Very tired, Very dispirited, Ever sincerely and hopefully yours, JOSEPH PARKER.
The note from the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes ran thus:--
I find that my friend, Mr. R. J. Campbell, of Brighton, has asked you to open a Bazaar in the Dome. I take the liberty of expressing a very earnest hope that you will be able to comply with Mr. Campbell’s request. Mr. Campbell occupies a quite unique position among us, and any kindness shown to him will be a kindness to us all.
I am, dear Madam, Yours sincerely, HUGH PRICE HUGHES.
Miss Corelli, however, who was just at that time being made the subject of some particularly venomous attacks concerning her romance, “Temporal Power,” felt compelled to maintain her refusal, though much to her own great disinclination and regret--a regret that we share, for we should like to be able to record that she opened the bazaar after all.
The following letter, which deals with a critique on “Temporal Power,” is most interesting from the point of view that it was written by one lady-novelist in defense of another; it possesses all the more weight seeing that Mrs. Rentoul Esler is an entire stranger to Miss Corelli.
Sir,--When a new book appears there are only two points on which the reading public requires enlightenment. These are the subject of the book and the manner in which that subject is handled. All else is apart from the best interests of literature, and the literary life. When a book from Miss Marie Corelli is issued it seems the fashion in press circles to discourse largely and loosely of the writer and to say little or nothing of her work.
The abuse poured on this lady seems to do the sale of her books no harm--it may even increase it--and the supposition is suggestive--but as books and the making of them have an interest apart from the commercial one, it seems time that a protest be made against the unworthy treatment to which one individual is habitually subjected. I have no personal acquaintance with Miss Corelli, and her books give me no more pleasure and no less than do those of Mr. George Meredith, whom your critic seems to place in antithesis to her, this also being the fashion of the moment; it is not in defense of a favorite writer that I wish to express an opinion, but in defense of those qualities that render criticism an honorable calling.