It was about this period that it occurred to a theatrical manager in London, looking for a novelty, that there was material for a stirring drama written round the career of Lola Montez. No sooner said than done; and a hack dramatist, who was kept on the premises, was commissioned to set to work. Locked up in his garret with a bottle of brandy, at the end of a week he delivered the script. This being approved by the management, it was put into rehearsal, and the hoardings plastered with bills: +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET | | | | (Under the Patronage of Her Gracious Majesty The Queen, | | His Royal Highness Prince Albert, and the Elite of Rank and | | 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 The Lord Chamberlain apparently shared this view, for he had the play withdrawn after the second performance.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.