CHAPTER VII

MR. BENTLEY’S ENCOURAGEMENT--SOME LETTERS OF AN OLD PUBLISHER

When Solomon was at the zenith of his glory the number of people who could read must have been extremely limited, and yet that monarch--whose methods of administering justice may compare, in point of brevity and common sense, with those of the late Mr. Commissioner Kerr--is known to have commented on the never-ceasing literary output of his generation.

We may take it, then, that from the earliest times the supply of books has always exceeded the demand--when Israel had kings there must have been publishers, and from that era to the days of Byron (and, possibly, in subsequent times) there must have been robbers among them.

The young and aspiring writer has probably trodden a thorny path in his pursuit of fame at all stages of literary history; for, dealing only with the facts of yesterday and to-day, the scribe of tender years, after successfully arranging for the publication of his work has still had the vitriolic condemnation of the jealous critic to contend with.

There have been occasional straightforward articles in the literary journals on the ethics of criticism, and now and then a writer of note and influence has come forward with a word in behalf of the literary pilgrim, who, however, still goes on his way having no real weapon of defense save his native ability--and in Marie Corelli’s case this has proved to be a very sharp weapon indeed!

How Mr. Bentley first became acquainted with Miss Corelli has already been described in the chapter on “A Romance of Two Worlds.” When Mr. Bentley paid his first call on her, he found her, to his astonishment, a mere schoolgirl. It was altogether a novel experience to him to have dealings with a writer who was at once so youthful and so gifted, and the attitude he adopted towards her from that time onwards was benignly paternal.

Marie Corelli has never employed a literary agent, and fails to see why a writer should not manage his or her own business affairs without any such extraneous assistance. In some respects we ourselves are of the opinion that the agent is an undesirable “middleman,” he being far too apt to hold out glittering awards which lure authors on to work above their normal pace; but it must be borne in mind that there are many authors who are poor hands at haggling over terms with publishers and editors, and, in such cases, the literary agent proves of great service.

No gentleman of this order, then, came between Miss Corelli and Mr. Bentley after the successful appearance of the “Romance;” terms for future work were arranged to the mutual satisfaction of author and publisher; and book after book, under these genial auspices, was steadily written, each new volume serving still more fully to substantiate the high opinion Mr. Bentley formed of Miss Corelli’s abilities after reading her first manuscript.

Shortly after the publication of “The Soul of Lilith” Mr. George Bentley retired from active participation in the business of his firm (which was subsequently incorporated with the house of Macmillan), and Miss Corelli transferred her books to Messrs. Methuen. Hereunder is a list of the novelist’s works published by Messrs. Bentley:

“A Romance of Two Worlds,” Published 1886. “Vendetta,” “ 1887. “Thelma,” “ 1888. “Ardath,” “ 1889. “Wormwood,” “ 1890. “The Soul of Lilith,” “ 1892.

Portions of some of the many letters written to the author of these works by her publisher we have already quoted. We will now proceed to give a selection of extracts from others. The reader will not fail to observe how happily cordial--affectionate, almost--were the relations of these two--the gray-headed publisher and the young lady novelist.

The first of our selection has to do with “Ardath,” which Mr. Bentley had been reading in manuscript form:

“_March 3d, 1889._

“You have been very patient and considerate, and I think you believed that I would not lose any time in reading your Romance, for a Romance it is, and a most original one. _I have read it all_, that is, to 964. I should like to see the conclusion.

“The story of Al-Kyris is a magnificent dream, the product of a rich imagination, the story rising towards the close to considerable power. The design, the method, the treatment, all are original, and the fancy has an Eastern richness, and, I presume, a legitimate basis in fact.

* * * * *

“There is so much in the work that I could write yards upon yards about it. The fine drawing of Sah-Lûma, its consistency, and the moral taught by him; the character of Lysia, typifying Lust; that of poor Niphrâta, of the King, and the finely conceived character of Theos; the scenes, one after the other, in rapid succession, ending in the fall of Al-Kyris, should give you a _status_ as a writer of no ordinary character.

* * * * *

“There can be no doubt that it is a most unusual work, a daring and sustained flight of the imagination. You will have to rest after it, for some of your _life_ has gone into it.”

“_March 14th, 1889._

“You must bear in mind that in giving an opinion I am bound to have an eye upon what I deem defect, rightly or wrongly. I have no need to call your attention to merits--if I had, I could write a quarto letter on the merits of Al-Kyris, in which I include, by the way, the beautiful scene on Ardath, and the first introduction of Edris. So in the epilogue I quite agree with your critic in his high admiration of the Cathedral scene, and the reappearance of Edris.

