hers." But she had a message of
hope to offer, for, she said, "wrinkles can be warded off and autumn
tresses made to preserve their pristine freshness." The cure was
merely careful dieting and the "abolition of injurious cosmetics and
the health-destroying bodice." Taking the measure of her audience, she
laid on flattery with a trowel. "You have," she assured them, "only to
look into the ranks of the upper classes to see around you the most
beautiful women in Europe; and where this is concerned, I must give
the preference to the nobility of England." Among the examples held up
for admiration by her were the Duchess of Sutherland--"the paragon and
type of Britain's aristocracy"--and "the very voluptuous Lady
Blessington." Approval for the Duchess of Wellington, however, was
less pronounced, since, while admitting her physical charms, Lola
declared her to be "of little intellect, and as cold as a piece of
sculpture."

Claiming to have visited Turkey (but omitting to say when), Lola
offered an item unrecorded in the archives of the British Embassy
there:

"In Turkey I saw very few beautiful women. The lords of
creation in that part of the world treat the opposite sex as
you would geese--stuff them to make them fat. Through the
politeness of Sir Stratford Canning, English Ambassador at
Constantinople, I was kindly permitted to visit the Sultan's
harem as often as I pleased and there look upon the 'lights
of the world.' These 'lights of the world' consisted of five
hundred bodies of unwieldy avoirdupois. The ladies of the
harem gazed upon my leanness with commiserating wonder."

The lecture finished up on a high note:

"It has been my privilege to see some of the most celebrated
beauties that shine in the gilded courts of fashion
throughout the world--from St. James's to St. Petersburg,
from Paris to India--and yet I am unaware of any quality
that can atone for the absence of an unpolished mind and an
unlovely heart. A charming activity of soul is the real
source of woman's beauty. It is that which gives the
sweetest expression to her face and lights up her
_personnel_."

In the matter of publicity Lola had nothing of which to complain; and
the next morning descriptive columns were published by the dozen.

The debut of Madame Lola Montez (announced the _Star_), in
the presence of a large and fashionable gathering, was