The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan Part 73

Blanche: Come mighty Must!

Inevitable Shall!

In thee I trust.

Time weaves my coronal!

Go, mocking Is!

Go, disappointing Was!

That I am this Ye are the cursed cause!

Ye are the cursed cause!

Yet humble second shall be first, I wean And dead and buried be the curst Has Been!

Oh, weak Might Be!

Oh, May, Might, Could, Would, Should!

How pow'rless ye For evil or for good!

In ev'ry sense Your moods I cheerless call.

Whate'er your tense Ye are imperfect all.

Ye have deceiv'd the trust I've shown In ye!

Ye have deceiv'd the trust I've shown In ye!

I've shown in ye!

Away! The Mighty Must alone Shall be!

[Exit Lady Blanche

[Enter Hilarion, Cyril, and Florian, climbing over wall, and creep- ing cautiously among the trees and rocks at the back of the stage.]

TRIO (Cyril, Hilarion and Florian) "Gently, gently"

All: Gently, gently, Evidently We are safe so far, After scaling Fence and paling, Here, at last, we are!

Florian: In this college, Useful knowledge Ev'rywhere one finds, And already, Growing steady, We've enlarged our minds

Cyril: We learnt that p.r.i.c.kly cactus Has power to attract us When we fall.

All: When we fall!

Hilarion: That nothing man unsettles Like a bed of stinging nettles, Short or tall.

All: Short or tall!

Florian: That bull-dogs feed on throttles-- That we don't like broken bottles On a wall.

All: On a wall!

Hilarion: That spring-guns breathe defiance!

And that burglary's a science After all!

All: After all!

Florian: A Woman's college! maddest folly going!

What can girls learn within its walls worth knowing?

I'll lay a crown (the Princess shall decide it) I'll teach them twice as much in half-an-hour outside it.

Hilarion: Hush, scoffer; ere you sound your puny thunder, List to their aims, and bow your head in wonder!

They intend to send a wire To the moon

Cyril & Florian: To the moon;

Hilarion: And they'll set the Thames on fire Very soon

Cyril & Florian: Very soon;

Hilarion: Then they'll learn to make silk purses With their rigs

Cyril & Florian: With their rigs.

Hilarion: From the ears of Lady Circe's Piggy-wigs

Cyril & Florian: Piggy-wigs.

Hilarion: And weasels at their slumbers They trepan

Cyril & Florian: They trepan;

Hilarion: To get sunbeams from cuc.u.mbers They've a plan

Cyril & Florian: They've a plan.

Hilarion: They've a firmly rooted notion They can cross the Polar Ocean, And they'll find Perpetual Motion, If they can

All: If they can.

These are the phenomena That ev'ry pretty domina Is hoping at her Universitee we shall see.

These are the phenomena That ev'ry pretty domina Is hoping at her Universitee we shall see!

Cyril: As for fashion, they forswear it, So they say

Hilarion & Florian: So they say;

Cyril: And the circle -- they will square it Some fine day

Hilarion & Florian: Some fine day;

Cyril: Then the little pigs they're teaching For to fly

Hilarion & Florian: For to fly;

Cyril: And the n.i.g.g.e.rs they'll be bleaching, By and by

Hilarion & Florian: By and by!