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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Adventures In The South: Return to Naples
+by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Adventures In The South: Return to Naples
+       The Memoirs Of Jacques Casanova De Seingalt 1725-1798
+
+Author: Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
+
+Release Date: October 31, 2006 [EBook #2968]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RETURN TO NAPLES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF JACQUES CASANOVA de SEINGALT 1725-1798
+
+ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH, Volume 4c--RETURN TO NAPLES
+
+THE RARE UNABRIDGED LONDON EDITION OF 1894 TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR MACHEN TO
+WHICH HAS BEEN ADDED THE CHAPTERS DISCOVERED BY ARTHUR SYMONS.
+
+
+
+
+RETURN TO NAPLES
+
+ROME--NAPLES--BOLOGNA
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Cardinal Passianei--The Pope--Masiuccia--I Arrive At Naples
+
+Cardinal Passionei received me in a large hall where he was writing. He
+begged me to wait till he had finished, but he could not ask me to take a
+seat as he occupied the only chair that his vast room contained.
+
+When he had put down his pen, he rose, came to me, and after informing me
+that he would tell the Holy Father of my visit, he added,--
+
+"My brother Cornaro might have made a better choice, as he knows the Pope
+does not like me."
+
+"He thought it better to choose the man who is esteemed than the man who
+is merely liked."
+
+"I don't know whether the Pope esteems me, but I am sure he knows I don't
+esteem him. I both liked and esteemed him before he was pope, and I
+concurred in his election, but since he has worn the tiara it's a
+different matter; he has shewn himself too much of a 'coglione'."
+
+"The conclave ought to have chosen your eminence."
+
+"No, no; I'm a root-and-branch reformer, and my hand would not have been
+stayed for fear of the vengeance of the guilty, and God alone knows what
+would have come of that. The only cardinal fit to be pope was Tamburini;
+but it can't be helped now. I hear people coming; good-bye, come again
+to-morrow."
+
+What a delightful thing to have heard a cardinal call the Pope a fool,
+and name Tamburini as a fit person. I did not lose a moment in noting
+this pleasant circumstance down: it was too precious a morsel to let
+slip. But who was Tamburini? I had never heard of him. I asked
+Winckelmann, who dined with me.
+
+"He's a man deserving of respect for his virtues, his character, his
+firmness, and his farseeing intelligence. He has never disguised his
+opinion of the Jesuits, whom he styles the fathers of deceits, intrigues,
+and lies; and that's what made Passionei mention him. I think, with him,
+that Tamburini would be a great and good pope."
+
+I will here note down what I heard at Rome nine years later from the
+mouth of a tool of the Jesuits. The Cardinal Tamburini was at the last
+gasp, and the conversation turned upon him, when somebody else said,--
+
+"This Benedictine cardinal is an impious fellow after all; he is on his
+death-bed, and he has asked for the viaticum, without wishing to purify
+his soul by confession."
+
+I did not make any remark, but feeling as if I should like to know the
+truth of the matter I asked somebody about it next day, my informant
+being a person who must have known the truth, and could not have had any
+motive for disguising the real facts of the case. He told me that the
+cardinal had said mass three days before, and that if he had not asked
+for a confessor it was doubtless because he had nothing to confess.
+
+Unfortunate are they that love the truth, and do not seek it out at its
+source. I hope the reader will pardon this digression, which is not
+without interest.
+
+Next day I went to see Cardinal Passionei, who told me I was quite right
+to come early, as he wanted to learn all about my escape from The Leads,
+of which he had heard some wonderful tales told.
+
+"I shall be delighted to satisfy your eminence, but the story is a long
+one."
+
+"All the better; they say you tell it well."
+
+"But, my lord, am I to sit down on the floor?"
+
+"No, no; your dress is too good for that."
+
+He rang his bell, and having told one of his gentlemen to send up a seat,
+a servant brought in a stool. A seat without a back and without arms! It
+made me quite angry. I cut my story short, told it badly, and had
+finished in a quarter of an hour.
+
+"I write better than you speak," said he.
+
+"My lord, I never speak well except when I am at my ease."
+
+"But you are not afraid of me?"
+
+"No, my lord, a true man and a philosopher can never make me afraid; but
+this stool of yours . . . ."
