CHAPTER IX
"THE SORROWS OF SATAN,"—AS A BOOK AND AS A PLAY,—THE STORY OF THE DRAMATIZATION
The publication of "The Sorrows of Satan," in
1895, caused a greater sensation than had followed
the appearance of any other work by Miss Corelli.
Many presumably competent judges of literature indulged
in an absolute orgie of denunciation. In the
Review of Reviews, Mr. W. T. Stead printed a column
or so of sneers, though admitting that the conception
was magnificent, and that the author had an
immense command of language. Anxious, apparently,
not to miss what would greatly interest the
public, a good twelve pages of his periodical were
devoted to extracts from the book. He knew, as
all the critics knew, that all the world would soon
be reading it, and forming its own judgment. The
public must, in very truth, form an unflattering
opinion of the fairness of some of those who attempt
to force their own opinions of a book upon men
and women who are not only fully capable of thinking
for themselves, but who, sometimes,—as in the
