deliberately ignored much that might have been put to her credit. Lola
had not done nearly as much harm as some of Ludwig's lights o' love.
Her predecessors, however, had made themselves subservient to the
Jesuits and clericals. When her friends sent protests to the editor,
refuge was taken in the stereotyped reply: "pressure on our space
does not permit us to continue this correspondence."

By those who wished her ill, any stick was good enough with which to
beat Lola Montez. Thus, when a dignitary died--no matter what the
medical diagnosis--it was announced in the gutter press that he died
of "grief, caused by the national shame." The alleged last words of a
certain politician were declared to be: "I die because I cannot
continue living under the orders of a strumpet who rules our dear
Bavaria as if she were a princess." Ludwig took it calmly. "The real
trouble with this poor fellow," he said, "is that he never experienced
the revivifying effects of the love of a beautiful woman." A popular
prescription. The local doctors, however, were coy about recommending
it to their patients.

That the Munich disturbances had an aftermath is clear from a news
item that appeared in the _Cologne Gazette_ of July, 3, 1847. Lola,
wanting a change of air and scene, had gone on a tour, travelling
_incognita_ and without any escort. Still, as she was to discover, it
was impossible for her to move without being recognised:

According to letters from Bavaria, it is obvious that the
animosities excited against Lola Montez earlier in the year
are far from having subsided. On passing through Nuremberg,
she was received with coldness, but decency. At Bamberg,
however, it was very different. At the railway station she
was hissed and hooted, and, stones being thrown at her
carriage, she presented her pistols and threatened to punish
her assailants. The upper classes were thoroughly ashamed of
such excesses; and the chief magistrate has been instructed
to appoint a deputation of the leading citizens to apologise
to Mademoiselle.

In a letter to his brother, dated July 7, 1847, a University student
says: "Lola Montez was near being assassinated three days ago," but he
gives no particulars. Hence, it was probably gossip picked up in a
beer hall.

III

A grievance felt by Lola was that she was not accorded recognition
among the aristocracy. But there was an obvious remedy. This was