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The Great Oak Tree

There grew a little flower

'Neath a great oak tree:

When the tempest 'gan to lower

Little heeded she:

No need had she to cower,

For she dreaded not its power -

She was happy in the bower

Of her great oak tree!

171

William Schwenck Gilbert

The Fickle Breeze

Sighing softly to the river

Comes the loving breeze,

Setting nature all a-quiver,

Rustling through the trees!

And the brook in rippling measure

Laughs for very love,

While the poplars, in their pleasure,

Wave their arms above!

117

William Schwenck Gilbert

HMS Pinafore: Act I

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

The Rt.Hon Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B. (First Lord of the Admiralty)

Captain Corcoran (Commanding H.M.S. Pinafore)

Tom Tucker (Midshipmite)

Ralph Rackstraw (Able Seaman)

Dick Deadeye (Able Seaman)

Bill Bobstay (Boatswain's Mate)

Bob Becket (Carpenter's Mate)

158

by William Schwenck Gilbert

A Nightmare

When you're lying awake with a dismal headache, and repose is

taboo'd by anxiety,

I conceive you may use any language you choose to indulge in

without impropriety;

For your brain is on fire - the bedclothes conspire of usual

slumber to plunder you:

First your counterpane goes and uncovers your toes, and your sheet

slips demurely from under you;

138

by William Schwenck Gilbert

Only a Dancing Girl

Only a dancing girl,

With an unromantic style,

With borrowed colour and curl,

With fixed mechanical smile,

With many a hackneyed wile,

With ungrammatical lips,

And corns that mar her trips.

Hung from the "flies" in air,

156

by William Schwenck Gilbert

The Captain and the Mermaids

I SING a legend of the sea,

So hard-a-port upon your lee!

A ship on starboard tack!

She's bound upon a private cruise -

(This is the kind of spice I use

To give a salt-sea smack).

Behold, on every afternoon

(Save in a gale or strong Monsoon)

141

by William Schwenck Gilbert

The Ghosts' High Noon

When the night wind howls in the chimney cowls, and the bat in the

moonlight flies,

And inky clouds, like funeral shrouds, sail over the midnight skies -

When the footpads quail at the night-bird's wail, and black dogs

bay the moon,

Then is the spectres' holiday - then is the ghosts' high noon!

As the sob of the breeze sweeps over the trees, and the mists lie

low on the fen,

168

by William Schwenck Gilbert

A Merry Madrigal

Brightly dawns our wedding day;

Joyous hour, we give thee greeting!

Whither, whither art thou fleeting?

Fickle moment, prithee stay!

What though mortal joys be hollow?

Pleasures come, if sorrows follow.

Though the tocsin sound, ere long,

Ding dong! Ding dong!

162

by William Schwenck Gilbert

A Classical Revival

At the outset I may mention it's my sovereign intention

To revive the classic memories of Athens at its best,

For my company possesses all the necessary dresses,

And a course of quiet cramming will supply us with the rest.

We've a choir hyporchematic (that is, ballet-operatic)

Who respond to the CHOREUTAE of that cultivated age,

And our clever chorus-master, all but captious criticaster,

Would accept as the CHOREGUS of the early Attic stage.

134

by William Schwenck Gilbert

A Man Who Would Woo a Fair Maid

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.

He should 'prentice himself at fourteen

And practise from morning to e'en;

And when he's of age,

110

by William Schwenck Gilbert

A Manager's Perplexities

Were I a king in very truth,

And had a son - a guileless youth -

In probable succession;

To teach him patience, teach him tact,

How promptly in a fix to act,

He should adopt, in point of fact,

A manager's profession.

To that condition he should stoop

134

by William Schwenck Gilbert

At a Pantomime By a Bilious One

An Actor sits in doubtful gloom,

His stock-in-trade unfurled,

In a damp funereal dressing-room

In the Theatre Royal, World.

He comes to town at Christmas-time,

And braves its icy breath,

To play in that favourite pantomime,

HARLEQUIN LIFE AND DEATH.

128

by William Schwenck Gilbert