Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/309



the fire day and night, over land and sea to all those priests over whom he had command, so that all the people should be made subject to his will. And he received answers to his messages without stop or stay, and none could hold or see the running fire, so that all the land was in fear by reason of the knowledge of Saurid.' In the same volume we find that a priestess, named Borsa, evidently used the telephone; for, according to her history, 'she applied her mouth and ears unto pipes in the wall of her dwelling, and so heard and answered the requests of the people in the distant city.'

"Thus it would seem that there is nothing new under the sun to that 'dainty Ariel' of the mind—Imagination."

Early in 1902 Miss Corelli again gave an address in Scotland—this time at Glasgow, where one of the largest audiences ever known in that city assembled to hear her lecture on "Signs of the Times." Every seat was occupied, and up to the last moment numbers were clamoring for only standing room. All reserved seats had been booked for nearly three weeks beforehand, and the extraordinary number of applications received proved that double the accommodation available could have been taken up.

The Address was undeniably daring and spirited, touching on various social aspects of the hour. The apathy of Parliament on certain pressing matters of home interest, the new rules of Procedure in the