correctness to suit a widespread contemporary taste; these were Vendetta (1886), Thelma (1887), Ardath (1889), The Soul of Lilith (1892), Barabbas (1893), The Sorrows of Satan (1895),—the very titles were catching,—The Mighty Atom (1896),—which appealed to all who knew enough of modern science to wish to think it wicked,—and others, down to The Master Christian (1900), again satisfying the socio-ethico-religious demand, and Temporal Power (1902), with its contemporary suggestion from the accession of Edward VII. Miss Corelli had the advantage of writing quite sincerely and with conviction, amid what superior critics sneered at as bad style and sensationalism, on themes which conventional readers nevertheless enjoyed, and round plots which were dramatic and vigorous. Her popular success was great and advertised itself. It was helped by a well-spread belief that Queen Victoria preferred her novels to any other. Reviewers wrote sarcastically, and justly, of her obvious literary lapses and failings; she retorted by pitying the poor reviewers and letting it be understood that no books of hers were sent to the Press for criticism. When she went to live at Stratford-on-Avon, her personality, and her importance in the literary world, became further allied with the historic associations of the place; and in the public life of women writers her utterances had the réclame which is emphasized by journalistic publicity. Such success is not to be gauged by purely literary standards; the popularity of Miss Corelli’s novels is a phenomenon not so much of literature as of literary energy—entirely creditable to the journalistic resource of the writer, and characteristic of contemporary pleasure in readable fiction.
CORENZIO, BELISARIO (c. 1558–1643), Italian painter, a
Greek by birth, studied at Venice under Tintoretto, and then
settled at Naples, where he became famous for unscrupulous
conduct as a man and rapid execution as an artist. Though
careless in composition and a mannerist in style, he possessed
an acknowledged fertility of invention and readiness of hand;
and these qualities, allied to a certain breadth of conception,
seem in the eyes of his contemporaries to have atoned for many
defects. When Guido Reni came in 1621 to Naples to paint in
the chapel of St Januarius, Corenzio suborned an assassin to take
his life. The hired bravo killed Guido’s assistant, and effectually
frightened Reni, who prudently withdrew to Rome. Corenzio,
however, only suffered temporary imprisonment, and lived long
enough to supplant Ribera in the good graces of Don Pedro di
Toledo, viceroy of Naples, who made him his court painter.
Corenzio vainly endeavoured to fill Guido’s place in the chapel
of St Januarius. His work was adjudged to have been under
the mark, and yet the numerous frescoes which he left in Neapolitan
churches and palaces, and the large wall paintings which
still cover the cupola of the church of Monte Casino are evidence
of uncommon facility, and show that Corenzio was not greatly
inferior to the fa prestos of his time. His florid style, indeed,
seems well in keeping with the overladen architecture and full-blown
decorative ornament peculiar to the Jesuit builders of
the 17th century. Corenzio died, it is said, at the age of eighty-five by a fall from a scaffolding.
CO-RESPONDENT, in law, generally, a person made respondent
to, or called upon to answer, along with another or others, a
petition or other proceeding. More particularly, since the
Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, the term is applied to the person
charged by a husband, when presenting a petition praying for
the dissolution of his marriage on the ground of adultery, with
misconduct with his wife, and made, jointly with her, a
respondent to the suit. (See also Divorce.)
CORFE CASTLE, a town in the eastern parliamentary division
of Dorsetshire, England, in the district called the Isle of Purbeck,
129½ m. S.W. by W. from London by the London & South-Western
railway. Pop. (1901) 1440. The castle, through which
the town is famous, guarded a gap in the line of considerable
hills which rise in the centre of Purbeck. It is strongly placed
on an eminence falling almost sheer on three sides. Its ruins are
extensive, and date for the most part from the Norman period
to the reign of Edward I. There is, however, a trace of early
masonry which may have belonged to the Saxon house where,
in 978, King Edward the Martyr was murdered. Corfe Castle
was held for the empress Maud against King Stephen in 1139,
was frequently the residence of King John, and was a stronghold
of the barons against Henry III. Edward II. was imprisoned
here for a short period. The castle withstood a protracted
siege by the Parliamentarians in 1643, and fell to them by
treachery in 1646, after which it was dismantled and wrecked.
The church in the town, almost wholly rebuilt, is dedicated to
St Edward the Martyr. The quarrying of Purbeck stone and
the raising of potters’ clay are the chief industries.
Probably Corfe Castle (Corfes geat, Corf geat, Corve, Corph) was an early Anglo-Saxon settlement. According to William of Malmesbury the church was founded by St Aldhelm in the 7th century. In 1086 the abbey of Shaftesbury held the manor, which afterwards passed to the Norman kings, who raised the castle. Its date is disputed, but the town dependent on it seems to have grown up during the 13th century, being first mentioned in 1290, when an inquisition states that the mayor has pesage of wool and cheese. The rights of the burgesses seem to have been undefined, for frequent commissions attest to encroachments on the rights of warren, forest and wreckage belonging to the royal manor. In 1380–1381 at an inquisition into the liberties of Corfe Castle, the jurors declared that from time immemorial the constable and his steward had held all pleas and amerciaments except those of the mayor’s court of Pie Powder, but that the town had judgment by fire, water and combat. The tenants, or “barons,” elected themselves a mayor and coroners, but the constable received the assize of ale. Elizabeth in 1577 gave exclusive admiralty jurisdiction within the island of Purbeck to Sir Christopher Hatton, and granted the mayor and “barons” of Corfe the rights they enjoyed by prescription and charter and that of not being placed on juries or assizes in matters beyond the island. Charles II. incorporated Corfe Castle in 1663, the mayor being elected at a court leet from three nominees of the lord of the manor. Corfe Castle first returned two representatives to parliament in 1572, but was disfranchised in 1832. A market for each Saturday was granted to Corfe in 1214, and in 1248 the town obtained a fair and a market on each Thursday, while Elizabeth granted fairs on the feasts of St Philip and St James and of St Luke; both of these still survive. As early as the 14th century the quarrying and export of marble gave employment to the men of Corfe, and during the 18th century the knitting of stockings was a flourishing industry.
See T. Bond, History and Description of Corfe Castle (London and Bournemouth, 1883).
CORFINIUM, in ancient Italy, the chief city of the Paeligni, 7 m. N. of Sulmona in the valley of the Aternus. The site of the original town is occupied by the village of Pentima. It probably became subject to Rome in the 4th century B.C., though it does not appear in Roman history before the Social War (90 B.C.), in which it was at first adopted by the allies as the capital and seat of government of their newly founded state under the name Italia (this form, not Italica, is vouched for by the coins). It appears also as a fortress of importance in the Civil War, though it only resisted Caesar’s attack for a week (49 B.C.). Whether the Via Valeria ran as far as Corfinium before the time of Claudius is uncertain: he, however, certainly extended it to the Adriatic, and at the same time constructed a cross road, the Via Claudia Nova, which diverged from the Via Claudia Valeria at a point 6 m. farther north, and led past Peltuinum and Aveia to Foruli on the Via Salaria. Another road ran S.S.E. past Sulmo to Aesernia. It was thus an important road centre, and must have been, in the imperial period, a town of some size, as may be gathered from the inscriptions that have been discovered there, and from the extent rather than the importance of the buildings visible on the site (among them may be noted the remains of two aqueducts), which has, however, never been systematically excavated. Short accounts of discoveries will be found in Notizie degli Scavi, passim, and a museum, consisting chiefly of the contents of tombs, has been formed at Pentima. In one corner of a large enclosed space (possibly a palaestra) was constructed the church of S. Pelino.