+
+"You like to be at your ease, above all things."
+
+"Take this, it is the funeral oration of Prince Eugene; I make you a
+present of it. I hope you will approve of my Latinity. You can kiss the
+Pope's feet tomorrow at ten o'clock."
+
+When I got home, as I reflected on the character of this strange
+cardinal--a wit, haughty, vain, and boastful, I resolved to make him a
+fine present. It was the 'Pandectarum liber unicus' which M. de F. had
+given me at Berne, and which I did not know what to do with. It was a
+folio well printed on fine paper, choicely bound, and in perfect
+preservation. As chief librarian the present should be a valuable one to
+him, all the more as he had a large private library, of which my friend
+the Abbe Winckelmann was librarian. I therefore wrote a short Latin
+letter, which I enclosed in another to Winckelmann, whom I begged to
+present my offering to his eminence.
+
+I thought it was as valuable as his funeral oration at any rate, and I
+hoped that he would give me a more comfortable chair for the future.
+
+Next morning, at the time appointed, I went to Monte Cavallo, which ought
+to be called Monte Cavalli, as it gets its name from two fine statues of
+horses standing on a pedestal in the midst of the square, where the Holy
+Father's palace is situated.
+
+I had no real need of being presented to the Pope by anyone, as any
+Christian is at liberty to go in when he sees the door open. Besides I
+had known His Holiness when he was Bishop of Padua; but I had preferred
+to claim the honor of being introduced by a cardinal.
+
+After saluting the Head of the Faithful, and kissing the holy cross
+embroidered on his holy slipper, the Pope put his right hand on my left
+shoulder, and said he remembered that I always forsook the assembly at
+Padua, when he intoned the Rosary.
+
+"Holy Father, I have much worse sins than that on my conscience, so I
+come prostrate at your foot to receive your absolution."
+
+He then gave me his benediction, and asked me very graciously what he
+could do for me.
+
+"I beg Your Holiness to plead for me, that I may be able to return to
+Venice."
+
+"We will speak of it to the ambassador, and then we will speak again to
+you on the matter."
+
+"Do you often go and see Cardinal Passionei?"
+
+"I have been three times. He gave me his funeral oration on Prince
+Eugene, and in return I sent him the 'Pandects'."
+
+"Has he accepted them?"
+
+"I think so, Holy Father."
+
+"If he has, he will send Winckelmann to pay you for them."
+
+"That would be treating me like a bookseller; I will not receive any
+payment."
+
+"Then he will return the volume of the 'Pandects'; we are sure of it, he
+always does so."
+
+"If his eminence returns me the 'Pandects', I will return him his funeral
+oration."
+
+At this the Pope laughed till his sides shook.
+
+"We shall be pleased to hear the end of the story without anyone being
+informed of our innocent curiosity."
+
+With these words, a long benediction delivered with much unction informed
+me that my audience was at an end.
+
+As I was leaving His Holiness's palace, I was accosted by an old abbe,
+who asked me respectfully if I were not the M. Casanova who had escaped
+from The Leads.
+
+"Yes," said I, "I am the man."
+
+"Heaven be praised, worthy sir, that I see you again in such good
+estate!"
+
+"But whom have I the honour of addressing?"
+
+"Don't you recollect me? I am Momolo, formerly gondolier at Venice."
+
+"Have you entered holy orders, then?"
+
+"Not at all, but here everyone wears the cassock. I am the first
+scopatore (sweeper) of His Holiness the Pope."
+
+"I congratulate you on your appointment, but you mustn't mind me
+laughing."
+
+"Laugh as much as you like. My wife and daughters laugh when I put on the
+cassock and bands, and I laugh myself, but here the dress gains one
+respect. Come and see us."
+
+"Where do you live?"
+
+"Behind the Trinity of Monti; here's my address."
+
+"I will come to-night."
+
+I went home delighted with this meeting, and determined to enjoy the
+evening with my Venetian boatman. I got my brother to come with me, and I
+told him how the Pope had received me.
+
+The Abbe Winckelmann came in the afternoon and informed me that I was
+fortunate enough to be high in favour with his cardinal, and that the
+book I had sent him was very valuable; it was a rare work, and in much
+better condition than the Vatican copy.
+
+"I am commissioned to pay you for it."
