His characters now figured in that period sublime
Which, with convenient vagueness, writers call “The Olden Time.”
They said “Oddsbobs,” “Grammercy,” and other phrases sweet,
Extracted from old English as supplied in Wardour Street.
Exciting was their wooing, constant battles did they wage,
And some one murdered some one else on every other page;
Whereat the critics flung their caps, and one and all agreed,
“Hail to the great John Jenkins! This is True Romance indeed!”
And so John Jenkins flourishes, and scribbles wondrous fast
A string of such “romances,” each exactly like the last;