istle:

_To the Editor of "The Times."_

MUNICH,

_March 31._

SIR:--In consequence of the numerous reports circulated in
various papers regarding myself and family, I beg of you,
through the medium of your widely circulated journal, to
insert the following:

I was born at Seville in the year 1833; my father was a
Spanish officer in the service of Don Carlos; my mother, a
lady of Irish extraction, born at the Havannah, and married
to an Irish gentleman, which, I suppose, is the cause of my
being called sometimes Irish and sometimes English, and
"Betsy Watson," and "Mrs. James," etc.

I beg leave to say that my name is Maria Dolores Porres
Montez, and I have never changed that name.

As for my theatrical qualifications, I never had the
presumption to think I had any. Circumstances obliged me to
adopt the stage as a profession, which profession I have now
renounced for ever, having become a naturalised Bavarian,
and intending in future making Munich my residence.

Trusting that you will give this insertion, I have the
honour to remain, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

LOLA MONTEZ.

The assumption that she had ever been known as "Betsy Watson" was due
to the fact that she was said at one period to have lived under this
name in Dublin, "protected there by an Irishman of rank and fortune."
With regard to the rest of the letter, this was much the same as the
one she had circulated after her London fiasco. It was very far from
being well founded. Still, she had repeated this story so often that
she had probably come to believe in it herself.

As _The Times_ at that period was not read in Munich to any great
extent, Lola, wanting a larger public, sent a letter to the
_Allegemeine Zeitung_. This, she thought, would secure her a measure
of sympathy not accorded her elsewhere:

"I object to being made a target for countless malicious
attacks--public and private, written and printed--some whispered in
secret, and others uttered to the world. I therefore now stigmatise as
a wicked liar and perverter of the truth any individual who shall,
without proving it, disseminate any report to my detriment."

The letter was duly published. The attacks, however, did not end. On
the contrary, they redoubled in virulence. All sorts of fresh charges
were brought against her. Many of them were quite unfounded, and