This sonnet provides a kind of journalistic report on the state of England in 1819. King George III was “old, mad, blind, despised, and dying,” with his son ruling England because George III was unable to do so. The people are “starved and stabbed,” while the army and the laws simultaneously exert power and hurt the people. The Christian leaders are “Christless.” Yet, maybe some new, calm light will arise from the best of old England.