+
+"I have told his eminence that it was a present."
+
+"He never accepts books as presents, and he wants yours for his own
+library; and as he is librarian of the Vatican Library he is afraid lest
+people might say unpleasant things."
+
+"That's very well, but I am not a bookseller; and as this book only cost
+me the trouble of accepting it, I am determined only to sell it at the
+same price. Pray ask the cardinal to honour me by accepting it."
+
+"He is sure to send it back to you."
+
+"He can if he likes, but I will send back his funeral oration, as I am
+not going to be under an obligation to anyone who refuses to take a
+present from me."
+
+Next morning the eccentric cardinal returned me my Pandects, and I
+immediately returned his funeral oration, with a letter in which I
+pronounced it a masterpiece of composition, though I laid barely glanced
+over it in reality. My brother told me I was wrong, but I did not trouble
+what he said, not caring to guide myself by his rulings.
+
+In the evening my brother and I went to the 'scopatore santissimo', who
+was expecting me, and had announced me to his family as a prodigy of a
+man. I introduced my brother, and proceeded to a close scrutiny of the
+family. I saw an elderly woman, four girls, of whom the eldest was
+twenty-four, two small boys, and above all universal ugliness. It was not
+inviting for a man of voluptuous tastes, but I was there, and the best
+thing was to put a good face on it; so I stayed and enjoyed myself.
+Besides the general ugliness, the household presented the picture of
+misery, for the 'scopatore santissimo' and his numerous family were
+obliged to live on two hundred Roman crowns a year, and as there are no
+perquisites attached to the office of apostolic sweeper, he was compelled
+to furnish all needs out of this slender sum. In spite of that Momolo was
+a most generous man. As soon as he saw me seated he told me he should
+have liked to give me a good supper, but there was only pork chops and a
+polenta.
+
+"They are very nice," said I; "but will you allow me to send for half a
+dozen flasks of Orvieto from my lodging?"
+
+"You are master here."
+
+I wrote a note to Costa, telling him to bring the six flasks directly,
+with a cooked ham. He came in half an hour, and the four girls cried when
+they saw him, "What a fine fellow!" I saw Costa was delighted with this
+reception, and said to Momolo,
+
+"If you like him as well as your girls I will let him stay."
+
+Costa was charmed with such honour being shewn him, and after thanking me
+went into the kitchen to help the mother with the polenta.
+
+The large table was covered with a clean cloth, and soon after they
+brought in two huge dishes of polenta and an enormous pan full of chops.
+We were just going to begin when a knocking on the street door was heard.
+
+"'Tis Signora Maria and her mother," said one of the boys.
+
+At this announcement I saw the four girls pulling a wry face. "Who asked
+them?" said one. "What do they want?" said another. "What troublesome
+people they are!" said a third. "They might have stayed at home," said
+the fourth. But the good, kindly father said, "My children, they are
+hungry, and they shall share what Providence has given us."
+
+I was deeply touched with the worthy man's kindness. I saw that true
+Christian charity is more often to be found in the breasts of the poor
+than the rich, who are so well provided for that they cannot feel for the
+wants of others.
+
+While I was making these wholesome reflections the two hungry ones came
+in. One was a young woman of a modest and pleasant aspect, and the other
+her mother, who seemed very humble and as if ashamed of their poverty.
+The daughter saluted the company with that natural grace which is a gift
+of nature, apologizing in some confusion for her presence, and saying
+that she would not have taken the liberty to come if she had known there
+was company. The worthy Momolo was the only one who answered her, and he
+said, kindly, that she had done quite right to come, and put her a chair
+between my brother and myself. I looked at her and thought her a perfect
+beauty.
+
+Then the eating began and there was no more talking. The polenta was
+excellent, the chops delicious, and the ham perfect, and in less than an
+hour the board was as bare as if there had been nothing on it; but the
+Orvieto kept the company in good spirts. They began to talk of the
+lottery which was to be drawn the day after next, and all the girls
+mentioned the numbers on which they had risked a few bajocchi.
+
+"If I could be sure of one number," said I, "I would stake something on
+it."
+
+Mariuccia told me that if I wanted a number she could give me one. I
+laughed at this offer, but in the gravest way she named me the number 27.
+
+"Is the lottery still open?" I asked the Abbe Momolo.
