<Li> Jump up ^ This is a reference to The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World by Sir Edward Creasy (1851). This classic military history describes the great battles of the world, from "Marathon to Waterloo". When the Major - General says that he can name these "in order categorical", he is saying that he will organise the information not merely in a simple order, such as chronological order, but by category--sea battles vs. land battles, etc . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ The Major - General claims to be able to hum a fugue, but because a fugue contains more than one musical line playing simultaneously in counterpoint, humming all the parts of a fugue simultaneously is impossible . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ In John H. Foley's 1859 sculpture, Caractacus is only wearing a loincloth, and so knowing the details of his "uniform" is not a great achievement . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ In early versions of the libretto, "Mauser rifle" in line 26 is "Chassepot rifle". The Mauser rifle was based on the earlier Chassepot and had an improved rotating bolt system for breechloaders . First invented in 1867, the Mauser rifle was adopted by the German army in 1871, after the German victory in the Franco - Prussian War of 1870--1871 . Subsequently, the Mauser became the more widely used rifle and the more familiar to audiences, and the lyric was changed . </Li>

I am the model of a major general lyrics