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 Mrs. Rentoul Esler is herself a writer of distinction and power, and is thus able to express herself with the vigor and lucidity which carry conviction. Her letter is a clear call for that "Fair Play" which Marie Corelli has been demanding for so long.

That the novelist is well able to retort upon unfriendly critics is shown by a few verses addressed by her to The Quarterly in her "Christmas Greeting" (1901). A lacerating article concerning Miss Corelli and her work had appeared in ''The Quarterly'', and it drew from her the following little epigram:—

TO THE QUARTERLY

WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON

Greeting, old friend! A merry Christmas time To you, who nothing merry ever see;— Great Murderer of poets in their prime,— Why have you struck at me?

With vengeful hooks of sharpened critic-steel You tortured giants in the days gone by,— And now upon your creaking, rusty wheel, You'd break a Butterfly!

Alas! you're far too cumbrous for such things! Your heavy, clanking axle drags i' the chase;— The happy Insect has the use of wings, And keeps its Sunshine-place!