Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/307

 must be able to make a world of his own, and live in it, before he can make one for others. When he has evolved such a world out of his individual consciousness, and has peopled it with the creations of his fancy, he can turn its "airy substance" into reality for all time.

"Shakespeare's world is real; so real that there are not wanting certain literary impostors who grudge him its reality, and strive to dispossess him of his own. Walter Scott's world is real; so real that you have built him a shrine here in Edinburgh, crowded with sculptured figures of men and women, most of whom never existed save in his teeming fancy. What a tribute to the power of Imagination is that beautiful monument in the centre of Princes Street, with all the forms evoked from one great mind, lifted high above us, who consider ourselves 'real' people!"

The lecturer proceeded to deplore acts of vandalism such as that which caused "the pitiful ruin of Loch Katrine" in supplying Glasgow with water. Further on she lamented the gradual disappearance of "that idealistic and romantic spirit" which has helped to make Scotland's history such a brilliant chronicle of heroism and honor.

In her powerful peroration the novelist graphically told of modern wonders which were imagined when the world was young.

"What, after all, is Imagination? It is a great