+
+"Till midnight," he replied, "and if you like I will go and get the
+number for you."
+
+"Here are fifty crowns," said I, "put twenty-five crowns on 27-this for
+these five young ladies; and the other twenty-five on 27 coming out the
+fifth number, and this I will keep for myself."
+
+He went out directly and returned with the two tickets.
+
+My pretty neighbour thanked me and said she was sure of winning, but that
+she did not think I should succeed as it was not probable that 27 would
+come out fifth.
+
+"I am sure of it," I answered, "for you are the fifth young lady I saw in
+this house." This made everybody laugh. Momolo's wife told me I would
+have done much better if I had given the money to the poor, but her
+husband told her to be quiet, as she did not know my intent. My brother
+laughed, and told me I had done a foolish thing. "I do, sometimes," said
+I, "but we shall see how it turns out, and when one plays one is obliged
+either to win or lose."
+
+I managed to squeeze my fair neighbour's hand, and she returned the
+pressure with all her strength. From that time I knew that my fate with
+Mariuccia was sealed. I left them at midnight, begging the worthy Momolo
+to ask me again in two days' time, that we might rejoice together over
+our gains. On our way home my brother said I had either become as rich as
+Croesus or had gone mad. I told him that both suppositions were
+incorrect, but that Mariuccia was as handsome as an angel, and he agreed.
+
+Next day Mengs returned to Rome, and I supped with him and his family. He
+had an exceedingly ugly sister, who for all that, was a good and talented
+woman. She had fallen deeply in love with my brother, and it was easy to
+see that the flame was not yet extinguished, but whenever she spoke to
+him, which she did whenever she could get an opportunity, he looked
+another way.
+
+She was an exquisite painter of miniatures, and a capital hand at
+catching a likeness. To the best of my belief she is still living at Rome
+with Maroni her husband. She often used to speak of my brother to me, and
+one day she said that he must be the most thankless of men or he would
+not despise her so. I was not curious enough to enquire what claim she
+had to his gratitude.
+
+Mengs's wife was a good and pretty woman, attentive to her household
+duties and very submissive to her husband, though she could not have
+loved him, for he was anything but amiable. He was obstinate and fierce
+in his manner, and when he dined at home he made a point of not leaving
+the table before he was drunk; out of his own house he was temperate to
+the extent of not drinking anything but water. His wife carried her
+obedience so far as to serve as his model for all the nude figures he
+painted. I spoke to her one day about this unpleasant obligation, and she
+said that her confessor had charged her to fulfil it, "for," said he, "if
+your husband has another woman for a model he will be sure to enjoy her
+before painting her, and that sin would be laid to your charge."
+
+After supper, Winckelmann, who was as far gone as all the other male
+guests, played with Mengs's children. There was nothing of the pedant
+about this philosopher; he loved children and young people, and his
+cheerful disposition made him delight in all kinds of enjoyment.
+
+Next day, as I was going to pay my court to the Pope, I saw Momolo in the
+first ante-chamber, and I took care to remind him of the polenta for the
+evening.
+
+As soon as the Pope saw me, he said,--
+
+"The Venetian ambassador has informed us that if you wish to return to
+your native land, you must go and present yourself before the secretary
+of the Tribunal."
+
+"Most Holy Father, I am quite ready to take this step, if Your Holiness
+will grant me a letter of commendation written with your own hand.
+Without this powerful protection I should never dream of exposing myself
+to the risk of being again shut up in a place from which I escaped by a
+miracle and the help of the Almighty."
+
+"You are gaily dressed; you do not look as if you were going to church."
+
+"True, most Holy Father, but neither am I going to a ball."
+
+"We have heard all about the presents being sent back. Confess that you
+did so to gratify your pride."
+
+"Yes, but also to lower a pride greater than mine."
+
+The Pope smiled at this reply, and I knelt down and begged him to permit
+me to present the volume of Pandects to the Vatican Library. By way of
+reply he gave me his blessing, which signifies, in papal language, "Rise;
+your request is granted."
+
+"We will send you," said he, "a mark of our singular affection for you
+without your having to pay any fees."
+
+A second blessing bid me begone. I have often felt what a good thing it
+would be if this kind of dismissal could be employed in general society
+to send away importunate petitioners, to whom one does not dare say,
+"Begone."
