a long one, and the four speculate on the thrills of being a "right-down regular Royal Queen." With a fond farewell the gondoliers then set sail for their distant dominion.

When in the second act we see the Pavilion of the Court of Barataria--there in one corner is the double-seated throne--we see also the happy workings of a "monarchy that's tempered with Republican equality." Courtiers and private soldiers, officers of high rank and menials of every degree are enjoying themselves without any regard to social distinctions, and all are splendidly garbed. The Kings neither expect nor receive the deference due to their office, but they try to make themselves useful about the palace, whether by polishing their own crowns, running little errands for their Ministers, cleaning up in the kitchens, or deputising for sentries who go "in search of beer and beauty." It gives them, as Guiseppe sings, the gratifying feeling that their duty has been done, and in some measure it compensates for their two solitary grievances. One of these is that their subjects, while maintaining the legal fiction that they are one person, will not recognise that they have independent appetites. The other is--the absence of their wives. Marco is moved to describe the great specific for man's human happiness:--

"Take a pair of sparkling eyes,
Hidden ever and anon,
In a merciful eclipse.
Do not heed their mild surprise,
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!"

No sooner has he finished than the contadine enter, having braved the seas at the risks of their lives, for existence without their menfolk was dull and their womanly sense of curiosity strong. The re-union is celebrated by a boisterous dance (the cachucha). It is interrupted by the arrival of another unexpected visitor--the Grand Inquisitor.

The Grand Inquisitor, left alone with his _proteges_, first of all expresses his doubts whether the abolition of social distinctions is a workable theory. It had been tried before, and particularly by a jovial old King who, in moments of tipsy benevolence, promoted so many favourites to the top of the tree that "Lord Chancellors were cheap as sprats, and Bishops in their shovel hats were plentiful as tabby cats--in point of fact, too many." The plain conclusion was that "when everyone is somebodee, then no one's anybody." Then he tells them of the marriage of one of them in infancy. It is certainly an awkward predicament. Two men are the husbands of three wives! Marco, Guiseppe, Tessa and Gianetta try to solve the complicated plot.

Soon afterwards the ducal party arrive attired in the utmost magnificence. The Plaza-Toro issue has been most successful, and the Duke proceeds to describe how his money-making devices include those of securing small titles and orders for Mayors and Recorders, and the Duchess's those of chaperoning dubious ladies into high-class society. The Duke ceremoniously receives the two gondoliers, but he has to take exception to the fact that his arrival has been marked by no royal salutes, no guard of honour, and no triumphal arches. They explain that their off-handed people would not tolerate the expense. His Grace thereupon advises them to impress their court with their importance, and to the strains of a delightful gavotte he gives the awkward fellows a lesson in the arts of deportment.

Luckily, the tangled plot is swiftly and very happily solved on the appearance of the old foster mother, who declares that the missing Prince is none other than Luiz. He promptly ascends the throne and claims the hand of Casilda, while Marco and Guiseppe, their days of regal splendour completed, are glad enough to return with their wives to beautiful Venice, there to become "once more gondolieri, both skilful and wary."

"UTOPIA, LIMITED." _Produced October 7th, 1893._

"Utopia Limited" is the story--and a very diverting story it is--of a remote country that is desperately anxious to bring itself "up-to-date." Utopia is somewhere in the Southern Pacific, and its inhabitants used to idle in easy, tropical langour amidst their picturesque palm groves. Idlers they were, that is to say, until they first heard of the wonders of England, for then it was that they determined that their land must be swiftly and completely Anglicised. The reformation was undertaken with the utmost zest. King Paramount's eldest daughter, the beautiful Princess Zara, has spent five years in England and taken a high degree as a "Girton Girl." She is due home once more at the time that the story of the opera begins, but already her people have heard of the wise and powerful country overseas, and already they have done much to re-model upon it their own manners, customs and forms of government.

