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Strand Magazine 10

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Strand Magazine 10 : THE STIiflDD MJlGHZinE £/%n Illustrated Jffonthty EDITED BY GEO. NEWNES Vol. II. JULY TO DECEMBER <%&%> Xonfccm BURLEIGH STREET, STRAND 1891 < W. S. GILBERT AND HIS GRANDFATHER. Illustrated Interviews. No. IV. — MR. W. S. GILBERT. From a I'holo. by] GR^.ME S DYKE. [Elliott & Fry, R. GILBP:RT lives in a little another spot Windsor Castle is visible. land of his own. There is Mr. Gilbert is a man of many minds. The nothing wanting to complete verse of comic opera does not prevent him his miniature kingdom at from watching the interests of his thorough- Graeme's Dyke, Harrow bred Jerseys—for there is a perfect home Weald. With a hundred and farm on the Gilbertian land. The hayricks ten acres at his disposal, the most brilliant look rich, the horses, the fowls, and the pigs writer of irresistible satire of the day has seem "at home," and the pigeons— I am laid down a healthy two miles of paths, assured by Mr. Gilbert that he is using which wend their way through banks of the utmost efforts to induce his feathered moss and ferns, avenues of chestnut trees friends to adopt as their permanent address and secluded valleys. You turn out of one the fine and lofty house he has erected for pathway only to enter a diminutive forest them. _ The roofs of the vineries are heavy ; again, and you are standing by the rushes with great bunches, the peaches and necta- and water weeds by the side of the old rines are fast assuming an appearance call- Dyke, which has run its course for two ing for a hasty "bite"; flowers, flowers thousand years and more, spanned by are everywhere, and the bee-hives, green rustic bridges little wooden dwellings, with the. bees ; and in one part, near the bathing house, is a statue of Charles II., crowding in and out, are pointed out by which originally stood years ago in Soho- their owner as looking very much like square. You may wander along a walk of small country theatres doing a " tremen- roses and sweetbrier, or admire the view dous booking." from the observatory, where the owner The house was built for Mr. Goodall, enjoys his astronomical watchings. From R.A., from designs by Mr. Norman Shaw, 33* THE STRAND MAGAZINE. and handsome. He appears strong, and he is ; he looks determined. He frankly ad- mits that this characteristic has led success to him and him to success. His hair is grey, but the vigour of a young man is there. To hear him talk is to listen to the merry stream of satire which runs through his verse and lyrics. Imagine him IN THE GROUNDS. declaring that he considers the butcher boy in the gallery the R.A., and is from every aspect architectur- king of the theatre—the blue-smocked ally very fine. Many portions of it are youth who, by incessant whistling and entirely covered with ivy—the entrance repeated requests to " speak up," revels porch is surrounded by the clinging tendrils. in upsetting the managerial apple cart. Here I met Mr. Gilbert. He is tall, stalwart, Then try and realise Mr. Gilbert assuring From a P/i^to.by] THE FARM. {Elliott & Fry. a ILLUSTRATED TNTERVIEWS. 333 one that what he writes is nothing more nor less than "rump steak " and onions ! — palatable concoc- tion of satisfying and seasoning in- gredients which is good enough to please the man of refinement in the stalls, and not too refined for the butcher boy in the gallery. " H.M.S. Pina- fore," "The Pirates," "The Mikado," and the lily-loving Bun- thome and aesthe- tically inclined young maidens in " " Patience rump steak and onions ! He theatre and see that everything is safe for has not—save at rehearsals—seen one of the curtain to rise, goes away, and returns his own plays acted for seventeen years. at the finish. He is wise in believing that Report says that, on " first nights," he the presence of the author at such a time wanders about muffled up, with his hat over upsets the players, and deteriorates the his eyes, along the Thames Embankment, action. casting occasional glances in the direction We are in the entrance hall. Over the of the water, and mentally measuring the mantelpiece is a fine specimen of four- height of Waterloo Bridge. Nothing of teenth century alabaster. By the window the kind. He goes to his club and smokes is a model of a man-of-war, sixteen feet in a cigar, and looks in at the theatre about length. It is perfect in every detail, and a eleven to see if there is " a call "; and he is portion