Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Gilbert, William Schwenck
GILBERT, Sir WILLIAM SCHWENCK (1836–1911), dramatist, born at 17 Southampton Street, Strand, the house of his mother's father, Dr. Thomas Morris, on 18 Nov. 1836, was only son in a family of four children of William Gilbert (1804–1890) [q. v. Suppl. I] by his wife Atino Morris. His second christian name was the surname of his godmother. As an infant he travelled in Germany and Italy with his parents. When two years old he was stolen by brigands at Naples and ransomed for 25l. In later days when visiting Naples he recognised in the Via Posilippo the scene of the occurrence. His pet name as a child was 'Bab,' which he afterwards used as a pseudonym. He is said to have been a child of great beauty, and Sir David Wilkie [q. v.] was so attracted by his face that he asked leave to paint his picture. At the age of seven he went to school at Boulogne. From ten to thirteen he was at the Western Grammar School, Brompton, and from thirteen to sixteen at the Great Ealing School, where he rose to be head boy. He spent much time in drawing, and wrote plays for performance by his schoolfellows, painting his own scenery and acting himself.
In Oct. 1855 he entered the department of general literature and science at King's College, London (King's Coll. Calendar, 1855-6, p. 89). Alfred Ainger [q. v. Suppl. II] and Walter Besant [q. v. Suppl. II] were fellow students. Some of his earliest literary efforts were verses contributed to the college magazine. He remained a student during 1856-7, intending to go to Oxford, but in 1855, when he was nineteen years old, the Crimean war was at its height, and commissions in the Royal Artillery were thrown open to competitive examination. Giving up all idea of Oxford, he read for the army examination announced for Christmas 1856 ('An Autobiography' in The Theatre, 2 April 1883, p. 217). But the war came to an abrupt end, and no more officers being required, the examination was indefinitely postponed. Gilbert then graduated B.A. at the London University in 1857, and obtained a commission in the militia in the 3rd battalion Gordon highlanders.
In 1857 he was a successful competitor in an examination for a clerkship in the education department of the privy council office, in which 'ill-organised and ill-governed office' he tells us he spent four uncomfortable years. Coming unexpectedly in 1861 into 300l., 'on the happiest day of my life I sent in my resignation.' He had already, on 11 October 1855, entered the Inner Temple as a student (Foster's Men at the Bar). With 100l. of his capital he paid for his call to the bar, which took place on 17 Nov. 1863 (cf. 'My Maiden Brief,' Cornhill, Dec. 1863). With another 100l. he obtained access to the chambers of (Sir) Charles James Watkin Williams [q. v.], then a well-known barrister in the home circuit, and with the third 100l. he furnished a set of rooms of his own in Clement's Inn, but he does not appear to have had any professional chambers or address in the 'Law List.' He joined the northern circuit on 15 March 1866, one of his sponsors being (Sir) John Holker [q. v.] (MS. Circuit Records). He attended the Westminster courts, the Old Bailey, the Manchester and Liverpool assizes, the Liverpool sessions and Passage Court, but 'only earned 75l. in two years.'
During the same period he was earning a 'decent income' by contributions to current literature. He appeared for the first time in print in 1858, when he prepared a translation of the laughing-song from Auber's 'Manon Lescaut' for the playbill of Alfred Mellon's promenade concerts; Mdlle. Parepa, afterwards Madame Parepa-Rosa [q. v.], whom he had known from babyhood, had made a singular success there with the song in its original French. In 1861 Gilbert commenced both as author and artist, contributing an article, three-quarters of a column long with a half-page drawing on wood, for 'Fun,' then under the editorship of Henry James Byron [q. v.]. A day or two later he was requested 'to contribute a column of "copy" and a half-page drawing every week' (Theatre, 1883, p. 218). He remained a regular contributor to 'Fun' during the editorship of Byron and that of Byron's successor, Tom Hood the younger [q. v.] (from 1865).
There is no evidence that he studied drawing in any school, but he was an illustrator of talent. In 1865 he made 84 illustrations for his father's novel, 'The Magic Mirror,' and in 1869 he illustrated another of his father's books, 'King George's Middy.' His illustrations of his own 'Bab Ballads' have much direct and quaint humour. In 1874 'The Piccadilly Annual' was described as 'profusely illustrated by W. S. Gilbert and other artists.' One of the 'other artists' was John Leech.
