The Englishman.

He is an Englishman!
For he himself has said it,
And it's greatly to his credit,
That he is an Englishman!
For he might have been a Roosian,
A French, or Turk, or Proosian,
Or perhaps Itali-an!
But in spite of all temptations,
To belong to other nations,
He remains an Englishman!
Hurrah!
For the true born Englishman!

William Schwenck Gilbert

William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet, and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas, including 'H.M.S. Pinafore', 'The Pirates of Penzance', and 'The Mikado'. His works are known for their light-hearted satirical humor and have remained popular for their wit and creativity. Gilbert was also a barrister and produced several serious plays.

William Schwenck Gilbert

The Fairy Queen's Song

William Schwenck Gilbert, Simple Poetry

The Fairy Curate.

William Schwenck Gilbert, Simple Poetry

The Suicide's Grave.

William Schwenck Gilbert, Simple Poetry

A Merry Madrigal.

William Schwenck Gilbert, Simple Poetry

English

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The Englishman

Born in the flesh, and bred in the bone,
    Some of us harbour still
A New World pride:    and we flaunt or hide
    The Spirit of Bunker Hill.
We claim our place, as a separate race,
    Or a self-created clan;
Till there comes a day when we like to say,
    'We are kin of the Englishman.'

For under the front that seems so cold,
    And the voice that is wont to storm,
We are certain to find, a big, broad mind
    And a heart that is soft and warm.
And he carries his woes in a lordly way,
    As only the great souls can:
And it makes us glad when in truth we say,
    We are kin of the Englishman.'

He slams his door in the face of the world,
    If he thinks the world too bold.
He will even curse; but he opens his purse
    To the p...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

An English Toast.

    The English soil! - 'tis hallowed ground:
        Its restless children roam
    The world, but they have never found
        So dear a land as home;
    Their passion for its hills and downs
        Nor space nor time can spoil;
    A golden mist of memory crowns
        The good old English soil.

    The English race! - its pluck and pith,
        Its power to stay and win, -
    Wise Alfred's, dauntless Harold's kith,
        And Coeur de Lion's kin!
    Sir Philip Sidney, Hampden, Noll,
        Who sat in kingly place!
    Wolfe, Nelson, Wellington and all
        The good old English race!

    The English speech! - the copious tongue,
        Terse, vivid, plastic, fit,
    Which Chaucer, Spenser loved and sung,
        Whic...

W. M. MacKeracher

The New Englishman

I've lived all my life i' Keighley,
    I'm a Yorkshire artisan;
An' when I were just turned seventy
    I became an Englishman.

Nat'ralised German! nay, deng it!
    I'm British-born, same as thee!
But I niver thowt mich to my country,
    While(1) my country thowt mich to me.

I were proud o' my lodge an' my union,
    An' proud o' my town an' my shire;
But all t' consans o' t' nation,
    I left to t' parson an' t' squire.

Class-war were t' faith that I Iived for,
    I call'd all capit'lists sharks;
An' "T' workin' man has no country,"
    Were my Gospel accordin' to Marx.

When I'd lossen my job back i' t' eighties,
    An were laikin' for well-nigh two year,
Who said that an out-o'-wark fettler
    Were costin' his co...

Frederic William Moorman

An English Girl

A wonderful joy our eyes to bless,
In her magnificent comeliness,
Is an English girl of eleven stone two,
And five foot ten in her dancing shoe!
She follows the hounds, and on she pounds -
The "field" tails off and the muffs diminish -
Over the hedges and brooks she bounds -
Straight as a crow, from find to finish.
At cricket, her kin will lose or win -
She and her maids, on grass and clover,
Eleven maids out - eleven maids in -
(And perhaps an occasional "maiden over").
Go search the world and search the sea,
Then come you home and sing with me
There's no such gold and no such pearl
As a bright and beautiful English girl!

With a ten-mile spin she stretches her limbs,
She golfs, she punts, she rows, she swims -
She plays, she sings, she dances,...

William Schwenck Gilbert

An Unfortunate Likeness.

I've painted Shakespeare all my life -
"An infant" (even then at "play"!)
"A boy," with stage-ambition rife,
Then "Married to Ann Hathaway."

"The bard's first ticket night" (or "ben."),
His "First appearance on the stage,"
His "Call before the curtain" then
"Rejoicings when he came of age."

The bard play-writing in his room,
The bard a humble lawyer's clerk.
The bard a lawyer ^{1} parson ^{2} groom ^{3} -
The bard deer-stealing, after dark.

The bard a tradesman ^{4} and a Jew ^{5} -
The bard a botanist ^{6} a beak ^{7} -
The bard a skilled musician ^{8} too -
A sheriff ^{9} and a surgeon ^{10} eke!

Yet critics say (a friendly stock)
...

William Schwenck Gilbert

The Reward Of Merit.

Dr. Belville was regarded as the Crichton of his age:
His tragedies were reckoned much too thoughtful for the stage;
His poems held a noble rank, although it's very true
That, being very proper, they were read by very few.
He was a famous Painter, too, and shone upon the "line,"
And even Mr. Ruskin came and worshipped at his shrine;
But, alas, the school he followed was heroically high
The kind of Art men rave about, but very seldom buy
And everybody said
"How can he be repaid
This very great this very good this very gifted man?"
But nobody could hit upon a practicable plan!

He was a great Inventor, and discovered, all alone,
A plan for making everybody's fortune but his own;
For, in business, an Inventor's little better than a fool,
And my highly gifted frie...

William Schwenck Gilbert