CHAPTER XVI
MARIE CORELLI'S VIEWS ON MARRIAGE
Marie Corelli seems to think that the present
generation is one in which hypocrisy cumbers the
face of the globe. "Never," she says, "was the
earth so oppressed with the weight of polite lying,
never were there such crowds of evil masqueraders,
cultured tricksters, and social humbugs,
who, though admirable as tricksters and humbugs,
are wholly contemptible as men and women.
Truth is at a discount, and if one should utter it
the reproachful faces of one's so-called 'friends'
show how shocked they are at meeting with anything
honest." That is a very sweeping assertion
for which Marie Corelli has been abused. If the
world had in it more sincerity than sham, the
truth of her condemnation of present systems and
practices would have been frankly admitted. Because
what she says is true to an unhappy degree.
The authoress is severe in her criticisms of the
marriage "bargains" which are, we think, mainly
the possession of what she would call "smart"