Existence could never have been altogether dull in Utopia. It is ruled by a monarch, a despot only in theory, for the constitution is really that of a dynasty tempered by dynamite. This may seem a hard saying. The explanation of it is that the King, so far from being an autocrat, is watched over day and night by two Wise Men, and on his first lapse from political or social propriety he is to be denounced to the Public Exploder. It would then be this Court official's duty to blow him up--he always has about him a few squibs and crackers--and doubtless he would discharge this function with greater alacrity because he is himself Heir-apparent. Clearly the King's lot is not a happy one, and no less so because the Wise Men insist that all sorts of Royal scandals and indiscretions shall be written by himself, anonymously, for the spicy columns of the "Palace Peeper." Generally his Majesty's agents contrive to buy each edition up, but isolated copies do occasionally get into unfriendly hands, and one of these contained his stinging little paragraph about his "goings-on" with the Royal Second Housemaid.

The King has two younger daughters, the Princesses Nekaya and Kalyba, who are being "finished" by a grave English governess, the Lady Sophy. Exceedingly modest and demure, with their hands folded and their eyes cast down, they are to be exhibited in the market place as patterns of what "from the English standpoint is looked upon as maidenly perfection." In particular they are to reveal the arts of courtship, showing how it is proper for the young lady to be coy and interestedly agitated in turn, and how she must always rehearse her emotions at home before the looking-glass. In the meanwhile the King, very deferential in manner, has an interview with his two Wise Men, Scaphio and Phantis. Notwithstanding that he seems a little hurt about the outrageous attacks on his morality which he has to write and publish at their command, he at least sees the irresistible humour of the strange situation, and he proceeds to sing a capital song about what a farce life is, alike when one's born, when one becomes married, and when one reaches the disillusioned years.

Zara now arrives from her long journey. She is escorted by Captain Fitzbattleaxe, together with four troopers of the 1st Life Guards, whose resplendent bearing immediately impress the maids of Utopia. She brings with her, moreover, six representatives of the principal causes which, she says, have tended to make England the powerful, happy and blameless country it is, and their gifts of reorganisation are to work a miracle in her father's realm. The King and his subjects are then and there introduced to these six "Flowers of Progress." One of them, Captain Fitzbattleaxe himself, is to re-model the Utopian Army. Sir Bailey Barre, Q.C., M.P., is a logician who, according to his brief, can demonstrate that black is white or that two and two make five, just as do the clever people of England. Then there is Lord Dramaleigh, a Lord High Chamberlain, who the Princess says is to "cleanse our court from moral stain and purify our stage." A County Councillor, Mr. Blushington, has come with a mind packed with civic improvement schemes, and the wicked music-halls he also intends to purify. Mr. Goldbury is a company promoter. He floats anything from stupendous loans to foreign thrones to schemes for making peppermint-drops. Last of all comes Captain Sir Edward Corcoran, R.N., to show King Paramount how to run an invincible Navy.

Joyously do the inhabitants hail these "types of England's power, ye heaven-enlightened band." The King is impressed most of all with the idea of a "company limited." Goldbury explains just what this means, and how one can start the biggest and rashest venture on a capital, say, of eighteen-pence, and yet be safe from liability. "If you succeed," he declares, "your profits are stupendous," whereas "if you fail pop goes your eighteen-pence." It strikes the King as rather dishonest, but if it is good enough for England, the first commercial country in the world, it is good enough for Utopia. What is more, he decides to go down to posterity as the first Sovereign in Christendom who registered his Crown and State under the Joint Stock Company's Act, 1862. It is with this brilliant scheme that the first act comes to a close.

The second act is set in the Throne Room of the Palace. Fitzbattleaxe is with the Princess Zara, and he is lamenting how a tenor in love, as he is with her, cannot in his singing do himself justice. The two then discuss the remarkable changes that have come about since the country determined to be Anglicised. The King, when he enters soon afterwards, wears the dress of a British Field Marshal. He is to preside, according to the articles of association, over the first statutory Cabinet Council of Utopia (Limited). For this gathering the "Flowers of Progress" also arrive, and after they have ranged their chairs round in Christy Minstrel fashion, the proceedings open with a rollicking song by the King. This is the chorus:--

"It really is surprising
What a thorough Anglicising,
We have brought about--Utopia's quite another land
In her enterprising movements
She is England--with improvements
Which we dutifully offer to our motherland!"

