The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-04-18 00:00:00

AUTHENTIC MEMOIR OF LOLA MONVES,

Lola Montez, says the Literary Gazette, is the daughter
of the late Major Cragie, of the East India CompanYs
service, Deputy-Adjutant-General of the Bengal Arnl3":.
Some ten or twelve years ago, Lieutenant James (also or
the Bengal Army) sailed from India in the same ship with
Mrs. Cragie, the wife of the first-named officer. An
in-
timate acquaintance sprung up between them, and
°
fond mother expatiated frequently on the captivating sil,
good looks of her daughter; and, on the arrival of We
vessel in England, Lieutenant James was introduced W
the young lady, with whom, it may be presumed, he Nvila
more than half in love already. We need scarcely inform
our readers that the result of frequent meetings was °
mutual attachment, which the lovers were anxious to
make lasting by marriage ; not so, however, the parents
for a lieutenant in the infantry, with nothing but his bare
pay to look to for support, is not the most eligible oar
husbands. A runaway match put an end to all discus-
sions as to the prudence of their being united ;
shortly afterwards, the young couple sailed for India_t,
Time soon showed that they were not suited to eau"
other; and the lady, to whose very existence the excite-
ment of a public life seems necessary, could ill.brook set-
tling down the wife of a subaltern officer in a marching
regiment, whose tastes, mind, and character differed. so
entirely from her own. Up to this period the education
and mode of life of Mrs. James were precisely similar to
those of most young ladies of the middling classes 01
society in England ; but, now came the change. She le'
her husband to live with some more favoured lover, and
by her beauty, vivacity, and disregard of the restrictions
of society, soon became the talk of India ; but, her nna"
bitious spirit was not long content with the eclat vane'
that country could afford her : and, after a residence there
of two or three years, she quitted it for Europe. Then it'
was, we believe, that Mrs. James took to herself the
epithet of Lola Montez. It might be amusing, perlialia,
to follow her through all the strange adventures of bet
varied and chequered life; but, as such is not our inten-
tion—we merely wish to show who and what she really
was. A contributor to Fraser's Magazine writes of her
thus :—" It is said that this now celebrated personage'
having a singular independence of character, had long•
been in the habit of travelling from city to oil
seeking, by the employment of talents and beauty whi
she supposed herself to possess, to augment the income,
she already enjoyed : that, after having been to severs'
places, where sometimes she essayed her talents and failed+
and sometimes merely lived upon her means, as, for in,'
stance, at Baden-Baden, she went to Munich." Leije
Montez never was better than an indifferent dancer, and
was admired on the stage solely for beauty and distin-
guished manners. When the late Dwarkanauth Tagore
gave his sumptuous entertainments in Paris. Lela Monte%
was a constant visitor at them ; she was introduced t°
the friends she had formerly known in India as grail'
James, and did not hesitate to speak with them of old
times; and when questioned about her reasons for calling
herself by so strange a cognomen, she replied that it was'
the name of her mother, who was of Spanish extraction'
These are " great facts," and it would be as needless Ur
deny that Lola Montez is Mrs. James as that Madan°
Vestris is Mrs. Charles Matthews. There is ro denying
that the Countess of Landsfelt has great faults, but sbe
can be a very charming person and delightful companion;
She is graceful and dignified, and understands the art or
dress to perfection. In Bavaria she devoted her life to the
extirpation of the Jesuits, root and branch, and this ail'
sorbing idea, it is said, destroyed her peace of mind. fleia
title and estate of Landsfelt gave her feudal privileges and
rights over some two thousand persons, who found nn
reason to complain of her dominion. Her income before"
quittirg Munich was about £5,000 per annum, in additioll
to the property left her by Dujarrier, in his will made otr`
on the day he fought the duel in which he lost his life.
The king used generally to visit Lola Montez in the
morning, between eleven and one o'clock, and she v,"'
sometimes summoned to the palace to consult with bio3l
or the ministers, on state affairs; and although no one
would palliate the connection that existed between th.!
monarch and his favourite, this much may be said, that
was not of a coarse or vulgar nature ; and, considering,
the extreme length to which it w...s carried, we are not
surprised at the effect of her naturalization upon the re
signed king.

t
*Though the editorial wE is used in this memoir, we have"o
acknowledge it as a favour from a valued correspondent.
he' says no'hine,,,: of her life in London. we may add that
was not of the strictest kind. She lodged in Tichfield-street'
and, as isgenerally remembered, tried her fortune as a daq,L;
in her Majesty's Theatre, where her person attracted great
admiration than her talents, &c.—En. L. G.

