The Bab Ballads, with Which Are Included Songs of a Savoyard

This book is copyright in all countries which
are signatories to the Berne Convention

Transferred to Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1904
Sixth Edition 1904
Reprinted 1906, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1914, 1917, 1919
1920, 1922, 1924, 1926, 1932, 1953, 1960

MACMILLAN AND COMPANY LIMITED
London Bombay Calcutta Madras Melbourne

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED
Toronto

ST MARTIN'S PRESS INC
New York

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

AUTHOR'S NOTE

About thirty years since, several of "The Bab Ballads" (most of which had appeared, from time to time, in the pages of Fun) were collected by me, and published by Messrs. George Routledge and Sons. This volume passed through several editions, and, in due course, was followed by a second series under the title of "More Bab Ballads," which achieved a popularity equal to that of its predecessor. Subsequently, excerpts were made from these two volumes, and, under the title of "Fifty Bab Ballads," had a very considerable sale; but I soon discovered that in making the selection for this volume I had discarded certain Ballads that were greater favourites with my readers than with me. Nevertheless this issue was followed by many editions, English and American, of "Bab Ballads," "More Bab Ballads," and "Fifty Bab Ballads," to the no little bewilderment of such of the public as had been good enough to concern themselves with my verses. So it became desirable (for our own private ends) that this confusion should be definitely cleared up; and thus it came to pass that a reissue of the two earlier collections, in one volume, was decided upon.

Some seven years since, I collected the most popular of the songs and ballads which I had written for the series of light operas with which my name is associated, and published them under the title of "Songs of a Savoyard." It recently occurred to me that these songs had so much in common with "The Bab Ballads" that it might be advisable to weld the two books into one. This is, briefly, the history of the present volume.

I have always felt that many of the original illustrations to "The Bab Ballads" erred gravely in the direction of unnecessary extravagance. This defect I have endeavoured to correct through the medium of the two hundred new drawings which I have designed for this volume. I am afraid I cannot claim for them any other recommendation,

W. S. GILBERT.

Grim's Dyke, Harrow Weald, 4th December 1897.

CONTENTS.

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	Page
Captain Reece	1
The Darned Mounseer	6
The Rival Curates	8
The Englishman	13
Only a Dancing Girl	14
The Disagreeable Man	16
General John	18
The Coming By-and-By	22
To a Little Maid	24
The Highly Respectable Gondolier	26
John and Freddy	28
The Fairy Queen's Song	32
Sir Guy the Crusader	34
Is Life a Boon?	38
Haunted	39
The Modern Major-General	42
The Bishop and the 'Busman	44
The Heavy Dragoon	49
The Troubadour	51
Proper Pride	56
Ferdinando and Elvira; or, the Gentle Pieman	58
The Policeman's Lot	63
Lorenzo de Lardy	64
The Baffled Grumbler	69
Disillusioned	71
The House of Peers	74
Babette's Love	76
A Merry Madrigal	81
To my Bride	82
The Duke and the Duchess	84
The Folly of Brown	87
Eheu Fugaces—!	92
Sir Macklin	94
They'll None of 'em be Missed	99
The Yarn of the "Nancy Bell"	101
Girl Graduates	106
The Bishop of Rum-ti-Foo	108
Braid the Raven Hair	113
The Precocious Baby	114
The Working Monarch	119
To Phoebe	122
The Ape and the Lady	123
Baines Carew, Gentleman	125
Only Roses	130
Thomas Winterbottom Hance	131
The Rover's Apology	136
A Discontented Sugar Broker	138
An Appeal	143
The Pantomime "Super" to his Mask	144
The Reward of Merit	146
The Ghost, the Gallant, the Gael, and the Goblin	148
The Magnet and the Churn	153
King Borria Bungalee Boo	155
The Family Fool	161
The Periwinkle Girl	164
Sans Souci	169
Thomson Green and Harriet Hale	171
A Recipe	175
Bob Polter	176
The Merryman and his Maid	182
Ellen M'Jones Aberdeen	185
The Susceptible Chancellor	191
Peter the Wag	193
When a Merry Maiden Marries	198
The Three Kings of Chickeraboo	200
The British Tar	204
Gentle Alice Brown	205
A Man who would Woo a Fair Maid	209
The Sorcerer's Song	211
The Bumboat Woman's Story	214
The Fickle Breeze	219
The Two Ogres	221
The First Lord's Song	227
Little Oliver	229
Mister William	235
Would you Know?	240
Pasha Bailey Ben	242
Lieutenant-Colonel Flare	248
Speculation	254
Ah Me!	255
Lost Mr. Blake	256
The Duke of Plaza-Toro	262
The Baby's Vengeance	265
The Æsthete	271
The Captain and the Mermaids	273
Said I to Myself, Said I	278
Annie Protheroe	280
Sorry her Lot	286
An Unfortunate Likeness	287
The Contemplative Sentry	292
Gregory Parable, LL.D.	294
The Philosophic Pill	299
The King of Canoodle-dum	301
Blue Blood	307
First Love	309
The Judge's Song	315
Brave Alum Bey	317
When I First put this Uniform on	322
Sir Barnaby Bampton Boo	324
Solatium	329
The Modest Couple	330
A Nightmare	335
The Martinet	338
Don't Forget!	345
The Sailor Boy to his Lass	348
The Suicide's Grave	354
The Reverend Simon Magus	356
He and She	361
Damon v. Pythias	363
The Mighty Must	367
My Dream	368
A Mirage	374
The Bishop of Rum-ti-Foo Again	376
The Ghosts' High Noon	381
A Worm will Turn	383
The Humane Mikado	388
The Haughty Actor	391
Willow Waly!	397
The Two Majors	399
Life is Lovely all the Year	403
Emily, John, James, and I	405
The Usher's Charge	411
The Perils of Invisibility	413
The Great Oak Tree	418
Old Paul and Old Tim	420
King Goodheart	424
The Mystic Selvagee	426
Sleep on!	431
The Cunning Woman	433
The Love-sick Boy	439
Phrenology	440
Poetry Everywhere	445
The Fairy Curate	446
He Loves!	453
The Way of Wooing	454
True Diffidence	458
Hongree and Mahry	460
The Tangled Skein	466
The Reverend Micah Sowls	467
My Lady	471
One against the World	473
The Force of Argument	475
Put a Penny in the Slot	480
Good Little Girls	482
The Phantom Curate	484
Life	487
Limited Liability	490
The Sensation Captain	492
Anglicised Utopia	497
An English Girl	499