* * * * *

“Please do what you wish--you may be quite right and I wrong. I shall be very glad to be wrong, as I sincerely desire your success, because you have a worthy motive and an honorable ambition in writing, and not any lower aim competing with your Art-Love.

* * * * *

“I enter into your feelings about being ‘passed over,’ but I observe that reputations which grow gradually and always grow, come to compel attention at some time or other.”

It would appear from the next letter that the novelist had been throwing out a hint that the doughty knights of Grub Street might be approached with a preface of a nature to make them pause ere they ground her latest work under heel. Mr. Bentley’s letter in reply, like that which follows it, is redolent of his sturdy independence and sound common sense.

“_April 21st, 1889._

“As to an appeal to critics, I never make one. No good book, that is a really literary production, should require it, and any other sort of book doesn’t deserve it.”

“_May 27th, 1889._

“The criticism will do no harm, though it may exercise some in trying to understand how the blowing hot and cold can be reconciled. For years almost the whole Press regularly attacked Miss Broughton, and I have often said that in a long business life I have never known any one so decried as she was by the Press, who yet had the good fortune to see the public set aside the verdict of the critics. May the public so deal with you, and leave the critics to their isolation.”

The following was written after Mr. Gladstone’s first visit to the novelist. It should be explained that Mr. Gladstone, when he first called, found Miss Corelli “out,” and was afterwards invited by her to come to tea on a particular date:

“_June 4th, 1889._

“I do indeed congratulate you on bringing the man (Gladstone), who is in all men’s mouths, to your feet, and that, too, simply by your writings. I know you will be charmed with him, and he with you. That is a safe prophecy. You will find him delightfully eloquent, various in knowledge, and highly appreciative.”

And again, on the same topic:

“UPTON, SLOUGH, BUCKS, “_June 6th, 1889_.

“How very kind of you to write to me the very interesting account of your interview with Mr. Gladstone!

“It is an event of your life, an event of which you may well be proud, because the interview arises from his interest in the product of your brain and heart. It does him honor that he should thus seek to form the acquaintance of one whom he believes to be possibly moulding public opinion in religious matters.

“I do most heartily congratulate you, because, in the history of your life, such an interview henceforth becomes a bit of your career, as Fox’s conversations with the poet Rogers forms an interesting and valuable episode in Rogers’ life.”

The following are characteristic of Mr. Bentley’s opinions and frame of mind. The conclusion of the letter written in October is pleasantly Johnsonian:

“_June 11th, 1889._

“Genius recognizes genius; it is only mediocrity which is jealous. Genius is too full of richness to want others’ laurels.”

“_October 14th, 1889._

“I shall very gladly give the matter my best attention, as I need not add that my literary association with you is a source both of pleasure and pride to me. At any rate I feel a pride and pleasure in publishing for an author who loves her work, and does it not primarily for money, but for fame, and because she can’t help the bubbling over of her rich imagination. When I get to London, one of my first visits will be to you. Real conversation is delightful and refreshing, and the idle talk of the ‘crushes’ is weariness of the flesh and death to the spirit. You, who aim at higher things, have an ideal; you who, thank God, believe this world to be a stepping-stone to one of immeasurable superiority, must often have asked yourself, after one of the great assemblies to which you went or where you received--_Cui bono?_ Yes, if the weather keeps decent, I will with the greatest pleasure refresh my mind with some converse with you.”

Now occurs an interval of ten months, and then the manuscript of “Wormwood” evokes the following sentiments:

“_August 5th, 1890._

“DEAR THELMA,--Of the power in your latest work there can be no doubt. The interest commences immediately, and is on the increase throughout. The grip you have of the story is extraordinary, and will react upon the reader, ensuring success.”

“_September 5th, 1890._

“The public, however, may forgive you for the extraordinary power of some of the scenes, which haunt me now, though it is a month since I read them.”

“OCTOBER 9TH, 1890.

“When you are on the eve of a remarkable success in the making or marring of which a few days can have no part, it is a little unreasonable that you should take so gloomy a view. I await with confidence the happier feeling which I feel certain is to succeed these darker moments, and am, as ever....”

“_October 20th, 1890._

“I feel very confident of a great run upon your book. Power is what the public never refuses to recognize.”

“_October 24th, 1890._

“You so distrust yourself, that you believe your success hangs upon arts which belonged to publishers who existed in the days of Lady Charlotte Bury, whereas you have a right to presume that the public need nothing more than to know a novel of yours is at the libraries.