Having already both written and drawn occasionally for 'Punch,' Gilbert offered that periodical in 1866 his ballad called 'The Yarn of the Nancy Bell,' but it was refused by the editor, Mark Lemon [q. v.], on the ground that it was 'too cannibalistic for his readers' tastes' (Fifty Bab Ballads, pref., 1884). Gilbert's connection with 'Punch' thereupon ceased. 'The Nancy Bell' appeared, without illustrations, in 'Fun' on 3 March 1866. Gilbert's other work in 'Fun' may be traced by single figure drawings signed 'Bab.' A series of dramatic notices commencing 15 Sept. 1866 and 'Men we Meet, by the Comic Physiognomist' (2 Feb. to 18 May 1867) are thus illustrated. The first illustrated ballad was 'General John' (1 June 1867). From this date they became a regular feature of the paper. But not until 23 Jan. 1869, in connection with 'The Two Ogres,' was the title 'The Bab Ballads' used. They were first collected in volume form in the same year. Further 'Bab Ballads ' continued to appear in 'Fun,' at varying intervals until 1871. A collected volume of 'More Bab Ballads' followed in 1873. The Bab Ballads established Gilbert's reputation as a whimsical humorist in verse.
At the same time Gilbert contributed articles or stories to the magazines — the 'Cornhill' (1863-4), 'London Society,' 'Tinsley's Magazine,' and 'Temple Bar'; he furnished the London correspondence to the 'Invalide Russe,' and, becoming dramatic critic to Vizetelly's 'Illustrated Times,' interested himself in the stage. In spite of these activities Gilbert found time to continue his military duties, and became captain of his militia regiment in 1867. He retired with the rank of major in 1883.
At the end of 1866 Gilbert commenced work as a playwright. To Thomas William Robertson [q. v.], the dramatist, he owed the needful introduction. Miss Herbert, the lessee of St. James's Theatre, wanted a Christmas piece in a fortnight, and Robertson recommended Gilbert for the work, which was written in ten days, rehearsed in a week, and produced at Christmas 1866. The piece was a burlesque on 'L'Elixir d'Amore,' called 'Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack.' Frank Matthews made a success in the title role, and it ran for several months and was twice revived. No terms had been arranged, and when Mr. Emden, the manager, paid Gilbert the 30l. that he asked, Emden advised him never again to sell so good a piece for so small a sum. Thenceforward Gilbert was a successful playwright, at first in the lighter branches of the drama. Another burlesque on 'La Figlia del Reggunento,' called 'La Vivandidre, or True to the Corps,' was produced at the Queen's Theatre on 22 Jan. 1868, and in it John Lawrence Toole [q. v. Suppl. II] and Lionel Brough [q. v. Suppl. II] played. It ran for 120 nights. A third burlesque, on the 'Bohemian Girl,' entitled 'The Merry Zingara, or the Tipsy Gipsy and the Popsy Wopsy,' was produced at the Royal Theatre on 21 March 1868 by Miss Patty Oliver. On 21 Dec. 1868 the new Gaiety Theatre was opened by John Hollingshead [q. v. Suppl. II] with a new operatic extravaganza by Gilbert called 'Robert the Devil,' in which Nellie Farren [q.v. Suppl. II] played the leading part. Next year, at the opening of the Charing Cross (afterwards Toole's) Theatre, on 19 June 1869, the performance concluded with a musical extravaganza by Gilbert, 'The Pretty Druidess, or the Mother, the Maid, and the Mistletoe Bough, a travestie of Norma.' Gilbert was much attached to second titles. Between 1869 and 1872 he also wrote many dramatic sketches, usually with music, for the German Reeds' 'entertainment' at the Gallery of Illustration, 14 Regent Street. His musical collaborator was Frederick Clay [q. v. Suppl. I]. On 22 Nov. 1869 they produced together 'Ages Ago,' which was afterwards expanded into the opera 'Ruddigore'; on 30 Jan. 1871 'A Sensation Novel'; and on 28 Oct. 1872 'Happy Arcadia.' Arthur Cecil, Corney Grain, and Fanny Holland were the chief performers. It was under the auspices of the German Reeds that Gilbert and (Sir) Arthur Sullivan [q. v. Suppl. I] first made each other's acquaintance. Sullivan was one of the composers of music for German Reed plays, and at the Gallery of Illustration in 1871 Clay introduced Sullivan to Gilbert (Lawrence's Life of Sullivan, p. 84, and E. A. Browne's Gilbert, p. 35). They soon were at work together on a burlesque, 'Thespis, or the Gods Grown Old,' which was produced at the Gaiety Theatre on 26 Dec. 1871 (John Hollingshead's Gaiety Chronicles, 202-7). They often met at Tom Taylor's, and engaged together in amateur theatricals (Ellen Terry's Story of My Life, 1908), but for the present no further dramatic collaboration followed.