Following the meeting comes the courtly ceremonial of the Drawing Room. All the ladies are presented in due form to his Majesty. Then, after a beautiful unaccompanied chorus, the stage empties.

Scaphio and Phantis, dressed as judges in red and ermine robes, now enter to storm and rage over the new order of things. All their influence has gone. The sundry schemes they had for making provision for their old age are broken and bankrupt. Even the "Palace Peeper" is in a bad way, and as to the clothes they have imported to satisfy the cravings for the English fashions, their customers plead liability limited to a declared capital of eighteen-pence. The King, whom they used to bully to their hearts' content, is no longer a human being, but a corporation. Once he doffed his Crown respectfully before speaking to them, but now he dances about in lighthearted capers, telling them that all they can do is to put their grievances in writing before the Board of Utopia (Limited). The two call into their counsels the Public Exploder. Between them they work out a plot. By a revolution the Act of 1862 must be at all costs repealed.

Shortly after the trio have departed to scheme out the details, there is a delightful scene between Lord Dramaleigh and Mr. Goldbury, and the two coy Princesses, Nekaya and Kalyba. The "shrinking sensitiveness" of these young ladies is held by themselves to be most thoroughly English. So far from that, the men have to tell them, the girls in the country they come from are blithe, frank and healthy creatures who love the freshness of the open air and the strenuous exertions of sport, and who are "in every pure enjoyment wealthy." (Gilbert, by the way, wrote this opera in the early 'nineties.) Loyally does Goldbury chant their eulogy:--

"Go search the world and search the sea.
Then come you home and sing with me,
There's no such gold and no such pearl
As a bright and beautiful English girl."

Nekaya and Kalyba are quickly converted to the idea that to be her natural self is woman's most winsome quality. Then follows an interlude between the Lady Sophy, whose primness is merely a cloak for ambition, and the King. Compromising paragraphs in the society paper having been explained away, the two declare their mutual love, and soon they are caught by other couples in the act of dancing and kissing. No excuses are attempted and all engage in a wild festive dance.

Enter, now, the revolutionary band under the command of Scaphio, Phantis and the Public Exploder. They relate how the prosperity of Utopia has been brought to naught by the "Flowers of Progress." Suddenly the Princess Zara remembers that, in her great scheme of reform, the most essential element of all has been forgotten, and that was--party government! Introduce that bulwark and foundation of Britain's greatness and all will be well! Legislation will thus be brought to a standstill, and then there will be "sickness in plenty, endless lawsuits, crowded jails, interminable confusion in the Army and Navy, and, in short, general and unexampled prosperity." The King decrees that party government and all its blessings shall be adopted, and the opera ends with a song of homage to a brave distant isle which Utopia is henceforward to imitate in her virtues, her charities and "her Parliamentary peculiarities."

"Great Britain is that monarchy sublime
To which some add (but others do not) Ireland."

A SAVOYARD BIBLIOGRAPHY.

The literature about Savoy Opera forms a regular library. A great deal of it has been contributed to newspapers and magazines. For the latter the reader should consult Poole's "Index to Periodical Literature" and its successor, "The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature." The following list contains the chief books about the Savoyards.

GILBERT.

W. S. GILBERT: By Edith A. Browne. Stars of the Stage Series. London: John Lane, 1907.

8vo: pp. xii+96+15 plates, one of them showing Gilbert in a kilt
as a (3rd) Gordon Highlander (1868-78): gives a list of
Gilbert's plays. The operas are dealt with by themselves (pp.
55-84). There is a photograph of H. A. Lytton in "Patience"
(facing p. 58).

SIR WILLIAM S. GILBERT: A study in modern satire: a handbook on Gilbert and the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. By Isaac Goldberg, M.A., Ph.D. (Harvard.) Boston: Stratford Publishing Co., 1913.

8vo. pp. 156. The operas are discussed pp. 83-146. "The
character of Pooh-Bah is perhaps the greatest single creation of
Gilbert's."

RECOLLECTIONS OF GILBERT. By G. W. Smalley. _McClure's Magazine_ (January 1903), xx, 302-304.

REAL CONVERSATION WITH GILBERT. By William Archer. _Critic_, New York (September 1901), xxxix, 240-240.

