The Magnificent Montez Part 27

III

After Melbourne, the next step in Lola's itinerary was Geelong. The programme she offered there was a generous one, for it included a "Stirring drama, ent.i.tled, _Maidens, Beware!_ and the elegant and successful comedy, _The Eton Boy_," to which were added a "sparkling comedietta" and a "laughable farce." This was good value. The Geelong critic, however, did not think very much of the princ.i.p.al item in this bill. "It has," he observed solemnly, "an impossible plot, with situations and sentiments quite beyond the understanding of us barbarians."

This supercilious att.i.tude was not shared by the simple-minded diggers, who found _Maidens, Beware!_ very much to their taste. But nothing else could have been expected, for it offered good measure of all the elements that ensure success every time they are employed.

Thus, the hero is wrongfully charged with a series of offences committed by the villain; a comic servant unravels the plot when it becomes intricate; and the heroine only avoids "something worse than death" by proving that a baronet, "paying unwelcome addresses," (but nothing else) has forged a will.

Having a partiality for the society of diggers, with whom she had always got on well, Lola next betook herself to Ballarat. It was an unpropitious moment for a theatrical venture in that part of the world. The atmosphere was somewhat unsettled. The broad arrows and ticket-of-leave contingent who made up a large section of the community were clamouring for a republic; and there was a considerable amount of rioting. A rebel flag had been run up by the mob; and the military had to be called out to suppress the activities of the "Ballarat Reform League." Still, Lola was not the woman to run away from danger. As she had told a Sydney audience, she "rather liked a good row."

The coming of Lola Montez to Ballarat was heralded by a preliminary paragraph:

"Our readers will be pleased to learn that the world-renowned Lola, a lady who has had Kings at her beck, and who has caused nearly as much upheaval in the world as Helen of Troy, is about to appear among us. On leaving Melbourne by coach, she presented the booking clerk with an autographed copy of a work by the famous Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Young gentlemen of Ballarat, look out for your hearts! Havoc will a.s.suredly be played among them."

Her colourful career attracted the laureates. One of them found in it inspiration for a ballad, "Lola, of the rolling black eye!" which was sung at every music-hall in the Colony. A second effort regarded the matter in its graver aspects. The first verse ran as follows:

She is more to be pitied than censured, She is more to be helped than despised.

She is only a la.s.sie who ventured On life's stormy path ill-advised.

Do not scorn her with words fierce and bitter, Do not laugh at her shame and downfall, For a moment just stop to consider _That a man was the cause of it all!_

Ludwig of Bavaria had done better than this. A lot better. Annoyed at the innuendo it contained, Lola flourished her whip afresh and threatened the bard with an action for damages.

The Victoria Theatre, Ballarat (where Lola Montez was to give the diggers a sample of her quality), was a newly built house, "reflecting," declared an impressed reporter, "every modern elegance.

In front of the boxes," he continued, "are panels, chastely adorned with Corinthian festoons, encircling a gilded eagle emblematic of liberty. Above the proscenium is an ellipse, exhibiting the Australian coat of arms. The ceiling is ornamented by a dome, round which are grouped the nine Muses, and the chandelier is the biggest in the Colony. From the dress-circle there is direct communication with the adjoining United States Hotel, so that first-cla.s.s refreshments can be procured without the slightest inconvenience. There are six dressing-rooms; and Madame Lola Montez has a private and sumptuously furnished apartment."

As the repertoire she offered was to include ("by special request") the "Spider Dance," she took the precaution of sending a description of it to the _Ballarat Star_:

The characteristic and fascinating SPIDER DANCE has been performed by MADAME LOLA MONTEZ with the utmost success throughout the United States of America and before all the Crowned Heads of Europe.

This dance, on which malice and envy have endeavoured to fix the stain of immorality, has been given in the other Colonies to houses crammed from floor to ceiling with rank and fas.h.i.+on and beauty. In Adelaide His Excellency the Governor-General, accompanied by Lady McDonnell and quite the most select ladies of the city, accorded it their patronage, while the Free and Accepted Masons did Madame Lola Montez the distinguished honour of attending in full regalia.

It was on February 16, 1856, that Lola Montez opened at Ballarat. A generous programme was offered, for it consisted of "the elegant and sparkling comedy, _A Morning Call_; the laughable farce, _The Spittalsfields Weaver_; the domestic drama, _Raffaelo, the Reprobate_; and the Shakespearean tragedy, _Antony and Cleopatra_; all with new and sumptuous scenery, dresses, and appointments."

In accordance with the fas.h.i.+on of the period, the star had to recite a prologue. An extract from it was as follows:

'Tis only right some hurried words to say As to the name this theatre bears to-day, For I would have you fully understand I seek for patrons men of every land.

'Tis not alone through prejudice has been Attached the name of Britain's virtuous Queen.

And may your gen'rous presence and applause Mutual content and happy evenings cause!

But this was merely an introduction. There was more to follow, for the "personal" touch had yet to be delivered.

As for _myself_, you'll find in Lola Montez The study how to please my constant wont is!

Yet I am vain that I'm the first star here To s.h.i.+ne upon this Thespian hemisphere.

And only hope that when I say "Adieu!"

You'll grant the same I wish to you-- May rich success reward your daily toil, Nor men nor measures present peace despoil, And may I nightly see your pleasant faces With these fair ladies, your attendant Graces!

IV

But, despite this auspicious start, all was not set fair at Ballarat.

As had happened in other places, Lola was to fall foul of a critic who had disparaged her. Furiously indignant, and horse-whip in hand, she rushed into the editor's office and executed summary vengeance upon him.

