CORELLI, MARIE (1864- ), English novelist, was the daughter of an Italian father and a Scottish mother, but in infancy was adopted by Charles Mackay (q.v.), the song-writer and journalist, whose son Eric, at his death, became her guardian. She was sent to be educated in a French convent with the object of training her for the musical profession, and while still a girl composed various pieces of music. But her journalistic connexion proved a stronger stimulus to expression, and editors who were friends of her adopted father printed some of her early poetry. Then she produced what was at least a clever, if not a remarkably well written, romantic story, on the theme of a self-revelation connecting the Christian Deity with a world force in the form of electricity, which was published in 1886 under the title of A Romance of Two Worlds. It had an immediate and large sale, which resulted, naturally, in her devoting her inventive faculty to satisfy the public demand for similar work. Thus she wrote in succession a series of melodramatic romantic novels, original in some aspects of their treatment, daring in others, but all combining a readable plot with enough au fond of what the majority demanded in ethical and religious correctness to suit a widespread contemporary taste; these were Vendetta (1886), Thelma (1887), Ardath (1889), The Soul of Lilith (1892), Barabbas (1893), The Sorrows of Satan (1895),—the very titles were catching,—The Mighty Atom (1896),—which appealed to all who knew enough of modern science to wish to think it wicked,—and others, down to The Master Christian (1900), again satisfying the socio-ethico-religious demand, and Temporal Power (1902), with its contemporary suggestion from the accession of Edward VII. Miss Corelli had the advantage of writing quite sincerely and with conviction, amid what superior critics sneered at as bad style and sensationalism, on themes which conventional readers nevertheless enjoyed, and round plots which were dramatic and vigorous. Her popular success was great and advertised itself. It was helped by a well-spread belief that Queen Victoria preferred her novels to any other. Reviewers wrote sarcastically, and justly, of her obvious literary lapses and failings; she retorted by pitying the poor reviewers and letting it be understood that no books of hers were sent to the Press for criticism. When she went to live at Stratford-on-Avon, her personality, and her importance in the literary world, became further allied with the historic associations of the place; and in the public life of women writers her utterances had the réclame which is emphasized by journalistic publicity. Such success is not to be gauged by purely literary standards; the popularity of Miss Corelli’s novels is a phenomenon not so much of literature as of literary energy—entirely creditable to the journalistic resource of the writer, and characteristic of contemporary pleasure in readable fiction.
CORENZIO, BELISARIO (c. 1558-1643), Italian painter, a Greek by birth, studied at Venice under Tintoretto, and then settled at Naples, where he became famous for unscrupulous conduct as a man and rapid execution as an artist. Though careless in composition and a mannerist in style, he possessed an acknowledged fertility of invention and readiness of hand; and these qualities, allied to a certain breadth of conception, seem in the eyes of his contemporaries to have atoned for many defects. When Guido Reni came in 1621 to Naples to paint in the chapel of St Januarius, Corenzio suborned an assassin to take his life. The hired bravo killed Guido’s assistant, and effectually frightened Reni, who prudently withdrew to Rome. Corenzio, however, only suffered temporary imprisonment, and lived long enough to supplant Ribera in the good graces of Don Pedro di Toledo, viceroy of Naples, who made him his court painter. Corenzio vainly endeavoured to fill Guido’s place in the chapel of St Januarius. His work was adjudged to have been under the mark, and yet the numerous frescoes which he left in Neapolitan churches and palaces, and the large wall paintings which still cover the cupola of the church of Monte Casino are evidence of uncommon facility, and show that Corenzio was not greatly inferior to the fa prestos of his time. His florid style, indeed, seems well in keeping with the overladen architecture and full-blown decorative ornament peculiar to the Jesuit builders of the 17th century. Corenzio died, it is said, at the age of eighty-five by a fall from a scaffolding.
CO-RESPONDENT, in law, generally, a person made respondent to, or called upon to answer, along with another or others, a petition or other proceeding. More particularly, since the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, the term is applied to the person charged by a husband, when presenting a petition praying for the dissolution of his marriage on the ground of adultery, with misconduct with his wife, and made, jointly with her, a respondent to the suit. (See also [Divorce].)
CORFE CASTLE, a town in the eastern parliamentary division of Dorsetshire, England, in the district called the Isle of Purbeck, 129½ m. S.W. by W. from London by the London & South-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 1440. The castle, through which the town is famous, guarded a gap in the line of considerable hills which rise in the centre of Purbeck. It is strongly placed on an eminence falling almost sheer on three sides. Its ruins are extensive, and date for the most part from the Norman period to the reign of Edward I. There is, however, a trace of early masonry which may have belonged to the Saxon house where, in 978, King Edward the Martyr was murdered. Corfe Castle was held for the empress Maud against King Stephen in 1139, was frequently the residence of King John, and was a stronghold of the barons against Henry III. Edward II. was imprisoned here for a short period. The castle withstood a protracted siege by the Parliamentarians in 1643, and fell to them by treachery in 1646, after which it was dismantled and wrecked. The church in the town, almost wholly rebuilt, is dedicated to St Edward the Martyr. The quarrying of Purbeck stone and the raising of potters’ clay are the chief industries.
Probably Corfe Castle (Corfes geat, Corf geat, Corve, Corph) was an early Anglo-Saxon settlement. According to William of Malmesbury the church was founded by St Aldhelm in the 7th century. In 1086 the abbey of Shaftesbury held the manor, which afterwards passed to the Norman kings, who raised the castle. Its date is disputed, but the town dependent on it seems to have grown up during the 13th century, being first mentioned in 1290, when an inquisition states that the mayor has pesage of wool and cheese. The rights of the burgesses seem to have been undefined, for frequent commissions attest to encroachments on the rights of warren, forest and wreckage belonging to the royal manor. In 1380-1381 at an inquisition into the liberties of Corfe Castle, the jurors declared that from time immemorial the constable and his steward had held all pleas and amerciaments except those of the mayor’s court of Pie Powder, but that the town had judgment by fire, water and combat. The tenants, or “barons,” elected themselves a mayor and coroners, but the constable received the assize of ale. Elizabeth in 1577 gave exclusive admiralty jurisdiction within the island of Purbeck to Sir Christopher Hatton, and granted the mayor and “barons” of Corfe the rights they enjoyed by prescription and charter and that of not being placed on juries or assizes in matters beyond the island. Charles II. incorporated Corfe Castle in 1663, the mayor being elected at a court leet from three nominees of the lord of the manor. Corfe Castle first returned two representatives to parliament in 1572, but was disfranchised in 1832. A market for each Saturday was granted to Corfe in 1214, and in 1248 the town obtained a fair and a market on each Thursday, while Elizabeth granted fairs on the feasts of St Philip and St James and of St Luke; both of these still survive. As early as the 14th century the quarrying and export of marble gave employment to the men of Corfe, and during the 18th century the knitting of stockings was a flourishing industry.
See T. Bond, History and Description of Corfe Castle (London and Bournemouth, 1883).