The Magnificent Montez: From Courtesan to ConvertWyndham, Horace
History
The Magnificent Montez: From Courtesan to Convert
Wyndham, Horace
Montez, Lola, 1818-1861
No description which I can give can convey a just idea of the
fascination of society among such wits as Dejazet; and nowhere do you
find that kind of society so complete as in Paris. Nowhere else do you
find so many women of wit and genius mingling in the assemblies and
festive occasions of literary men; and I may add that in no part of
the world is literary society so refined, so brilliant, and charmingly
intellectual as in Paris. It is a great contrast to literary society
in London or America. Listen to the following confession of Lord
Byron: "I have left an assembly filled with all the great names of
_haut-ton_ in London, and where little but names were to be found, to
seek relief from the _ennui_ that overpowered me, in a cider cellar!
and have found there more food for speculation than in the vapid
circles of glittering dullness I had left."
One of the most remarkable and the most noted persons to be met with
in Paris is Madame Dudevant, commonly known as Georges Sand. She is
now about fifty years of age (it is no crime to speak of the age of a
woman of her genius), a large, masculine, coarse-featured woman, but
with fine eyes, and open, easy, frank, and hearty in her manner to
friends. To a discerning mind her writings will convey a correct idea
of the woman. You meet her everywhere dressed in men's clothes--a
custom which she adopts from no mere caprice or waywardness of
character, but for the reason that in this garb she is enabled to go
where she pleases without exciting curiosity, and seeing and hearing
what is most useful and essential for her in writing her books. She is
undoubtedly the most masculine mind of France at the present day.
Through the folly of her relations she was early married to a fool,
but she soon left him in disgust, and afterwards formed a friendship
with Jules Sandeau, a novelist and clever critic. It was he who
discovered her genius, and first caused her to write. It was the name
of this author, Jules Sandeau, that she altered into Georges Sand--a
name which she has made immortal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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