Gilbert and Sullivan ancestor and the device of the ghostly ancestors stepping out of their portraits. When "Ruddigore" closed, no new opera was ready. Gilbert again proposed a version of the "lozenge" plot for their next opera, and Sullivan reiterated his reluctance to set it. While the two men worked out their artistic differences, and Sullivan finished other obligations, Carte produced revivals of such old favourites as "H.M.S. Pinafore", "The Pirates of Penzance", and "The Mikado". "The Yeomen of the Guard" (1888), their only joint work with a serious ending, concerns a pair of strolling players—a jester and a singing girl—who are caught
Gilbert and Sullivan up in a risky intrigue at the Tower of London during the 16th century. The dialogue, though in prose, is quasi-early modern English in style, and there is no satire of British institutions. For some of the plot elements, Gilbert had reached back to his 1875 tragedy, "Broken Hearts". "The Times" praised the libretto: "It should... be acknowledged that Mr. Gilbert has earnestly endeavoured to leave familiar grooves and rise to higher things." Although not a grand opera, the new libretto provided Sullivan with the opportunity to write his most ambitious score to date. The critics, who had recently lauded