Mr. Archer's article on Gilbert as a dramatist in the _St.
James's Magazine_, London, in 1881 (xlix, 287), was one of the
first critical appreciations of Gilbert on a big scale.

GILBERT'S HUMOUR. By Max Beerbohm. _Saturday Review_, xcvii, 619; xcix, 696.

THE GENIUS OF GILBERT. _Blackwood's Magazine_ (July 1911), cxcix, 121-128.

THE ENGLISH ARISTOPHANES. By Walter Sichel. _Fortnightly Review_ (October 1911), xciv, 681-704.

THE LIBRETTOS OF W. S. GILBERT. By G. H. Powell. _Temple Bar_, cxxv, 36.

MR. GILBERT AS A LIBRETTIST. By J. M. Bulloch. _Evening Gazette_, Aberdeen (June 16, 17, 1890).

This was originally an address delivered to the Aberdeen
University Literary Society, November 16, 1888. J. M. Bulloch
also dealt with "The Pretty Wit of Mr. Gilbert" in the _Sketch_,
June 12, 1898; "Mr. Gilbert's Majority as a Savoyard," in the
_Sketch_, Sept. 9, 1898; and "The work of W. S. Gilbert,"
illustrated in the _Bookbuyer_, New York, January, 1899.

GILBERT'S PROFITS FROM LIBRETTO. By G. Middleton. _Bookman_, New York (October, 1908), xxviii, 116-123.

SIR W. S. GILBERT. Leading article and biography in _The Times_, May 30, 1911, pp. 11-12.

PORTRAITS. Ten reproductions are inventoried in the _A.L.A. Portrait Index_ (Washington, 1908: p. 378) including those by Rudolf Lehman and "Spy" in _Vanity Fair_ (1881: xiii., plate 13.).

SULLIVAN.

SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN, HIS LIFE AND MUSIC. By B. W. Findon, London: James Nisbet and Company, 1904.

8vo. pp. viii+214+[2]: portrait of Sullivan. Dedicated to Mr.
Findon's aunt, Mary Clementina Sullivan, 1811-82, mother of Sir
Arthur. List of Sullivan's works (pp. 204-214): section
specially devoted to the Savoy Opera (pp. 94-126). This book was
reprinted by Sisley's, Ltd. [1908] as "Sir Arthur Sullivan and
his Operas."

SULLIVAN. By Sir George Grove. _Dictionary of Music_ (1908), iv, 743-747.

SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN: Life story, letters, and reminiscences. By Arthur Lawrence; with critique by B. W. Findon; and bibliography by W. Bendall London: James Bowden, 1899.

8vo. pp. xvi.+360+11 plates+[8]. There are 19 illustrations,
showing Sullivan at the ages of 12, 15, 25, 44, 52 and 57, with
eight facsimiles of letters or scores. M. Findon's critique
occupies pp. 288-326 and the bibliography, pp. 327-360.

SOUVENIR OF SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN, Mus. Doc, M.V.O.; a brief sketch of his life. By Walter J. Wells. London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1901.

8vo. pp. viii. + 106 with 49 illustrations. Contains "Sullivan
and Gilbert" (pp. 15-31): "D'Oyly Carte" (pp. 32-46): "American
Success" (pp. 47-54.) List of his works (pp. 98-104).

ARTHUR SULLIVAN. By H. Saxe Wyndham. London: George Bell and Sons, 1903.

8vo. pp. x+80, with eight illustrations. Dedicated "to my wife
through whose skill as a musician the never ending delights of
Sullivan's music were first unfolded to me." One of Bell's
Miniature Series of Musicians.

PORTRAITS. Twenty-one reproductions are inventoried in the _A.L.A. Portrait Index_ (Washington, 1908: p. 1405) including those by Millais and by "Ape" in _Vanity Fair_ (1874: vi, plate 81).

CARTE.

The starting of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas: a letter written by R. D'Oyly Carte in 1877 to "My Lord" (unnamed), apropos of a proposal to form a small company to produce the operas. Printed in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, May 1, 1907.

