_Small Stranger_ (_to Master of the house_). "OW MY! THE GENTLEMAN AS
OPENS THE DOOR _WILL_ GIVE IT YER, IF YER RING _THAT_ BELL!"]

* * * * *

OPERATIC GOSSIP.

During the preparation of Sir ARTHUR SULLIVAN's new Opera, _Ivanhoe_,
a grave objection to the subject occurred to him, which was, that
one of the chief personages in the _dramatis personæ_ must be
"Gilbert"--i.e., _Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert_. True, that _Sir Brian_
is the villain of the piece, but this, to Sir ARTHUR's generous
disposition, only made matters worse. It was evident that he couldn't
change the character's name to _Sir Brian de Bois-Sullivan_, and Mr.
D'OYLEY CARTE refused to allow his name to appear in the bill except
as Lessee. "I can't put him in simply as _Sir Brian_," said the
puzzled Composer, "unless I make him an Irishman, and I don't think my
librettist will consent to take this liberty with SCOTT's novel." "But
the name in the Opera isn't pronounced the same as W.S.G.'s," objected
D'OYLEY. "It will be outside the Opera by ninety out of a hundred,"
answered Sir ARTHUR. "But," continued D'OYLEY, persistently, "it isn't
spelt the same." "No," replied Sir ARTHUR, "that's the worst of it;
there's 'u' and 'i' in it; we're both mixed up with this _Guilbert_."
Fortunately, the Composer and the Author made up their quarrel, and as
a memento of the happy termination to the temporary misunderstanding,
Sir ARTHUR, in a truly generous mood, designed to call the character
"_Sir Brian de Bois-Gilbert-and-Sullivan_." Whether the mysterious
librettist, whose name has only lately been breathed in the public
ear, insisted on SCOTT's original name being retained or not, it is
now pretty certain that there will be no departure from the great