Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) LOLA MONTEZ UNIFORM LIBRARY EDITION OF THE WORKS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT, newly translated into English by Marjorie Laurie. Volume 1. BEL-AMI. "Bel-Ami" is an extraordinarily fine full-length portrait of an unscrupulous rascal who exploits his success with women for the furtherance of his ambitions. The book simmers with humorous observations, and, as a satire on politics and journalism, is no less biting because it is not bitter. Volume 2. A LIFE. This story of a woman's life, harrowed first by the faithlessness of her husband and later by the worthlessness of her son, has been described as one of the saddest books that has ever been written; it is remorseless in its utter truthfulness. Volume 3. "BOULE DE SUIF" and other Short Stories. A story of the part played by a little French prostitute in an incident of the war of 1870. It was published in a collection of tales by distinguished French writers of the day, and was so clearly the gem of the collection that it established the Author at once as a master. Volume 4. THE HOUSE OF TELLIER. [Illustration: LOLA MONTEZ. Countess of Landsfeld] LOLA MONTEZ AN ADVENTURESS OF THE 'FORTIES BY EDMUND B. D'AUVERGNE ILLUSTRATED LONDON T. WERNER LAURIE, LTD. 30 NEW BRIDGE STREET, E.C.4 _First Printed April 1909 Second Edition, December 1909 Third Impression, November 1924 Fourth Impression, February 1925_ _Printed in Great Britain by Fox, Jones & Co., at the Kemp Hall Press, Oxford, England_ PREFACE The story of a brave and beautiful woman, whose fame filled Europe and America within the memory of our parents, seems to be worth telling. The human note in history is never more thrilling than when it is struck in the key of love. In what were perhaps more virile ages, the great ones of the earth frankly acknowledged the irresistible power of passion and the supreme desirability of beauty. Their followers thought none the less of them for being sons of Adam. Lola Montez was the last of that long and illustrious line of women, reaching back beyond Cleopatra and Aspasia, before whom kings bent in homage, and by whose personality they openly confess themselves to be swayed. Since her time man has thrown off the spell of woman's beauty, and seems to dread still more the competition of her intellect.