* * * * *

“Once more, believe a little more in yourself.”

“_November 3d, 1890._

“I have just had a debate about ‘Wormwood’ with one of the leading critics of the day, who was complaining of the gloom which overspread the book.

“‘Well,’ said I, ‘you cannot deny that none but a person who had genius could have written that work.’

“‘Genius is a big word, but yet I think you are right in this case,’ replied the critic.

“I know I am.”

“_November 17th, 1890._

“The _Athenæum_ review, to dignify it with that name, is the barest outline of the story. It points to what, I believe, is the real cause,--a doubt in the writer’s mind whether an attack would not stultify the attacker. He recognizes the power, I am certain, but won’t give you the meed of praise for it.”

“_March 1st, 1891._

“The _Spectator_ is very savage on ‘Wormwood’ this week, but speaks of the force and power of your imagination.”

“_October 17th, 1891._

“But you must not complain; your recognition, though much slower, is more and more a fact. Your reputation to-day is higher by a good way than it was two years ago, as the demand for your works indicates. Be true to yourself, and only write when the impulse is irresistible, and all will be well with little Thelma.”

The first part of the next letter has reference to “The Soul of Lilith.” Following it are further remarks about “Ardath,” which, of all Marie Corelli’s books, seems to have taken the greatest hold on Mr. Bentley.

“_November 4th, 1891._

“I am glad to hear of your successful progress with your new story. I get quite curious as the time approaches. One cannot feel with you as with most authors, that we know what is coming. Every new story is a new departure.

* * * * *

“I had a charming letter from Herr Poorten Schwartz (Maarten Maartens) in which he speaks in glowing terms of ‘Ardath,’ which he had just been reading. He says the description of Al-Kyris is a magnificent effort of the imagination, in which I entirely agree, and I rank the description in richness of conception with Beckford’s famous ‘Hall of Eblis.’ So far, I think it is your greatest height of imaginative conception--just as in ‘Wormwood,’ much as it repels me in parts, I cannot but recognize the tremendous dramatic force of many of the scenes.”

“_January 3d, 1892._

“I can say truthfully that I have not known any writer bear success better than you do, and may you be put to the test for a long time to come.

* * * * *

“I like much to hear you say, ‘As long as my brain under God’s guidance will serve me.’ It is an age when such an observation is by no means an ordinary one, yet I doubt whether the genius of any writer attains its full scope unless it listen to His voice.”

“_January 29th, 1892._

“‘Good wine needs no bush,’ and I am averse to associating your name or mine with a system of vulgar exploitation.

“What do Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Collins, or Besant owe to exploitation, and how long do the reputations survive which are built on this mushroom bed?”

The following alludes to the publication of a new edition of the work mentioned:

“_March 16th, 1892._

“DEAR IMPULSIVE, WARM-HEARTED THELMA,--

“Tell me what I am to give you for _Thelma_.[A] I should like to gratify your wish. Your prosperity and success you know I rejoice at, and I trust your belief of a short life is only the outcome of one of those wistful sad moments, which come to all who are richly endowed with imagination.”

“_April 11th, 1892._

“So cheer up, little Thelma; you have youth and imagination, and love your art, and have the will to work. So you have the world before you, and ought to die a rich woman, if that is worth living for.”

“_April 16th, 1892._

“DEAR LITTLE LADY,--

“It makes me feel uncomfortable to hear of brave little Thelma being half killed, like Keats, for a review.

“Pooh! stuff and nonsense! You are not to be snuffed out by any notice. As to not writing again, you will live to write many a good book yet.

“Laugh at the review, and don’t notice it to any of your friends. You have a good spirit of your own, and you don’t need to be crushed, and neither will you be. You will be the first to laugh this day six months for having been temporarily disquieted.

“As to Law! Oh, lor! Wouldn’t your enemies, if you have any, rejoice to see you at loggerheads with the Press? No, no, that wouldn’t do.

“You can _firmly_ rely on your gifts to render nugatory all attacks upon you of the nature of the present. Let me hear that Thelma’s herself again.

“Yours sincerely, “GEORGE BENTLEY.”

“_May 4th, 1892._

“The attacks do not daunt me, and it seems to me that three out of the four are by one hand.”

“UPTON, SLOUGH, “_May 17th, 1892._

“DEAR THELMA,--

“I am right glad at the news in your letter. I am sure you will now see that the late attacks on ‘Lilith’ will derive their importance only when you notice them. Even from those who do not like highly imaginative literature, I have heard the remark that the reviews in question were entirely one-sided, and left one to suppose that the English public was cracked in running after a writer without a solitary merit.

