|
| Fashion.) On Wednesday, April 26, 1848, will be produced a |
| New and Original and Apropos Sketch entitled: |
| |
| "LOLA MONTEZ, or THE COUNTESS FOR AN HOUR." |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+

"An hour." This was about as long as it lasted, for the reception by
the critics was distinctly chilly. "We cannot," announced one of them,
"applaud the motives that governed the production of a farce
introducing a mock sovereign and his mistress. In our opinion the
piece is extremely objectionable."

The Lord Chamberlain apparently shared this view, for he had the play
withdrawn after the second performance.

"_Es gibt kein Zurueck_" ("There is to be no coming back") had been
Ludwig's last words to her. But Lola did not take the injunction
seriously. According to a letter in the _Deutsche Zeitung_, she was
back in Munich within a week, travelling under the "protection" of
Baron Moeller, a Russian diplomatist. Entering the Palace
surreptitiously, she extracted a cheque for 50,000 florins from
Ludwig. As it was drawn on Rothschild's bank at Frankfort, she hurried
off there, and returned to Switzerland the same evening, "with a
bagful of notes."

To convince his readers that he was well behind the scenes, Papon
gives a letter which he asserts was written by Ludwig to a
correspondent some months later:

I wish to know from you if my dear Countess would like her
annuity assured by having it paid into a private bank, or if
she would rather I deposited a million francs with the Bank
of England.... I am already being blamed for giving her too
much. As the revolutionaries seize upon any pretext to
assert themselves, it is important to avoid directing
attention to her just now. Still, I want my dearly loved
Countess to be satisfied. I repeat that the whole world
cannot part me from her.

While he was with her in Switzerland, Papon strung together a
pamphlet: _Lola Montez, Memoires accompagnes de lettres intimes de
S.M. le Roi de Baviere et de Lola Montez, ornes des portraits, sur
originaux donnes par eux a l'auteur_, purporting to be written by
their subject. "I owe my readers," he makes her say smugly, "the exact
truth. They must judge between my enemies and myself." But, in his
character of a Peeping Tom, very little truth was expended by Papon.