Meanwhile Gilbert was assiduously seeking fame in more serious branches of the drama. On 8 Jan. 1870 'The Princess,' a respectful parody on Tennyson's poem, was produced at the Olympic with great success. This was afterwards the basis of the opera 'Princess Ida.' John Baldvui Buckstone [q. v.] now commissioned Gilbert to write a blank verse fairy comedy on Madame de Genlis's story of 'Le Palais de la Vérité.' This was produced on 19 Nov. 1870 at the Haymarket under the title of 'The Palace of Truth,' with Buckstone, Madge Robertson (Mrs. Kendal), and W. H. Kendal in the cast. It ran for 230 nights. 'Pygmalion and Galatea,' a rather artificial classical romance, was produced also at the Haymarket on 9 Dec. 1871. It proved a remarkable success. The play was revived at the Lyceum with Miss Mary Anderson in 1884 and later in 1888, at the same theatre, with Miss Julia Neilson in the part. Gilbert is said to have made 40,000l. out of this play alone (Daily Telegraph, 30 May 1911). 'The Wicked World,' a fairy comedy, followed at the Haymarket on 4 Jan. 1873 and was not quite so successful as its forerunners. In the meantime Gilbert wrote an extended series of comedies for Miss Marie Litton's management of the new Court Theatre in Sloane Square, London. This playhouse was opened by Miss Litton with Gilbert's 'Randall's Thumb' on 25 Jan. 1871; there followed during Miss Litton's tenancy 'Creatures of Impulse' (15 April 1871); ' Great Expectations' (28 May), an adaptation of Dickens's novel; 'On Guard' (28 Oct.); and 'The Wedding March' (under the pseudonym of F. Latour Tomline) (15 Nov. 1873). One of Gilbert's plays written for the Court Theatre, ' The Happy Land,' which Miss Litton produced on 17 March 1873, caused much public excitement. It was a burlesque version of Gilbert's 'Wicked World,' designed by himself, but mainly worked out by Gilbert Arthur a Beckett [q. v. Suppl. I]. Gilbert received 700Z. for his share of the Hbretto ( W. S. Gilbert, by Kate Field, Scribner's Monthly, xviii. (1879), 754). His name did not appear on the bill, where the piece was assigned to F. L. Tomline (i.e. Gilbert) and a Beckett. 'The Happy Land' was received with enthusiasm. But three of the actors, Walter Fisher, W. J. Hill, and Edward Righton (manager of the theatre), were made up to resemble respectively Gladstone, Robert Lowe (Lord Sherbrooke), and A. S. Ayrton, members of the liberal administration then in office. The lord chamberlain insisted on the removal of this feature of the performance. Of more serious plays 'Charity,' produced on 3 Jan. 1874 at the Haymarket, was the story of a woman redeeming her one mistake in life by an after career of self-sacrifice. It was denounced as immoral by the general public, and was withdrawn after a run of eighty nights. There followed a series of successful comedies in which sentiment predominated over Gilbert's habitually cynical humour. 'Sweethearts' was produced at the Prince of Wales's on 7 Nov. 1874 under Mrs. Bancroft's management; 'Tom Cobb' at the St. James's, on 24 April 1875; 'Broken Hearts' on 17 Dec. 1875 at the Court Theatre under (Sir) John Hare's direction. 'Dan'l Druce,' a play of very serious tone, and 'Engaged' both came out at the Haymarket, on 11 Sept. 1876 and 3 Oct. 1877 respectively. 'Gretchen,' a four-act drama in verse on the Faust legend, was produced on 24 March 1879 at the Olympic. In 1884 Gilbert wrote an ambitious sketch, 'Comedy and Tragedy,' for Miss Mary Anderson to perform at the Lyceum Theatre (26 Jan. 1884).
