We're too absorbed in Politics, enamoured of Monotony,
To give an ear to Geniuses (supposing we had got any!)
But First-Class in our Fiction Mr. Harrison abolishes,
Indeed most Authors travel Third, their talent so toll-lollish is.
It's all the Fin-de-Siècle's fault—and this, of course, a true bill is;
For Genius puts its shutters up when centuries pass their jubilees!
As Mr. Harrison can prove by references historical,—
And any utterance of his is equal to an oracle.
We cannot stand a novel now, he says, if there's a shock in it;
Prefer our heroine angular, her eye must have a cock in it,