ed the necessity of "public
penance." Thus taken to task, Ludwig solemnly declared in writing that
he had "never exacted the last favours" from Lola Montez, and
furnished the entire episcopal bench with a copy of this declaration.

"That only makes his folly the greater," was the caustic comment of
Canitz, who was not to be deluded by eye-wash of this description.

With the passage of time, Lola's influence at the Palace grew
stronger. Before long, it became abundantly clear to the Ministry that
she was the real channel of approach to the King and, in fact, his
political Egeria. "During that period," says T. Everett Harre, "when
she was known throughout the world as the 'Uncrowned Queen of
Bavaria,' Lola Montez wielded a power perhaps enjoyed by no woman
since the Empress Theodora, the circus mime and courtesan, was raised
to imperial estate by the Emperor Justinian." Well aware of this fact,
and much as they objected to it, the Cabinet, headed by von Abel,
began by attempting to win her to their side. When they failed, they
put their thick heads together, and, announcing that she was an
emissary of Palmerston--just as La Paiva was credited with being in
Bismarck's employ--they hinted that her room was preferable to her
company. The hints having no effect, other measures were adopted.
Thus, Ludwig's sister offered her a handsome sum (for the second time)
to leave the country, and Metternich improved on it; the Bishop of
Augsburg, drying his tears, composed another and longer special
prayer; the Cabinet threatened to resign; and caricatures and
scurrilous paragraphs once more appeared in Munich journals. But all
to no purpose. Lola refused to budge. Nothing could shake her resolve,
_J'y suis, j'y reste_, might well have been her motto.

"I will leave Bavaria," she said, "when it suits me, and not before."

II

For ten years Ludwig had been under the thumb of the Ultramontanes and
the clerical ministry of Carl von Abel. He was getting more than a
little tired of the combination. The advance of Lola Montez widened
the breach. To get rid of him, accordingly, he offered von Abel the
appointment of Bavarian Minister at Brussels. The offer, however, was
not accepted. Asked for his reason, von Abel said that he "wanted to
stop where he was and keep an eye on things."

[Illustration: _Residenz Palace, Munich, in 1848. Residence of Ludwig
I_]

At this date Bavaria was Catholic to a man--and a woman--and the
Ultramontan