"Jolly" is just a filler, as in "jolly bad" (which would otherwise be verging on the oxymoronic). Think of all those bold or brisk men, or all those pretty fair women: useful clichés in a medium where, after all, repetition is a staple. Patterson was being colloquial, or consciously imitating a traditional or popular style. You'd expect something different from Keats or Shelley.

Steve