* * * * *

“Put together the talents of all your critics, and ask them to paint the city of Al-Kyris. That came out of a finely sustained vision, your intense interest in your subject keeping it at a white heat. I reckon two-thirds of ‘Ardath’ as one of the finest contributions to imaginative literature which this country possesses.

* * * * *

“Never write a line if the humor is not in you. It is that impulsion to write because you can’t help it, which carries you away, and, for that reason, carries away your reader.”

“_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.”

“_October 28th, 1892._

“I was unable to write and tell you how glad I am that you are once more yourself again.

“Bother the papers; don’t let them bother you. If I lived next door to you, I should intercept them all.

* * * * *

“It seems a growing fashion to use strong language, and certainly such language has been leveled at you. The fair sex in former days were held to command a chivalrous respect, which seems to be almost as much a thing of the past as the Crusades.”

This of October 28th, 1892, forms the last of the batch of extracts placed in our hands. Throughout his business associations with Miss Corelli, it is apparent that Mr. Bentley was everything that was kindly, tactful, and encouraging. The imaginative temperament is always a difficult one to deal with, and Mr. Bentley excelled himself in this respect. Even when he wished to bestow a mild rebuke he did so with an old-fashioned courtesy that is truly delightful and only too rare in these days of dictated, typewritten epistles.

There are other letters, but from these it will be only necessary to cull a sentence here and there. All the above-quoted communications, we should add, were in Mr. Bentley’s own handwriting.

Marie Corelli has always been a neat workwoman, and here, in a letter from her publisher, dated August 28th, 1886, we find a tribute to the perfection of her “copy:”--

“The printers report that, owing to the fewness of the corrections and the clearness with which they are made, revises will be unnecessary, which will be a great gain in time, as well as a saving of expense.”

_Vice versâ_, one calls to mind a tale of Miss Martineau’s about Carlyle, who literally smothered his proof-sheets with corrections. One day he went to the office to urge on the printer. “Why, sir,” said the latter, “you really are so very hard upon us with your corrections. They take so much time, you see!” Carlyle replied that he had been accustomed to this sort of thing--he had got works printed in Scotland, and ---- “Yes, indeed, sir,” rejoined the printer, “we are aware of that. We have a man here from Edinburgh, and when he took up a bit of your copy, he dropped it as if it had burnt his fingers, and cried out, ‘Lord, have mercy! have you got that man to print for? Lord knows when we shall get done with his corrections.’”

It is evident that Mr. Bentley deemed his _protégée_--if we may so term her--capable of turning her pen in many directions. “I am not sure that you could not give us a fine historical novel,” he wrote in 1887, “if you got hold of a character which fascinated your imagination.”

In a letter dated May 7th, 1888, he refers playfully to “the little blue silk dress” which seems to have taken his fancy on a previous occasion; nor did he forget the young novelist’s birthday, for in a previous letter of the same year he declares that, if he were in London, he would “be tempted to cast prudence to the wind, even to the perilous East wind, to offer you my greeting on the first of May.”

Besides being a keen judge of manuscript--as, indeed, he had need to be--Mr. Bentley wrote very pleasant prose himself. His reading was extensive and his comments thereon lucid and thoughtful. In 1883 he printed for private circulation among his friends a little green covered volume called “After Business.” A copy of this work, presented to Miss Corelli a fortnight after Mr. Bentley first met her, lies before us. There are seven chapters, whose nature can be divined from their titles: I. An Evening with Erasmus. IV. How the World Wags. V. An Afternoon with Odd Volumes--and so forth. A peaceful, soothing little book is this. Here is the final passage of the “Odd Volumes” chapter. It affords a happy example of the book’s literary flavor, of its truly “After Business” characteristics:

“Let us say good-bye to these dear old volumes, and step down-stairs, that Lawrence’s sister may give us one of his favorite melodies. God provides good things for men in music and books and flowers, and when His fellow-men disappoint Him, or die around Him, it is something to be able to enjoy the melody of Mozart and to live with the grand old ghosts who, disembodied, flit about the old library.”

The influence of the kindly advice George Bentley dealt out to the young novelist cannot be overestimated. Was she upset by a criticism, he came to her aid with good humored _badinage_ and sympathy; was she despondent, he laughed away the mood and bade “Thelma” be herself again! Always, indeed, he urged her to _be herself_--to embody in her books the message so nobly delivered by a poet:

“_Stand upright, speak thy thought, declare_ _The truth thou hast, that all may share;_ _Be bold, proclaim it everywhere;_ _They only live who dare._”