I don’t doubt that W.S. Gilbert drew heavily upon past English Literature!
Modern-Day Gilbert & Sullivan fans almost need extended footnotes to get a lot of his humor. It would seem that Victorian audiences had a lot better background in the Classics, and what was uproariously funny 130 years ago leaves many modern audiences scratching their heads.
But, then, again, who would have ever guessed that Broadway hits could be made by retelling the story of Alexander Hamilton in hip-hop jargon, or by mocking the Book of Mormon? LOL!
((((JFTR, I memorized 7 G&S operas by the time I was in sixth grade, and the verses still pop up in my head from time to time...like on this Fairy Thread! LOL! Happy New Year, FRiend!))))
I recognize Model of a modern major general, uh, the tune that Todd Rundgren covered on either “Something/Anything” or “Todd”... the opening number of “The Mikado”... uh-boy... that may be it...