See Dickens, still by glory's wreaths untouched,
Pencil 'twixt first and second fingers clutched,
Transcribing, in his nervous, dashing way,
The parliamentary rubbish of the day!
Him on his rapid homeward journey see;
An omnibus for office, and his knee
Extemporized into a desk, whereon
He writes what lesser men have said and done!
See Thackeray, through English streets and vales,
Make notes and sketches for his wondrous tales,