and the Mormons. If the B.B.C. had been
in existence, Lola would undoubtedly have been booked for a "talk." As
it was, two of the lectures were reprinted in _The Welcome Guest_, "a
magazine of recreative reading for all," with Robert Browning, Charles
Kingsley and Monckton Milnes among its contributors. Thinking they had
a market, an enterprising publisher rushed out a volume, _The Lectures
of Lola Montez_. When a copy reached the editor, it was reviewed in
characteristically elephantine fashion by the _Athenaeum_:

"We can imagine the untravelled dames of Fifth Avenue
listening with wonder to a female lecturer who seems to have
lived hand in glove with all the crowned heads of Europe;
and who can tell them, not only Who's-Who, but also repeat
their conversations, criticise their personal appearances,
and describe the secret arts by which the men preserve their
powers and the women their beauty."

CHAPTER XVII

THE CURTAIN FALLS

I

At the end of the year 1859, Lola, once more a bird of passage, was on
the way back to America, taking with her some fresh material for
another lecture campaign. This, entitled "John Bull at Home," fell
very flat; and instead of, as hitherto, addressing crowded halls, she
now found scanty gatherings wherever she was booked. Even when the
charge of admission was reduced from the original figure of a dollar
to one of 25 cents, "business" did not improve. Uncle Sam made it
obvious that he took no sort of interest in John Bull, either at home
or elsewhere.

America, however, was, as it happened, taking a very lively interest
in something else just then that did happen to be connected with John
Bull's country. This was the visit of the Prince of Wales. It had been
announced by an imaginative journalist that H.R.H. was to be "piloted"
during his tour by John Camel Heenan, otherwise the "Benicia Boy." It
was, however, under the more rigid tutelage of General Bruce that the
distinguished guest landed on American shores. Mere prose not being
adequate to record the historic incident a laureate set to work:

He came! A slender youth and fair!
A courtly, gentlemanly grace--the Grace of God!
The tenure of his mother's Throne, and great men's fame
Sat like a sparkling jewel on his brow.
Ah, Albert Edward! When you homeward sail
Take back with you, and treasure in your soul
A wholesome lesson which you here may learn!