Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/53

 appeared in London Society under the name of "W. Stanislas Leslie," no other than Marie Corelli herself. For the rest, all the critics fell foul of the book and "slated" the author unmercifully.

Some of the reviewers, notwithstanding the mystery they made of it, knew all about the authorship. Miss Corelli gave the news to the world in an anonymous letter to the New York Independent, which was the first journal to reveal the identity of the writer of the poems. It published a brief statement to the effect that the author was simply a gentleman of good position, the descendant of a distinguished and very ancient family, George Eric Mackay "He will undoubtedly," it was added, "be numbered with the choice few whose names are destined to live by the side of poets such as Keats, whom, as far as careful work, delicate feeling, and fiery tenderness go, Eric Mackay may be said to resemble."

Swinburne, about whom Marie Corelli was to write so strongly in "The Sorrows of Satan," the poet-violinist thus addressed:

"Thou art a bee, a bright, a golden thing With too much honey; and the taste thereof Is sometimes rough, and somewhat of a sting Dwells in the music that we hear thee sing."

Again, there are such pretty fancies as: