Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/130

 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