The Yeomen Of The Guard
Or
The Merryman and His Maid
Comic Opera in two acts, by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur
Sullivan.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
SIR RICHARD CHOLMONDELEY (Lieutenant of the Tower)
COLONEL FAIRFAX (under Sentence of Death)
SERGEANT MERYLL (of the Yeomen of the Guard)
LEONARD MERYLL (his Son)
JACK POINT (a Strolling Jester)
WILFRED SHADBOLT (Head Jailer)
ELSIE MAYNARD (a Strolling Singer)
PHOEBE MERYLL (Sergeant Meryll's Daughter)
DAME CARRUTHERS (Housekeeper to the Tower)
KATE (her Niece)
Chorus of Yeomen of the Guard, Gentlemen, Citizens, etc.
ACT I
COLONEL FAIRFAX, a man of science, but formerly a soldier
of great and dashing bravery, is confined in the Tower of
London. He is under sentence of death as a sorcerer.
Although he is a student of alchemy, Fairfax is still young
and handsome, and Phoebe has lost her heart to him, for she
sees him occasionally taking exercise on the Beauchamp
Tower.
As the curtain rises the unhappy girl is discovered sitting
at her spinning wheel sighing over her hopeless love for
the prisoner. Wilfred Shadbolt, head jailer and assistant
tormenter, is greatly put out, for Phoebe will have none of
him, though before the arrival of Fairfax she had not been
so averse to his attentions. Dame Carruthers, the
housekeeper to the Tower, believing Fairfax to be guilty,
resents Phoebe's praise of him, and her criticisms of the
Tower. The Dame was born in the old Keep, and the Tower is
very dear to her; she leaves no doubt of her sentiments in
the noble air "Then our gallant Norman foes."
Sergeant Meryll, of the Yeomen of the Guard, is saddened by
the thought of the approaching execution of Fairfax. He
greatly admires Fairfax for his brilliant career as a
soldier and not even the imminent arrival of his son,
Leonard Meryll, can raise his despondent spirits, though
there is a hope that Leonard may bring a reprieve from
Court with him for Fairfax.
Leonard arrives even while Phoebe and her father are
discussing the sad case of the unfortunate prisoner; there
is no reprieve. None saw him enter, and the unheralded
coming gives Sergeant Meryll an idea. "Give me the
dispatch," he says . . . "lie hidden for a space." Leonard
does so willingly, for Fairfax was once his great friend. A
moment later Fairfax passes by, under guard, on his way to
the Cold Harbour Tower to await his end in solitude. He
sees and recognizes Sergeant Meryll and bids him cheer up;
as a soldier, he says, he knows how to die. If life is a
boon, he says, death must inevitably come too soon. Phoebe
and her father are overcome with emotion and leave him.
Fairfax asks the Lieutenant of the Tower to grant him a
favor. He is, he says, imprisoned as a result of the
machinations of his cousin, Sir Clarence Plotwhistle - a
greedy fellow to whom the Fairfax estates must naturally
fall if Colonel Fairfax should die unmarried. Fairfax's
request is therefore that the Lieutenant shall find him a
woman willing to go through a form of marriage with him:
her dower shall be Fairfax's name and a hundred crowns.
Since he is to be executed in an hour's time it should be
easy enough to find someone.
As Fairfax moves on his way there is laughing and shouting,
and a roistering throng of men and women, pursuing a
wandering jester and a merrymaid, appear. The jester, Jack
Point, and the girl, Elsie Maynard, are both more than a
little terrified, for the crowd, in demanding
entertainment, threaten to throw them into the river if
they do not come up to expectations. They sing them the
"singing farce of the Merryman and his maid," and are about
to be mobbed by the less appreciative members of the
audience when the Lieutenant reappears from the Cold
Harbour Tower.
The crowd is dispersed and the Lieutenant, learning all
about Elsie and Jack Point, suggests to Elsie that she be
Fairfax's bride for the short hour he has to live. The
hundred crowns which she is to receive tempt and persuade
her. She is led blindfolded to the cell where Fairfax and
his confessor await her. While she is gone Point (in the
song "I've jibe and joke") explains his calling of a jester
and is engaged by the Lieutenant as his jester.
Then Phoebe reflects on her state, and finally finds
Wilfred alone. She determines to get the keys of Fairfax's
cell from him. Exerting all her charms and flattering
Wilfred, she compliments him on his jollity and wit, though
he is in truth the heaviestminded dolt. Slyly she takes the
keys from his belt and hands them to her father, who
disappears immediately.
Whilst her father is away she sings a tempting little ditty
"Were I thy bride." As she begins the last verse the keys
are pushed back into her hand and she cleverly puts them
back on Wilfred's belt. She runs off and Wilfred wanders
away bewildered and happy.
No sooner has he gone than Sergeant Meryll and Fairfax
appear from the Tower. Fairfax has shaved off his beard and
has put on the dress of a Yeoman of the Guard. He is to
pose as the Sergeant's son Leonard. Sergeant Meryll
presents his "son" to the assembled yeomen, who cheer him
to the echo. Phoebe, too, welcomes this "brother" far more
lingeringly and ecstatically than might be considered
perfectly natural. Then while "brother and sister" are
greeting one another the clock of St. Peter's begins to
toll and crowds surge around to witness the execution of
Fairfax. Fairfax (alias Leonard) and two other Yeomen are
ordered to fetch the prisoner, but are back in a moment:
the prisoner has escaped!
ACT II
(Two Days Later)
Jack Point is now in a quandary. He has agreed to Elsie's
marrying the imprisoned Fairfax because he was assured that
Fairfax would die within the hour. Now that Fairfax has
escaped Elsie is still a married woman, and Jack Point
cannot himself marry her. He conceives a plan, however.
With the dazzling bribe of a free schooling in the trade of
a jester he persuades Wilfred to help him in his scheme.
They move off mysteriously.
Meanwhile Fairfax has learned of the identity of the woman
whom he married and resolves to woo her and thus test her
fidelity. A shot from the tower sets everyone agog and an
excited crowd quickly gathers. Wilfred and Point both
appear with an air of importance. Wilfred asserts that he
has had a desperate struggle with Colonel Fairfax, whom he
discovered in a dark corner of the battlements. Fairfax,
after a cunning twist, eluded Wilfred and dived into the
river. Wilfred, however, was equal to the occasion and shot
Fairfax with his arquebus as he swam in the Thames. All
this Jack Point endorses most heartily.
Elsie admits to the supposed Leonard Meryll that she loves
him, when there is an interruption. A pardon for Fairfax
has arrived, and simultaneously comes news that Fairfax is
returning to claim his bride. Poor Elsie is distracted: she
must follow Fairfax, though her heart is elsewhere. There
is much musical analysis of love.
Fairfax comes. Elsie comes forward with bowed head,
lamenting her cruel fate. She looks up and with a start she
sees that the "Leonard" she loves is none other than this
detested Fairfax. With a cry of joy she falls into his arms
amid general rejoicing. Meanwhile Dame Carruthers has
forced Sergeant Meryll into a proposal, and Phoebe Meryll
is promised in marriage to the uncouth Wilfred.
The final scene is one of general gaiety-only Jack Point is
left without a mate-and still singing the refrain "Heighdy,
heighdy! Misery me, lackadaydee! . . . all for the love of
a ladye!" he falls insensible at the feet of the now
happily united couple.