of it was specially constructed as a seldom disappointed in the object of his model of the set of the scene in " H.M.S. visit. He is quite content to look in at the Pinafore." Mr. Gilbert—who is an en- thusiastic yachtsman—had the remaining forepart built when it was no longer wanted for theatrical pur- poses. The parrot in the corner is considered to be the finest talker in England. It can whistle a hornpipe, and, if put to the test, could probably rattle off one of its master's patter songs. " The other parrot, who is a novice," points out Mr. Gilbert, "belongs to Dr. Playfair. He is read- ing up with my bird, who takes pupils." Passing up the oaken staircase, the solidity of which is relieved by many From a rhoto. bji] [Fl'intt d- Fry. MODEL OF " H,M,S. PINAFORE " IN THE ENTRANCE a grand palm, a peep into — 334 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. the billiard-room reveals great vases 200 years on one side of the wall old, antique cabinets, photos of all the charac- and treasured knick- ters which have from knacks innumerable time to time appeared for the present owner is in his operas. Over a a great lover of curios, long oak bookcase is a and is an inveterate run of photos unique of (( hunter "—and exqui- their kind, including sitely furnished. The those of J. S. Clarke, fire-places are crowded Mrs. Stirling, Buck- with ferns and flowers. stone, Compton, Chip- Near the corner, where pendale, Herman Vezin, Mr. Goodall was one Henry J. Byron, and time wont to sit and Irving and Hare, taken paint sunsets, is a curious seventeen years ago. old musical clock which A little statuette of plays twelve airs. It Thackeray, by Boehm, is 150 years old. Mr. is near at hand, and Gilbert sets the hands here is another of the going, and to a musical dramatist's great friend, tick—tick—tick a regi- T. W. Robertson, the ment of cavalry pass writer of "Caste," over the bridge, boats " School," " Society," row along the water, and other plays insepar- and ducks swim about. able from his name. Frank Holl's picture of The drawing - room the dramatist is here, was Mr. Goodall's studio. and several by Duncan, It is a magnificent apart- ' THE FINEST TALKER IN ENGLAND. the famous water-colour ment, rich in old china, Dainter, whose brush was From a Photo, by] THE DRAWING-ROOM. [Xtliott Sr Fry. IL L USTRA TED INTER VIE WS. 335 joined together, by Boehm. They are those of Mrs. Crutchley, who danced in the re- cent Guards' bur- lesque at Chelsea, modelled when she was eight years old. Mr. Gilbert handles a fifteenth century carved ivory tankard. It is five inches in diameter, and carved out of a solid tusk. Un- fortunately it is broken. When Miss Julia Neil- son was making her first appear- From a Photo, by] THE DINING-ROOM. [Elliott & Fry. ance in "Comedy only responsible for a single example in and Tragedy," a tankard was wanted. It oils, possessed by Mr. Gilbert ; others by had been overlooked at the theatre. Mr. Boughton, Mr. and Mrs. Perugini, and Gilbert was present, rushed off in a cab Adrian Stokes. Here is, also, an early to Kensington, where he was then living, example of Tenniel. It was bought un- and got back in time. Miss Neilson so finished. Mr. Gilbert met the artist one entered into her part (and small blame to day, and described it to him. He remem- her) that, quite forgetting the valuable bered it, though drawn half a century ago. goblet she had in her hand, she brought Tenniel took it back, and finished his work it down with a bang on the table with only a few months ago. This little satin wood this result. cabinet came from Carlton House, and The dining-room contains some fine there is a rcurious story regarding the manufacture of aline Japanese cabinet of 200 years ago. In those days when- ever a child was born to a wealthy Jap an order was given for a cabi- net to be made. It took fifteen years to manu- facture, so fine was the work- manship, and it was presented to the child on his fifteenth birth- day. Under a glass case are a pair of marble h^nds From a «*<*<>. m THE LIBRARY. [Elliott <f Fry. " 33^ THE STRAND MAGAZINE. work in oak. A massive Charles I. side- Salvator Rosa, Rubens, Andrea del Sarto, board, dated 1631, was made for Sir Thomas and others, and on top of the bookcases Holt, a cavalier, who murdered his own are arranged seventy heads, representing cook in a fit of passion. He was charged all sorts and conditions of character typical "that he tooke a cleever and hytt hys of India.
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