The young and aspiring writer has probably trodden a thorny path in his pursuit of fame at all stages of literary history; for, dealing only with the facts of yesterday and to-day, the scribe of tender years, after successfully arranging for the publication of his work has still had the vitriolic condemnation of the jealous critic to contend with.
There have been occasional straightforward articles in the literary journals on the ethics of criticism, and now and then a writer of note and influence has come forward with a word in behalf of the literary pilgrim, who, however, still goes on his way having no real weapon of defense save his native ability—and in Marie Corelli’s case this has proved to be a very sharp weapon indeed!
How Mr. Bentley first became acquainted with Miss Corelli has already been described in the chapter on “A Romance of Two Worlds.” When Mr. Bentley paid his first call on her, he found her, to his astonishment, a mere schoolgirl. It was altogether a novel experience to him to have dealings with a writer who was at once so youthful and so gifted, and the attitude he adopted towards her from that time onwards was benignly paternal.
Marie Corelli has never employed a literary agent, and fails to see why a writer should not manage his or her own business affairs without any such extraneous assistance. In some respects we ourselves are of the opinion that the agent is an undesirable “middleman,” he being far too apt to hold out glittering awards which lure authors on to work above their normal pace; but it must be borne in mind that there are many authors who are poor hands at haggling over terms with publishers and editors, and, in such cases, the literary agent proves of great service.
No gentleman of this order, then, came between Miss Corelli and Mr. Bentley after the successful appearance of the “Romance;” terms for future work were arranged to the mutual satisfaction of author and publisher; and book after book, under these genial auspices, was steadily written, each new volume serving still more fully to substantiate the high opinion Mr. Bentley formed of Miss Corelli’s abilities after reading her first manuscript.
Shortly after the publication of “The Soul of Lilith” Mr. George Bentley retired from active participation in the business of his firm (which was subsequently incorporated with the house of Macmillan), and Miss Corelli transferred her books to Messrs. Methuen. Hereunder is a list of the novelist’s works published by Messrs. Bentley:
| “A Romance of Two Worlds,” | Published | 1886. |
| “Vendetta,” | “ | 1887. |
| “Thelma,” | “ | 1888. |
| “Ardath,” | “ | 1889. |
| “Wormwood,” | “ | 1890. |
| “The Soul of Lilith,” | “ | 1892. |
Portions of some of the many letters written to the author of these works by her publisher we have already quoted. We will now proceed to give a selection of extracts from others. The reader will not fail to observe how happily cordial—affectionate, almost—were the relations of these two—the gray-headed publisher and the young lady novelist.
The first of our selection has to do with “Ardath,” which Mr. Bentley had been reading in manuscript form:
“March 3d, 1889.