t the terms. I was never
molested afterwards, though an Englishman had not always a pleasant life
of it, even under the Second Empire.

In connection with Dujarrier's duel, I may say a few words here of that
quasi-wonderful woman, Lola Montes. I say "quasi," because really there
was nothing wonderful about her, except perhaps her beauty and her
consummate impudence. She had not a scrap of talent of any kind;
education she had none, for, whether she spoke in English, French, or
Spanish, grammatical errors abounded, and her expressions were always
those of a pretentious housemaid, unless they were those of an excited
fishwife. She told me that she had been at a boarding-school in Bath,
and that she was a native of Limerick, but that when quite a child she
was taken to Seville by her parents. Her father, according to her
account, was a Spaniard, her mother a Creole. "But I scandalized every
one at school, and would not learn." I could quite believe that; what I
could not believe was that a girl of her quick powers--for she
undoubtedly possessed those--could have spent, however short a time in
the society of decent girls of her own age, let alone of presumedly
refined school-mistresses, without having acquired some elementary
notions of manner and address. Her gait and carriage were those of a
duchess, for she was naturally graceful, but the moment she opened her
lips, the illusion vanished--at least to me; for I am bound to admit
that men of far higher intellectual attainments than mine, and familiar
with very good society, raved and kept raving about her, though all
those defects could not have failed to strike them as they had struck
me. I take it that it must have been her beauty, for, though not devoid
of wit, her wit was that of the pot-house, which would not have been
tolerated in the smoking-room of a club in the small hours.

When Dujarrier was carried home dying to the Rue Lafitte, a woman flung
herself on the body and covered his face with kisses. That woman was
Lola Montes. In his will he left her eighteen shares in the Palais-Royal
Theatre, amounting in value to about 20,000 francs. She insisted
afterwards in appearing as a witness at the trial in Rouen, although her
evidence threw not the slightest light upon the matter. She wanted to
create a sensation; and she accomplished her aim. I was there, and
though the court was crowded with men occupying the foremost ranks in
literature, art, and Paris society, no o