The Magnificent Montez: From Courtesan to ConvertWyndham, Horace
History
The Magnificent Montez: From Courtesan to Convert
Wyndham, Horace
Montez, Lola, 1818-1861
By the way, during the police court proceedings, fresh light on the
subject of Lola's parentage was furnished by an odd entry in an Irish
paper:
"Lola Montez, Countess of Landsfeld, is the daughter of a
Cork lady. Her mother was at one time employed as a member
of a millinery establishment in this city; and was married
here to Lieutenant Gilbert, an officer in the army. Soon
after the marriage, he sailed with his wife and child to
join his regiment in India. At the end of last year, Lola's
mother, who is now in delicate health, visited her sister in
Cork."
IV
Thanks to the bright eyes of Lola (or perhaps to the musical jingle of
the Cornet's cash bags), a very loose watch was kept on the pair.
Hence the reason why the Countess of Landsfeld (as she still insisted
on being called) had not kept her second appointment at Marlborough
Street was because, together with the dashing ex-Life Guardsman, she
had left England early that morning. Travelling as Mr. and Mrs. Heald,
the pair went, first, to Paris, and then to Italy.
A British tourist who happened to be in Naples wrote to _The Times_,
giving an account of a glimpse he had of them. According to him, the
couple, "a youthful bridegroom and a fair lady," accompanied by a
courier, a _femme de chambre_, and a carriage, took rooms at the Hotel
Vittoria. After one night there, they left the next morning, hiring a
special steamer, at a cost of L400, to take them to Marseilles. The
hurried departure was said to be due to a lawyer's letters that was
waiting for the bridegroom at his banker's. "I am told," adds the
correspondent, "that Mr. and Mrs. Heald were bound on an excursion to
the Pyramids; and that, when the little business for which the lady is
wanted at home has been settled, they mean to prosecute their
intention. Pray, sir, help Mrs. Heald out of her present affliction.
Is this the first time that a lady has had two husbands? And is she
not bound for the East, where every man has four wives?"
The booby Cornet, with his ideas limited to fox-hunting and a study of
_Ruff's Guide_, was no mate for a brilliant woman like Lola. Hence
disagreements soon manifested themselves. A specially serious one
would seem to have arisen at Barcelona, for, says a letter from a
mutual acquaintance, "the Countess and her husband had a warm
discussion, which ended in an attempt by her to stab him. Mr. Heald,
objecting to such a display of conjugal affection, promptly quitted
the town."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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