CHAPTER XVII
SOME PERSONAL ITEMS
It is pretty generally known that when Sir Theodore
Martin desired, in honor of Lady Martin's
memory, to place a Helen Faucit memorial in the
chancel of Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon, it
was Miss Marie Corelli who undertook a successful
campaign against the project. Sir Theodore Martin
most ardently wished to execute his intention, and
he had progressed so far with the negotiations that
his desires were on the point of being carried out;
and they would have been but for the active intervention
of Miss Corelli, who roused the whole town
of Stratford into energetic protest against the proposed
invasion of Shakespeare's own particular
shrine. It was Sir Theodore's idea to place a bas-relief
of Helen Faucit immediately opposite the historical
bust of the Poet, on the other side of the
chancel, but in an equally if not more prominent
position.
Miss Corelli began her campaign with a letter to the Morning Post calling public attention to Sir Theodore's plan, and the whole Press backed up
