In a 1900 article in Courier, Cather says Paul Ford "has so vulgarized history and so caricatured human nature."
In "The Hundred Worst Books and They That Wrote Them," the author writes: "If there are not more than a hundred of them in themselves I should surely put into the category of poor books most of these insincere historical romances, from sweet Janice and When Knighthood Was in Flower down to the least successful and least convincing of the lot."