William Schwenck Gilbert

(WHOEVER SHE MAY BE)Oh! little maid!—(I do not know your name
Or who you are, so, as a safe precaution
I’ll add)—Oh, buxom widow! married dame!
(As one of these must be your present portion)…

Now,
Marco, dear,
My wishes hear:
While you're

Haunted? Ay, in a social way
By a body of ghosts in dread array;
But no conventional spectres they—
Appalling, grim, and tricky:…

Is life a boon?
If so, it must befall
That Death, whene'er he call,
Must call too soon.…

To a garden full of posies
Cometh one to gather flowers,
And he wanders through its bowers
Toying with the wanton roses,…

O’er unreclaimed suburban clays
Some years ago were hobblin’
An elderly ghost of easy ways,
And an influential goblin.…

Алиса Браун в городке
слыла красавицей чудесной.
Отец – разбойник, бандюган
и предводитель шайки местной.…

The BALLYSHANNON foundered off the coast of Cariboo,
And down in fathoms many went the captain and the crew;
Down went the owners - greedy men whom hope of gain allured:
Oh, dry the starting tear, for they were heavily insured.Besides the captain and the mate, the owners and the crew,…

King Borria Bungalee Boo
Was a man-eating African swell;
His sigh was a hullaballoo,
His whisper a horrible yell—…

“Gentle, modest little flower,
Sweet epitome of May,
Love me but for half an hour,
Love me, love me, little fay.”…

A British tar is a soaring soul,
As free as a mountain bird,
His energetic fist should be ready to resist
A dictatorial word.…

The bravest names for fire and flames
And all that mortal durst,
Were General John and Private James,
Of the Sixty-seventy-first.General John was a soldier tried,…

О мистере Уильяме узнать вам интересно?
О мистере Уильяме я расскажу не пресно.
Пошёл он против общества, его судили вскоре,
На каторгу отправили за море, сине море.Был не судим до этого, с другими не судился.…

An excellent soldier who's worthy the
Loves officers dashing and strict:
When good, he's content with escaping all blame,
When naughty, he likes to be licked.

The air is charged with amatory numbers--
Soft madrigals, and dreamy lovers' lays.
Peace, peace, old heart! Why waken from its slumbers
The aching memory of the old, old days?Time was when Love and I were well acquainted.…

IS
Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre, an Elderly
Alexis, of the Grenadier Guards—His
Dr.

When a merry maiden marries,
Sorrow goes and pleasure tarries;
Every sound becomes a song,
All is right and nothing's wrong!…

Quixotic is his enterprise, and hopeless his adventure is,
Who seeks for jocularities that haven't yet been said.
The world has joked incessantly for over fifty centuries,
And every joke that's possible has long ago been made.…

If you give me your attention,
I will tell you what I am:
I'm a genuine philanthropist - all other kinds are sham.
Each little fault of temper and each social

The Reverend Micah Sowls,
He shouts and yells and howls,
He screams, he mouths, he bumps,
He foams, he rants, he thumps.His armour he has buckled on, to wage…

Rising early in the morning,
We proceed to light the fire,
Then our Majesty adorning
In its work-a-day attire,…

When man and maiden meet, I like to see a drooping eye,
I always droop my own - I am the shyest of the shy.
I'm also fond of bashfulness, and sitting down on thorns,
For modesty's a quality that womankind adorns.Whenever I am introduced to any pretty maid,…

LY
NE was a nursery maid,
ES was a bold Life Guard,
HN was a constable, poorly paid(And I am a doggerel bard).

By a General AgentI knew a boor—a clownish card
(His only friends were pigs and cows and
The poultry of a small farmyard),
Who came into two hundred thousand.Good fortune worked no change in Brown,…