R,CHARD MONCKTON MILNES was born in the year - OUDL Home

The Theatre in the 'Seventies 147Truth—was produced by Buckstone at the HaymarketTheatre. It is evident that by that time Buckstone, mostconservative of managers, was in a chastened mood andhad become thoroughly alive to the direction in which,owing to Robertson's ascendancy, the wind was blowing.The Palace of Truth was succeeded at the Haymarket, in1871, by Pygmalion and Galatea, and Pygmalion andGalatea, in 1873, by The Wicked World. These three playsare full of charm, notwithstanding their decided savourof cynicism, and possess a literary quality which, withoutany loss of theatrical effect, makes them eminently readable.Another fairy play of Gilbert—Broken Hearts—wasproduced at the Court Theatre in 1876, and among hisless fanciful pieces belonging to the 'seventies are hispathetic Sweethearts, his austere Charity, both done in1874, his whimsical Engaged, and a version of the Faustlegend called Gretchen. Gretchen failed to attract. Oneevening at the Beefsteak Club Gilbert was induced by alittle group of admirers to explain in detail his treatmentof the Faust story. A too-eager listener broke in with thequestion, 'And how did it end?' 'Oh, it ended in a fortnight,'said Gilbert, annoyed by the interruption.It is not within my task to pursue the history ofwriter beyond the 'seventies. Suffice it that he proeventually that the bent of his genius lay in pure fanrather than in transcripts of the actualities of life. Wthe plots of his straightforward comedies are skillmanaged, his dialogue is without Robertson's nattouch; his characters talk in a manner that is stiff, fomtoo carefully contrived. He found his metier ultimatein his association with Sullivan, and by that associationit is safe to prophesy, he will live. I trust I have not, byany unhappy suggestion, given an unfair picture ofGilbert. He was a brilliant creature, and he added a newword to the English language—' Gilbertian'.10-2