The petition by the Savoy Theatre and Operas, Ltd., and Reduced, for the approval of the Court to the reduction of the capital from L75,000 to L41,250 was heard before Mr. Justice Walton, August 26, 1903 (_Times_, August 27). This led to a very interesting letter from Gilbert in the _Times_ (Aug. 28) and one in the _Telegraph_ by Mrs. Carte (Aug. 29).

PORTRAITS. Four reproductions are inventoried in the _A.L.A. Portrait Index_ (Washington, 1908: p. 259), including that by "Spy" in _Vanity Fair_ (1891: xxiii, plate 498).

THE SAVOY OPERAS.

GILBERT, SULLIVAN, AND D'OYLY CARTE: Reminiscences of the Savoy and the Savoyards. By Francois Cellier and Cunningham Bridgeman. London: Isaac Pitman and Sons, 1914.

8vo. pp. xxiv+443: with 63 portraits and other illustrations and
six facsimile letters; and a complete set of casts at the Savoy
(pp. 425-435). The collaboration between Mr. Cellier and Mr.
Bridgeman (pp. 3-163) was ended by the former's death, January
5, 1914. The rest of the book (pp. 164-422) was done by Mr.
Bridgeman.

THE SAVOY OPERA AND THE SAVOYARDS. By Percy Fitzgerald, M.A., F.S.A.; with six illustrations. London: Chatto and Windus, 1894.

8vo. pp. xvi, 248. Most of the illustrations are pen and ink
drawings.

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OPERA: a history and a comment. By H. M. Walbrook: with a foreword by Sir Henry Wood. London: F. V. White and Co., Ltd., 1920.

8vo. pp. 155+[3]+4 plates, including two drawings by H. M.
Bateman and a reproduction of the Sullivan Memorial in the
Victoria Embankment Gardens; with 42 pen and ink sketches in the
text: Short bibliography (p. 155).

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN JOTTINGS. By Shelford Walsh [Harrogate?] coach to the principal operatic societies in the United Kingdom [1903].

16 mo.: pp. 24+cover. Contains little stories about the operas.
Price 4d.

SAVOYARDS ON TOUR: a description of the various companies on the road. _Sketch_, June 13, 1894.

SAVOYARD DINNER, given by the O.P. Club in the Hotel Cecil, December 30, 1906.

Gilbert's historical speech on this occasion was printed
verbatim in the _Daily Telegraph_, December 31, 1906.

BARRINGTON.

RUTLAND BARRINGTON: a record of thirty-five years' experience on the English stage. By Himself; with a preface by Sir William S. Gilbert, London: Grant Richards, 1908.

8vo. pp. 270+31 illustrations and coloured portrait on the
cover. Printed at Plymouth. Dedicated to "My good friend, Mrs.
D'Oyly Carte." The Savoy is dealt with pp. 25-86.

MORE RUTLAND BARRINGTON. By Himself. London: Grant Richards, 1911.

8vo. pp. 233+[1]+15 illustrations, including one of H. A. Lytton
as the Pirate King. Printed in Edinburgh.

GROSSMITH.

A SOCIETY CLOWN: reminiscences. By George Grossmith. Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, 1888.

8vo. pp. iv+182. Forming vol. 31 of Arrowsmith's Bristol
Library. Chapter on Gilbert and Sullivan pp. 91-125. In "Piano
and I" (1910), he describes (pp. 11-18) why he left the Savoy.
See also "The Diary of Nobody" (1892).

LYTTON.

MEMORIES OF A MERRYMAN. By H. A. Lytton. _Graphic_, Nov. 19, 26; Dec. 3, 10, 17, 1921.

This consists of some extracts from the present volume.

LONDON PRODUCTIONS OF THE SAVOY OPERAS.

Opera. Theatre. Produced. Withdrawn. Per.