"A full account of this remarkable business," announced the opposition journal, "will be given by us to-morrow. Our readers may antic.i.p.ate a perfect treat." They got it, too, if one can trust the report of a "few choice observations"

delivered by Lola to her audience on the second night of her engagement:

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I am very sure that all of you in this house are my very good friends; and I much regret that I now have a most unpleasant duty to perform. I had imagined that, after all the kindness I have experienced from the miners in California, I should never have had anything painful to say to you. Now, however, I am compelled to do so.

"I speak to the ladies, as members of my own s.e.x, and to the gentlemen, as my natural protectors. Well, what I have to tell you is that there is a certain gentleman in this town called Seekamp. Just take out the E's, and what is left of his name becomes _Skamp_. Listen to my story, and then judge between us. This Mr. Seekamp, who is the editor of the _Ballarat Times_, actually told me, in the hearing of another lady and two quite respectable gentlemen, that the miners here were a set of ----. No, I really cannot sully my lips with the shocking word he used--and that I was not to believe them.

"Mr. Seekamp called on me, with a certain proposition, and accepted my hospitality. You all know he is just a little fond of drinking. Well, while he was at my house the sherry, the port, the champagne, and the brandy were never off the table. He ate with me, and he drank with me. In fact, he drank so freely that it was only my self-respect that prevented me having him removed. But I said to myself, 'After all, he is an editor; perhaps this is his little way.'

"Well, I did as Mr. Seekamp wanted, and as a result, I was a ten pound note out of pocket by it. I was green, but I was anxious to avoid making enemies among editors. Yet, when his paper next appears, I am referred to in it as being notorious for my immorality. Notorious, indeed! Why, I defy everybody here, or anywhere else, to say that I am, or ever was, immoral. It's not likely that, if I wanted to be immoral, I should be slaving away and earning my bread by hard work. What do you think?

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I appeal to you. Is it fair or generous of this Seekamp person to behave to me like this?

The truth is, my manager, knowing that he was a good-for-nothing fellow, gave my printing orders to another editor. In revenge, the angry Seekamp says he will hound me from this town. Ladies and Gentlemen, I appeal to you for protection."

"And here," adds the report, "the intrepid Lola retired amid deafening applause. Three hearty cheers were given for Madame and three l.u.s.ty groans for her cowardly traducer."

On the following night there was more speech-making. This time, Lola complained to the audience that she had been freshly aspersed by the objectionable Seekamp. "I offered," she said, "though merely a woman, to meet him with pistols, but the cur who attacks a lady's character runs away from my challenge. He says he will drive me from the Diggings. Well, I intend to turn the tables, and to make Seekamp de-camp. I very much regret," she added, "having been compelled to a.s.sert myself at the expense of Mr. Seekamp, but, really it was not my fault. His attacks on my art were most ungentlemanly. I challenged him to fight a duel, but the poltroon would not accept."

In the best tradition of the _Eatanswill Gazette_, the _Ballarat Star_ referred to the _Ballarat Times_ as "our veracious contemporary and doughty opponent," and alluded to the "unblus.h.i.+ng profligacy of its editorial columns." The proprietor of the United States Hotel and the solicitor for Lola Montez also sailed into the controversy and challenged Mr. Seekamp to "eat his words." That individual, however, not caring about such a diet, refused to do anything of the sort.

The matter did not end there, and a number of correspondents took up the cudgels on behalf of Lola Montez.

"Is it possible," wrote one of them to the editor of the _Star_, "that Mr. Seekamp can, in his endeavour to blacken the fair fame of a woman, insinuate that he is also guilty of the most shocking immorality? I blush to think it." There was also a letter in a similar strain from "John Bull," and another from "An Eton Boy," animadverting upon Mr.

Seekamp's grammar.

Feeling herself damaged in reputation, Lola's next step was to instruct her solicitor to bring an action for libel against Seekamp.

The magistrate remitted the case to the superior court at Geelong.

But, as an apology was offered and accepted, nothing more was heard of it.

This, however, was not the end of her troubles at Ballarat, for horse-whips were again to whistle in the air. But, this time Lola got more than she bargained for. She was using her whip on one Mr. Crosby, the manager of the theatre there, when that individual's spouse--a strong-minded and muscular woman--wrested the weapon from her and laid it across her own back.

The account given by an eye-witness is a little different. "At Ballarat," he says, "Lola pitched into and cross-b.u.t.tocked a stalwart Amazon who had omitted to show her proper respect."

"Cross-b.u.t.tocked" would appear to be an expression which, so far, has eluded the dictionary-makers.

In other parts of the Colony, however, Lola's reception more than made up for any little unpleasantnesses at Ballarat. "Her popularity," says William Kelly, an Australian squatter, "was not limited to the stage.

She was welcomed with rapture on the gold fields, and all the more for the liberal fas.h.i.+on in which she 'shouted' when returning the hospitality of the diggers. Her pluck, too, delighted them, for she would descend the deepest shafts with as much nonchalance as if she were entering a boudoir."

From Sandhurst Lola Montez travelled to Bendigo, where the tour finished. There, says a pressman, "she lived on terms of the most cordial amity with the entire populace, and without a single disturbing incident to ruffle the serenity of the intercourse."

V

Having completed her tour in Australia, with considerable profit to herself, Lola Montez disbanded her company, and, in the autumn of 1856, returned to Europe. She had several offers from London; but, feeling that a rest was well earned, she left the s.h.i.+p at Ma.r.s.eilles and took a villa at St. Jean de Luz. While there, she appears to have occupied a certain amount of public attention. At any rate, emile de Girardin, thinking it good "copy," reprinted in _La Presse_ a letter she had written to the _Estafette_:

ST. JEAN DE LUZ,

_September 3, 1856._