ABSTRACT
The crew of H. M. S. Pinafore praises the young sailor Ralph Rackstraw because, 'in spite of all temptations to belong to other nations', he is an Englishman. This chapter explores about the attitude of William Schwenck Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, and that of the Victorian middle class as a whole, towards the vexed question of English national identity. The English governess in Utopia Limited suggests that the 'well-known blush', the 'downcast eyes"and 'famous look of mild surprise' need to be practised before the mirror: English girls of well-bred notionsShun all unrehearsed emotions. A correspondent in Dwight's Journal of Music in 1861, however, takes issue with an American writer's claim that there was no national English music and that what was described as English music had 'no distinctive character'. A folksong character can be found in the duet 'I have a song to sing, O!' from The Yeomen of the Guard.