Meanwhile Gilbert acquired a more conspicuous triumph in another dramatic field. The memorable series of operas in which he and Sullivan collaborated began with 'Trial by Jury,' which was produced at the Royalty Theatre by Madame Selina Dolaro on 25 March 1875. A sketch of an operetta under this title had appeared in 'Fun' on 11 April 1868. The words now took a new shape, Sullivan suppUed the music, and the rehearsals were completed within three weeks. Gilbert's libretto betrayed the whimsical humour of his early 'Bab Ballads,' as well as the facility of his earlier extravaganzas and burlesques. Richard D'Oyly Carte [q. v. Suppl. II] was the manager of the Royalty. In view of the piece's success Carte formed a Comedy Opera Company, and gave Gilbert and Sullivan a commission to write a larger work together. The result was 'The Sorcerer,' which was first played at the Opera Comique on 17 Nov. 1877, and introduced George Grossmith and Rutland Barrington to the professional stage. This opera proved the forerunner of a long series of Uke successes. 'The Sorcerer' was followed by 'H.M.S. Pinafore, or the Lass that loved a Sailor,' under the same management on 25 May 1878. This ran for 700 nights and enjoyed an enormous popularity throughout the country. It was at once received in America with an 'enthusiasm bordering upon insanity' (Kate Field in Scribner's Monthly, xviii. 754), and after its first production in America Gilbert, >vith SulUvan, D'Oyly Carte, and Alfred Cellier, the musical conductor, went to New York (Nov. 1879) to give it the fresh advantage of Gilbert's personal stage management and Sullivan's own orchestral interpretation. While in New York they produced for the first time a new opera, 'The Pirates of Penzance, or the Slave of Duty,' which was brought out at the Fifth Avenue Theatre on New Year's Eve, 31 Dec. 1879. The party returned to England in time to produce 'The Pirates of Penzance' at the Opera Comique on 3 April 1880. This ran for a year. 'Patience, or Bunthome's Bride' came out at the Opera Comique on 23 April 1881, and at the height of its triumph, on 10 Oct. 1881, it was transferred to the 'Savoy' — the new opera house built by D'Oyly Carte for the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. 'Patience' was a satire on the current 'aesthetic movement' and enjoyed great popularity. The succeeding 'Savoy operas' were 'Iolanthe, or the Peer and the Peri' (25 Nov. 1882) ; 'Princess Ida, or Castle Adamant,' based on Gilbert's comedy 'The Princess' (5 Jan. 1884); and 'The Mikado, or the Town of Titipu' (14 March 1885). The last piece ran for two years, was played over 5000 times in America, and found favour on the Continent. It was the most popular of all Gilbert and Sullivan's joint works. It is said Gilbert, Sullivan, and Carte each made 30,000l. out of it. 'Ruddigore, or the Witch's Curse,' an elaboration of the German Reed piece 'Ages Ago,' followed on 22 Jan. 1887 ; 'The Yeoman of the Guard, or The Merryman and His Maid' on 3 Oct. 1888, and 'The Gondoliers, or The King of Barataria' on 7 Dec. 1889. The partnership was shortly afterwards interrupted. A disagreement on financial matters arose between Gilbert and Carte, and Gilbert thought that Sullivan sided with Carte. Separating for the time from both Sullivan and Carte, Gilbert wrote his next libretto, 'The Mountebanks,' for music by Alfred Cellier. It was produced at the Lyric Theatre on 4 Jan. 1892.
In writing these operas Gilbert first wrote out the plot as though it were an anecdote, and this he expanded to the length of a magazine article with summaries of conversations. This was overhauled and corrected and cut down to a skeleton, and then broken up into scenes with entrances and exits arranged. Not until the fifth MS. was the play illustrated by actual dialogue. Sometimes a piece would after a fortnight's rest be re-written entirely afresh without reference to the first draft. In arranging the scenes, too, no trouble was too great. In 'H.M.S. Pinafore' Gilbert went down to Portsmouth and was rowed round about the harbour and visited various ships, and finally pitched upon the quarter-deck of the Victory for his scene, which he obtained permission to sketch and model in every detail.
Gilbert's partnership with Sullivan and Carte was resumed in 1893, when he and Sullivan wrote 'Utopia Limited, or the Flowers of Progress.' It was produced at the Savoy on 7 Oct. 1893, but was not so popular as its predecessors, although it ran till 9 June 1894. Gilbert's next opera, 'His Excellency,' had music by Dr. Osmond Carr (Lyric, 27 Oct. 1894) ; it was followed by revivals of older pieces. In ' The Grand Duke,' which came out on 7 March 1896 at the Savoy, Gilbert and Sullivan worked together for the last time. Thenceforth Gilbert pursued his career as a playwright spasmodically and with declining success. A fanciful drama, 'Harlequin and the Fairy's Dilemma,' was produced without much acceptance by Mr. Arthur Bourchier at the Garrick Theatre (3 May-22 July 1904). On 11 Dec. 1909 his opera 'Fallen Fairies,' with music by Edward German, came out at the Savoy. His final production was 'The Hooligan,' a grim sketch of the last moments of a convicted murderer, played by Mr James Welch at the Coliseum in 1911.
