In 1931 a small book called "Gilbertian Characters" was published, written by Gervase Lambton, in which among other things, he refers to the ending of Yeomen, which has also been commented on by various correspondents in the last GG on the subject of the character of Elsie Maynard. Mr. Lambton was evidently a young man with fresh ideas on the subject of how to perform G&S, to express such views in the dogmatic, tradition ridden days of 1931, however, was to invite severe criticism, and Mr. Lambton's book provoked a vitriolic comment in the G&S Journal from none other than Reginald Davis. To be charitable to Mr. Davis, it should be said that he died not long after uttering his harsh words. I quote from Mr. Lambton's book, and part of Mr. Davis's reply:

LAMBTON: This scene is always played on entirely the wrong lines by the D'Oyly Carte company. The Lt. and Fairfax laugh and joke together while Elsie on her knees utters the prayer of misery; they are just making fun of her. This means that the Lt. knows that Fairfax had impersonated Leonard and had won Elsie's heart in that capacity. There are three strong objections to this reading. First, it turns the scene into the commonplace and meaningless finale to the Musical Comedy. Secondly, Meryll married Dame Carruthers to prevent the circumstances of Fairfax's escape from being known. Thirdly, it is unbelievable that Fairfax would deliberately keep Elsie even in two minutes misery and torment just for the sake of a futile joke. Our hero has his faults, but he is not quite such a cad as all that. The scene should be played like this. The Lt. knows that Elsie is betrothed to Leonard Meryll, but he does not know that Leonard is really Fairfax. The Colonel, therefore, has to be very careful that he should not discover this. That is why he so sternly commands Elsie to leave Leonard, and to come to her legal husband. Slowly Elsie raises her eyes to her husband's face, and recognises her lover. "Leonard" in amazement her lips form the word. "Hush, my darling, hush" whispers Fairfax. That is a secret which must be kept at all costs.

DAVIS: The author, who is not yet out of his teens, tells us that one of the scenes in The Yeomen of the Guard is always played on entirely wrong lines by the D'Oyly Carte Company," and adds, "the scene should be played like this ... " Ye Gods, Mr. Lambton, "I'd give my right arm for one tenth of your modest assurance." The production is arranged by Mr. J.M. Gordon, who joined the Company in 1883, who has lived in Gilbert and Sullivan ever since, and who served a long apprenticeship under Sir William Gilbert himself. One can picture Mr. Gordon and Mr. Carte, if they have read the book, leaning back and laughing till tears have poured down their cheeks, at being taught their business by this inexperienced stripling. We must say of Mr. Lambton what the Duke of Plaza Toro says of his soninlaw: "Let us consider his extreme youth and forgive him."

BUT YET MORE ON POOR OLD ELSIE MAYNARD [Coincidentally, just as the last edition of GG was being circulated, The Palace Peeper, the journal of the New York G&S Society published a note of their own on some points in Yeomen. This paper, by Dan Kravetz, is mainly concerned with the question of whether Point did or did not die, but it also touches on Elsie, and I quote some of the note here]

… As Gilbert never changed the words "falls insensible" to anything else, he must have preferred to let actor and audience decide for themselves. Note the word "outwitted", a proposition which appears to distress Point more than his being jilted, for Point never shows any firm resolve to marry Elsie nor does he express any love for her. Elsie, in turn, offers no opinion whatsoever about Point and no acknowledgement of his feelings towards her … When he has lost her to Fairfax at the end of the opera, his loss may be more professional than personal, for his future as a performer is doubtful without a winsome young partner to generate interest. Point's rival is even less of a gentleman. Gilbert, who never liked tenors, drew the character of Fairfax as if to show that, on the stage at least, a man can get away with all types of outrages if he has been blessed with a tenor voice. Fairfax never stops manipulating people: as a condemned prisoner he quips ambivalently about his forthcoming death, while others laud him for what they interpret as his bravery; what he does not show, however, is the true courage to admit that he is afraid, as anyone would be in his position … he toys with Phoebe's affections in the guise of brotherly warmth and concern, then ignores her for the remainder of the opera … Fairfax's actions would be enough to doom any marriage from the start, but Elsie still accepts him impulsively as her husband … Gilbert did, however, modify his finale to change Elsie's indifference. Originally, after Point's sudden reappearance and declaration that he, himself, is the merryman who "Sighed for the love of a layde", Elsie responded with "the song of a merrymaid peerly proud." just as she had sung in the firstact duet. Gilbert altered these lines later on, "a merrymaid, nestling near". A carefully dropped tear costs very little when a character on stage is about to die; after Elsie's token display of sympathy, Point will be taken out of circulation for good and nothing will stand between her and Fairfax. But is this an ending we deserve from such a pen as Gilbert's? While the revised version offers smiles and tears to the audience, and gives Elsie one opportunity to show some sort of feeling for her performing partner, it lacks the element of hope that was present in the original. If Elsie responds to Point with the second verse of the singing farce just as she had done earlier, she leaves open the possibility that the two remaining verses may also materialize. Knowing Fairfax for the rotter he is, we can easily picture him as the "peacock popinjay" who will surely cast the merrymaid aside when he tires of her. If the final curtain falls on the insensible but not necessarily lifeless body of the jester, Gilbert is allowing us to hope for just one "righted wrong" in this sorry mess of events he has chronicled. A possible change of Elsie's heart is comforting to those of us who see, as Gilbert sees, that, unlike in Titipu, things could be more satisfactory on Tower Green. DAN KRAVETZ

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