Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/159



"August 29th, 1892.

"Mille felicitations! Thelma, I hope you will keep a diary, which, though it will not be published in my day, and I shan't read it, will some day give interesting glimpses into the social life of this last decade of the nineteenth century.

"That is a good trait in you that you love your work, and as long as you do, take it from an old publisher, the public will like it. Once write as a machine, and the decline is assured.

"I hope and expect that you will like the Prince of Wales. Gambetta thought highly of him, and your wit will draw out his."

"October 4th, 1892.

"I wish you were more assured on this point. Such a creation as 'Ardath' will not be again in our time. It assures your position amongst all those whose opinion is worth having, as surely as Beckford is remembered to this day by the 'Hall of Eblis.'"

The next (undated) was written just after Queen Victoria desired that all Marie Corelli's works should be sent to her:—

"Bravo! Bravissimo!! dear Thelma, as one used to cry out in my old opera days, when the glorious Grisi denounced Pollio in Norma. I rejoice at your being recognized all round by Scotch Duchess and Australian wool merchant, and I hope it may be that Her Most Gracious Majesty will enjoy a trip into the two worlds of her bright little subject's creation, wherein the subject is Queen and the Queen her subject."