Gilbert's successes as a dramatist brought him wealth, which he put to good purpose. He built and owned the Garrick Theatre in Charing Cross Road, which was opened in 1889. In 1890 he purchased of Frederick Goodall, R. A. [q. v. Suppl. II], the house and estate of Grims Dyke, HarrowWeald, Middlesex. The estate covered 100 acres and the house had been built for Goodall by Norman Shaw. Gilbert added an observatory and an open-air swimming lake. He was something of an astronomer as well as a dairy farmer, bee-keeper, and horticulturist. He was made J.P. in 1891 and D.L. for Middlesex, and devoted much time to his magisterial duties. In 1907 he was knighted. He was a well-known member of the Beefsteak, Junior Carlton, and Royal Automobile Clubs, and was elected by the committee to the Garrick Club on 22 Feb. 1906.
Gilbert died from heart failure brought on by over-exertion while saving a young lady from drowning in his swimming lake at Grims Dyke on 29 May 1911. The body was cremated at Colder's Green and the ashes buried at Great Stanmore church, Middlesex. Gilbert was, perhaps, the most outstanding figure among Victorian playwrights. Few if any contemporary writers for the stage made so much money from that source alone, none acquired so wide a fame. In all his writing there is an effort after Hterary grace and finish which was in his early days absent from contemporary drama. His humour consists mainly in logical topsy-turveydom in a vein so peculiar to Gilbert as to justify the bestowal on it of the epithet 'Gilbertian.' He himself disclaimed any knowledge of Gilbertian humour, stating that 'all humour properly so called is based upon a grave and quasi-respectful treatment of the ludicrous.' His satire hits current foibles with unvarying urbanity and with no Aristophanic coarseness. The success of his operas was largely due to their freedom from vulgarity and to the excellence of the lyrics, which not only were musical and perfect in form but applied mastery of metro to the expression of the most whimsical and fanciful ideas. He had little or no ear for tune, but a wonderful ear for rhythm. Gilbert's words and metre underwent no change in the process of musical setting.
Gilbert believed that the playwright should dominate the theatre. He was a master of stage management. In a privately printed preface to 'Pygmalion and Galatea' he pointed out that 'the supreme importance of careful rehearsing is not sufficiently recognised in England.' His experience, for which he vouched by statistics, taught him that when his pieces were carefully rehearsed they succeeded, and when they were insufficiently rehearsed they failed. A sufficient rehearsal for a play he then considered to be three weeks or a month. His conduct at the rehearsals of his adaptation of 'Ought we to visit her' (a comedy in three acts by Messrs. Edwardes and Gilbert), produced at the Royalty on 17 Jan. 1874, led to a quarrel with Miss Henrietta Hodson [q. v. Suppl. II], which was renewed over the production of 'Pygmalion and Galatea' in January 1877. Miss Hodson published 'A Letter' in the same year complaining of Gilbert's dictatorial action, to which Gilbert replied in 'A Letter addressed to the Members of the Dramatic Profession.' Gilbert developed the practice of Tom Robertson, who was perhaps the first English playwright to impress his personal views at rehearsal on the actor. Gilbert rehearsed his pieces in his study by means of a model stage and figures, and every group and movement were settled in the author's mind before the stage rehearsals began. Until Gilbert took the matter in hand choruses were practically nothing more than a part of the stage setting. It was in 'Thespis' that Gilbert began to carry out his expressed determination to get the chorus to play its proper part in the performance.
Gilbert had in ordinary society a ready, subtle, and incisive wit. He was aggressive and combative and rarely let the discomfort of a victim deprive him and his companions of a brilliant epigram or a ready repartee. Nevertheless he had a kind heart, and was only a cynic after the manner of Thackeray. Many of the artists who worked under him bore testimony to his personal kindness. He was not interested in sport. He had a constitutional objection to taking life in any form. 'I don't think I ever wittingly killed a blackbeetle,' he said, and added 'The time will come when the sport of the present day will be regarded very much as we regard the Spanish bull-fight or the bear-baiting of our ancestors' (William Archer, Red Conversations).
