The Magnificent Montez: From Courtesan to ConvertWyndham, Horace
History
The Magnificent Montez: From Courtesan to Convert
Wyndham, Horace
Montez, Lola, 1818-1861
Since you left M[unich] the impudence of L[ola] M[ontez] and
the infatuation of her admirers have been constantly
increasing. Our Members of Parliament, which have been
convocated to an extraordinary session on account of a
railway loan, did not dare, or did not deem it expedient, to
interfere. The only thing that was done, but without
producing any effect in high quarters, was that the Chamber
of Deputies unanimously voted a protestation against the
deposition of the professors. Then came the change of
Ministers. Prince Wallerstein, who is a sort of Bavarian
Thiers, selfish and unprincipled, only bent upon maintaining
himself in the possession of the _portefeuille_, which is
the glorious end that in his estimation sanctifies the
means--this man of unscrupulous memory came in again,
together with an obscure individual, a mere creature of
L[ola] M[ontez], M. Berks.
[Illustration: _King of Bavaria. "Ludwig the Lover"_]
... Meanwhile the crisis was brought about by the students
of the University. L[ola] M[ontez] had succeeded in seducing
a few of these, who, finding themselves immediately shunned
and rejected by their fellow-students, formed a separate
society or club, calling itself _Alemannia_, which from its
beginning was publicly understood to be distinguished by
the King's special favour and protection. In the course of
two or three months they rose to the number of nineteen or
twenty, easily recognised by the red caps and ribbons they
wore. For L[ola] M[ontez] they formed a sort of male harem,
and the particulars which have since transpired, and which,
of course, I must not pollute your ears with, leave no doubt
that she is a second Messalina.
The indignation of the students, who felt all this as a
degradation of the University and an affront cast upon their
character, was general. The _Alemanni_ were treated as
outcasts, whose very presence was pollution.
... L[ola] M[ontez] had already been heard threatening that
if the students continued to show themselves hostile to her
favourites she would have the University closed. At last, on
the 10th February, a royal mandate came forth, declaring the
University to be suspended for the entire year.
Next morning it was evident that a decisive crisis was
coming on; the students paraded in procession through the
streets, when, suddenly, the _gendarmerie_, commanded by one
of L. M.'s favourites, made an attack upon them and wounded
two of them. This, of course, served only to kindle the
flames of general indignation. The citizens threatened to
appear in arms, and the people made preparations for
storming the house of L[ola] M[ontez].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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