End of the line

Today, on Jan 20, 2009, a day long awaited by many, I am reminded of one of my favorite poems, from all the way across the sea and a time long ago. It seems that the British had no better luck with their Georges than we, in recent times, have had with our own.

The poem in question sums up, with eloquent brevity, the view of the English toward the entire unfortunate lineage:

George the First was always reckoned
Vile, but viler George the Second;
And what mortal ever heard
Any good of George the Third?
When from earth the Fourth descended,
God be praised, the Georges ended.

– Walter Savage Landor, 1775-1864.

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