He married in 1867 Lucy Agnes, daughter of Captain Thomas Metcalf Blois Turner, Bombay engineers. His wife survived him without issue. A portrait painted by Frank Holl, R.A., in 1887 is destined for the National Portrait Gallery. He also owned a portrait of himself by Herman Gustavo Herkomer and a bronze statuette by Andrea Lucchesi.
Besides the plays already mentioned, Gilbert wrote the following dramatic pieces : 'Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren, or Fortunatus, the Three Bears, the Three Wishes, and the Little Man who wooed the Little Maid,' pantomime (26 Dec. 1866) 'Allow Me to Explain,' farce, altered from the French (Prince of Wales's Theatre, 4 Nov. 1867); 'Highly Improbable,' farce (New Royalty, 5 Dec. 1867); 'No Cards' (German Reeds, 29 March 1869); 'An Old Score,' comedy-drama in three acts (Gaiety Tlieatre, 19 July 1869); 'The Gentleman in Black,' opera bouffe in two acts, music by Frederick Clay (Charing Cross Theatre, 26 May 1870); 'Our Island Home' (Gallery of Illustration, 20 June 1870); 'A Medical Man,' a comedietta (Drawing Room Plays, 1870); 'The Realms of Joy,' farce by F. Latour Tomline, i.e. Gilbert (Royalty Theatre, 18 Oct. 1873); 'Committed for Trial,' a piece of absurdity in two acts, founded on 'Le Reveillon' of H. Meilhac and L. Halevy (Globe Theatre, 24 Jan. 1874, revived at the Criterion, 12 Feb. 1877, as 'On Bail'); 'Topsy-turveydom,' extravaganza (Criterion Theatre, 21 Mar. 1873); 'King Candaules' (1875); 'Eyes and No Eyes, or the Art of Seeing,' a vaudeville, music by T. German Reed, founded on Hans Andersen's 'The Emperor's New Clothes' (St. George's Hall, 5 July 1875) ; 'Princess Toto,' comic opera in three acts, music by Frederick day (Strand Theatre, 2 Oct. 1876); 'The Ne'er-do-Weel,' drama (Olympic Theatre, 25 Feb. 1878); 'Foggerty's Fairy,' a fairy comedy (Criterion, 16 Dec. 1881); 'Brantinghame Hall,' drama (St. James's Theatre, 29 Nov. 1888); 'The Brigands,' opera bouffe in three acts, music by Offenbach, adapted from 'Les Brigands' of Meilhac and Halevy (Avenue Theatre, 16 Sept. 1889); 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,' a travesty on 'Hamlet,' in three tableaux (Vaudeville Theatre, 3 June 1891 ); 'Haste to the Wedding,' comic opera, music by George Grossmith (Criterion Theatre, 27 July 1892), a version of E. M. Labiche's 'Un Chapeau de Faille d'Italie,' played at the Court Theatre as 'The Wedding March' on 15 Nov. 1873; 'The Fortune Hunter,' drama (Theatre Royal, Birmingham, 27 Sept. 1897).
Collected editions of Gilbert's dramatic work appeared as 'Original Plays' (4 series, 1874~1911) and 'Origmal Comic Operas' (8 parts, containing 'Sorcerer,' 'H.M.S. Pinafore,' 'Pirates of Penzance,' 'Iolanthe,' 'Patience,' 'Princess Ida,' 'Mikado,' and 'Trial by Jury,' 1890). He also published 'Songs of a Savoyard,' a collection of songs from the Savoy operas, illustrated by Gilbert (1890), and 'Foggerty's Fairy and other Tales' (1890).
[William Schwenck Gilbert, an Autobiography in The Theatre, 2 April 1883, pp. 217 seq.; Edith A. Browne, W. S. Gilbert, 1907; Arthur Lawrence, Life of Sir Arthur Sullivan, 1899; William Archer, English Dramatists of Today; William Archer, Real Conversations; Percy Fitzgerald, The Savoy Opera and the Savoyards; Daily Telegraph, 30 May 1911; The Times, 30 May-2 June, 18 Aug. (will), 1911; John Hollingshead's Gaiety Chronicles, 1898; Kate Field's W. S. Gilbert in Scribner's Monthly, 1879, xviii. 754; Smalley's London Letters, 2 vols., 1890; and his Anglo-American Memories, 1911; The English Aristophanes, art. by Walter Sichel, in Fortnightly Review, 1912; W. Davenport Adams, Diet, of the Drama.]