Trial by Jury Royalty Mar. 25, 1875 Dec. 18, 1875 --

The Sorcerer Opera Nov. 17, 1877 May 22, 1878 175
Comique
" Savoy Oct. 11, 1884 Mar. 12, 1885 150
" " Sep. 22, 1898 Dec. 31, 1898 102

H.M.S. Opera

Pinafore Comique May 25, 1878 Feb. 20, 1880}
" " Dec. 16, 1879 Mar. 20, 1880} 700
" Savoy Nov. 12, 1887 Mar. 10, 1888 120
" " June 6, 1889 Nov. 25, 1889 174
" " July 14, 1908 Repertory 61
Season
The Pirates Opera Apl. 3, 1880 Apl. 2, 1881 363
of Penzance Comique
" Savoy Mar. 17, 1888 June 6, 1888 80
" " June 30, 1900 Nov. 3, 1900 127
" " Dec. 1, 1909 Repertory 43
Season
Patience Opera Apl. 23, 1881 Oct. 8, 1881 170
Comique
" Savoy Oct. 10, 1881 Nov. 22, 1882 448
" " Nov. 7, 1900 Apl. 20, 1901 150
" " Apl. 4, 1907 Repertory 51
Season
Iolanthe Savoy Nov. 25, 1882 Jan. 1, 1884 398
" " Dec. 7, 1901 Mar. 29, 1902 113
" " June 11, 1907 Repertory 42
Season
" " Oct. 19, 1908 " 38

Princess Ida Savoy Jan. 5, 1884 Oct. 9, 1884 246

The Mikado " Mar. 14, 1885 Jan. 19. 1887 672
" " Jan. 7, 1888 Sept. 29, 1888 116
" " Nov. 6, 1895 Mar. 4, 1896 127
" " July 11, 1896 Feb. 17, 1897 226
" " Apl. 28, 1908 Repertory 142
Season
Ruddigore Savoy Jan. 22, 1887 Nov. 5, 1887 288

The Yeoman
of the
Guard Savoy Oct. 3, 1888 Nov. 30, 1889 423
" " May 5, 1897 Nov. 20, 1897 186
" " Dec. 8, 1906 Repertory 90
Season
" " Mar. 1, 1909 " 28

The Savoy Dec. 7, 1889 June 20, 1891 554
Gondoliers
" " Mar. 22, 1898 May 21, 1898 62
" " July 18, 1898 Sep. 17, 1898 63
" " Jan. 22, 1907 Repertory 76
Season
" " Jan. 18, 1909 " 22

PRINTED AT
RIVERSIDE PRINTING WORKS
32-36, FLEET LANE,
LONDON, E.C.4

Transcriber's Notes

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

Hyphen removed: "bull[-]dog(s)" (p. 35), "high-water[-]mark" (p. 111), "school[-]boy" (p. 63), "yester[-]year" (p. 139).

Hyphen added: "Mount[-]Ararat" (p. 156).

The following words appear both with and without hyphens and have not been changed: "light[-]hearted", "Merry[-]man", "Mount-Ararat" / "Mountararat", "re[-]appear(s)".

P. 15: "waistcoast" changed to "waistcoat" (my striped waistcoat and green apron).

P. 45: "caste" changed to "cast" (When George Grossmith returned to the cast).

P. 53: "minature" changed to "miniature" (experiments on a miniature stage).

P. 73: "once" changed to "one" (and in one case actually before).

P. 73, 108: "occured" changed to "occurred" (there occurred an incident, thought had occurred to me).

P. 82: "Guiseppi" changed to "Guiseppe".

P. 97 "arn't" changed to "aren't" (I'm an ugly blighter, aren't I?).

P. 110: "CHAPTER" removed from title for consistency.

P. 123: "disfigurnig" changed to "disfiguring" (hit the mark without disfiguring it).

P. 125: "playright" changed to "playwright" (master mind as a playwright).

P. 142: "confesess" changed to "confesses" (She confesses that).

P. 149: "affection" changed to "affectation" (my mediaevalism's affectation).

P. 151: "Janes" changed to "Jane" (Lady Jane assures him).

P. 170: "hers" changed to "her" (his intentions towards her are honourable).

P. 174: "to to" changed to "to" (go to fetch the prisoner).

P. 179: "Plazo-Toro" changed to "Plaza-Toro".

P. 180: "propropriety" changed to "propriety" (political or social propriety).

P. 189: "Sullvian" changed to "Sullivan".

P. 190: "Nov. 17, 1877" restored from the context.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Secrets of a Savoyard, by Henry A. Lytton