[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

I would say it compares Parliament's ineptitude to the triumphs of Britain's military and monarchs. I was thinking of the first verse and the title of the song. As Patton said, "Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance."

Interesting quote, revealing something that remains true of legislatures today.

[nopardons]

Ummmm...King George III was NOT a spectacular monarch ( Queen Elizabeth I certainly was, though )and was pretty much a do nothing one in his later years. It was too early in Queen Victoria's reign to know how good or not she was and by the time she was Queen, she didn't have all that much "political" power.

As far as people are concerned, human nature doesn't change; only technology changes. And that's why, even though both Shakespeare and Gilbert wrote for their own eras, both writers are still valid/interesting today.

The wonderful thing about Gilbert's satire, is that he chose themes that have not only held up, throughout the ensuing century plus decades, but many have become relevant as people have come back to the same things again and again...transendentalism, aethetics,"feministism"/women in college, class warfare, do nothing pols, stupid laws, "the Peter Principle" stuff, etc. !