When Lord George Gordon moved that the 'petitionthe
had presented should be taken into consideration, dcd
house refused to discuss it so long as they were sureann ,a
and apparently overawed by a mob.. He left the hfus;.3
two or three times to address the petitioners, and d ;
began to be entertained that violence would be attemPl.,,
when General Murray, uncle to the Duke of Athol, tfs,
addressed Lord George :—" If only one of your loneo
followers enters, I shall consider rebellion as begun, 3 t,
prornoteni.
I will plunge my sword into your heart as its
to Lord
afterwards Lc). I Sl.effieM, that made this speech I"
—ChrohicV.--(It is said that it was-Colonel Iledr.Tl
George Gordon.]
P re 101 l
oajaey(sisbeecAnS IfoundTls.-incompatible
f ewxteithrntahlesiidrfvBo ce
.0;
not always
and literature, revolution and civil strife, on 04,6
other hand, have ever operated as grave impediments
the intellectual progress of a nation. The belles iellreff
ezpecially, have no more redoubtable foe than
d om
discord. The poet has little heart to pursue his grace'
vocation when each moment his creative reveries are, bre'f
ken by the rattle of deadly volleys and the trarer.g,
charging steeds. The pale student extinguishes the minf
night lamp lest its light supply a mark for the linliehtlni,
lurking foes, and rouses from poetic dreams to 1)1191v-fie.-
self with stern realities, romantic, perchance, 33 5'6 pen
Con his imagination's wildest flight could attain• eerco
lies idle and neglected, or—a yet worse fate--indu'l.g la the
diatribe and savage pasquinade. A like fate bell to,
other gentle arts. The musician hangs his harp P ueel t for
willow, and the painter mournfully abandons a eon. A are:
whose exercise the subjects most frequently offere`og
scenes of rapine, misery, and blood. In the native
there
of Camoens, we find melancholy exemplificationsofP;ing
inc mtrovertible truths. The last twenty years, litivast
which most European countries have made suel_,„,/ ese
strides in civilisation and refinement, and have sou'irto.
1 :rgely to their stores of instructive and entertaining tot
rature, have been thrown away by Postural in oo's
discord and still-recurring revolution. It' the Poe° of
causes of decline in a nation which once led the rerlS
nautical enterprise and discovery, were the great influnish
gold from new-found countries. the oppressive SO aits
yoke, and the fetters imposed on progress by the Jester
and the Inquisition, the continuance of its degraded as
eas
at least in recent days, must be sought in its own res it is
turbulence and internal quarrels. The Portuguese' loom
true, if once distinguished as daring mariners and ifa the
colonists, never held a very distinguished piece 'e that
arsna of' learning and literature; but it is stranget:oct
their position in these particulars was never more a"3,,c16
and unprosperous than at a period when all other Is" If
have advanced with a rapidity almost unparalleled„' in
the only Portuguese name of world-wide celebr"
nof
belles lettres, be that of Luis de Camoens, others ar:,, '
ipree!
wanting, creditably, if less universally, known.
over the five centuries between the remote day of "'s 130'
Dom Diniz," and the recent one of Nasciniento ilea
n
cage, are the names of many men of merit, who .of
tri
steadily, and not unsuccessfully, up the giddy steel at
Parnassus. As in the sister country of Spain, (hal
la
and lyrical composition obtained the preference; ,apor-
glance over the history of the four periods into wk!ellii). tt
tuguese literature is divided, skews that, nunler'fariters'
least, the poets have the advantage over the prase ";"tioath.
This taste for verse, not unusual in southern na 10
' at
4-
would seem to continue up to the present dap tort
the most remarkable Portuguese literati of thiseeerl.
-
Albuquerque, Garrett, Carvalho, Castilho, and th l
less mark, although most of them haves written„Phses
have chiefly devoted themselves to poetry, and in "these
achieved their principal triumphs. But what k 5,".., of°
triumphs been ? The success of a moment, the ga'„,"„ eso
day. How immeasurable the interval between t",iriets6,
of the writers just named and the inspired and, P'-f
Ole;
author of the Lusiadas ! If the fame of one of the, than
tto"
outlasts the century, it will be less for his own toe's' p lot'
because his chief work is devoted to the praise of
is the
ter. For the Portuguese, sunken though they be„pos
scale of nations, still cherish the name of Canw-ese'
their hearts, and his poetry in their memories• to the
%yeast singing the harmonious stanzas that eelebr3 three
ancient glories of Lusitania, they forget the changes Lae]'
hundred years have wrought, and dream themsel'recsi a Ds
to the adventurous and heroic days of a Diaz 11,," 5 beel
Gsma. For many reasons the present century 51. e and
most unfavourable to the advancement of literature stw
the fine arts in Portugal. For eminence in the'ltretort
has never been distinguished. Painting, arck.-4.ores
sculpture, and music, have found but chilling vF:
and scanty students amongst her sons. In val; lace.
schools been repeatedly established, in vain l'av-tsut:i'
•
sums been expended in hopes of forming a national •
the coy Muses could never be induced to linger on sra
tanian soil. There the best specimens of architecturesives
gorgeous rather than beautiful ; sculptors limit therfspaill
to copying foreign creations ; and whilst edifice% asu
can boast her Riberas, and Murillos, and Veltilji-e ADS'
scores of other great artists, we vainly seek on la pen%
ter-roll of fame the name of a Portuguese whe4ithoog
has won him immortality. As regards music,a weir
the Portuguese often shew talent and taste in Its otillg-
na
tion, they go no farther • and eopeser3
amongst them. Even in 'first-rate singers the It
ws
eybut eon
deficient, for Lisbon possesses no national operach is,
ports an Italian company. And the theatre, 4,1°,0 /inn•
recently was, a very losing concern, is deserts'', 'r ere'"
dancers and for the brutal bull-tight ; the let% life:a
and cowardly imitation of that of Sain.--PoBPot 'e"
Deseivese.—lt will be seen by an adve.,r"s neo tt'
n
another column, that the celebrated aurist, roe:„sit,e
of
has returned to Lieerpool, by which an oPP,e,Cestne
obtainieg I#l 41. ronled to these afilleteil
*ad other disorders of the aural organs,

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