Gilbert & Sullivan on Leap Day

For some ridiculous reason, to which, however, I’ve no desire to be disloyal,
Some person in authority, I don’t know who, very likely the Astronomer Royal,
Has decided that, although for such a beastly month as February, twenty-eight days as a general rule are plenty,
One year in every four, its days shall be reckoned as nine and twenty.

Pirates of Penzance
Gilbert & Sullivan 1880

The Pirate King