+
+I was extremely curious to know what the Pope had meant by "a mark of our
+singular affection." I was afraid that it would be a blessed rosary, with
+which I should not have known what to do.
+
+When I got home I sent the book by Costa to the Vatican, and then I went
+to dine with Mengs. While we were eating the soup the winning numbers
+from the lottery were brought in. My brother glanced at them and looked
+at me with astonishment. I was not thinking of the subject at that
+moment, and his gaze surprised me.
+
+"Twenty-seven," he cried, "came out fifth."
+
+"All the better," said I, "we shall have some amusement out of it."
+
+I told the story to Mengs, who said,--
+
+"It's a lucky folly for you this time; but it always is a folly."
+
+He was quite right, and I told him that I agreed with him; but I added
+that to make a worthy use of the fifteen hundred roman crowns which
+fortune had given me, I should go and spend fifteen days at Naples.
+
+"I will come too," said the Abbe Alfani. "I will pass for your
+secretary."
+
+"With all my heart," I answered, "I shall keep you to your word."
+
+I asked Winckelmann to come and eat polenta with the scopatore
+santissimo, and told my brother to shew him the way; and I then called on
+the Marquis Belloni, my banker, to look into my accounts, and to get a
+letter of credit on the firm at Naples, who were his agents. I still had
+two hundred thousand francs: I had jewellery worth thirty thousand
+francs, and fifty thousand florins at Amsterdam.
+
+I got to Momolo's in the dusk of the evening, and I found Winckelmann and
+my brother already there; but instead of mirth reigning round the board I
+saw sad faces on all sides.
+
+"What's the matter with the girls?" I asked Momolo.
+
+"They are vexed that you did not stake for them in the same way as you
+did for yourself."
+
+"People are never satisfied. If I had staked for them as I did for
+myself, and the number had come out first instead of fifth, they would
+have got nothing, and they would have been vexed then. Two days ago they
+had nothing, and now that they have twenty-seven pounds apiece they ought
+to be contented."
+
+"That's just what I tell them, but all women are the same."
+
+"And men too, dear countryman, unless they are philosophers. Gold does
+not spell happiness, and mirth can only be found in hearts devoid of
+care. Let us say no more about it, but be happy."
+
+Costa placed a basket containing ten packets of sweets, upon the table.
+
+"I will distribute them," said I, "when everybody is here."
+
+On this, Momolo's second daughter told me that Mariuccia and her mother
+were not coming, but that they would send them the sweets.
+
+"Why are they not coming?"
+
+"They had a quarrel yesterday," said the father, "and Mariuccia, who was
+in the right, went away saying that she would never come here again."
+
+"You ungrateful girls!" said I, to my host's daughters, "don't you know
+that it is to her that you owe your winnings, for she gave me the number
+twenty-seven, which I should never have thought of. Quick! think of some
+way to make her come, or I will go away and take all the sweets with me."
+
+"You are quite right," said Momolo.
+
+The mortified girls looked at one another and begged their father to
+fetch her.
+
+"Ira," said he, "that won't do; you made her say that she would never
+come here again, and you must make up the quarrel."
+
+They held a short consultation, and then, asking Costa to go with them,
+they went to fetch her.
+
+In half an hour they returned in triumph, and Costa was quite proud of
+the part he had taken in the reconciliation. I then distributed the
+sweets, taking care to give the two best packets to the fair Mary.
+
+A noble polenta was placed upon the board, flanked by two large dishes of
+pork chops. But Momolo, who knew my tastes, and whom I had made rich in
+the person of his daughters, added to the feast some delicate dishes and
+some excellent wine. Mariuccia was simply dressed, but her elegance and
+beauty and the modesty of her demeanour completely seduced me.
+
+We could only express our mutual flames by squeezing each other's hands;
+and she did this so feelingly that I could not doubt her love. As we were
+going out I took care to go downstairs beside her and asked if I could
+not meet her by herself, to which she replied by making an appointment
+with me far the next day at eight o'clock at the Trinity of Monti.
+
+Mariuccia was tall and shapely, a perfect picture, as fair as a white
+rose, and calculated to inspire voluptuous desires. She had beautiful
+light brown hair, dark blue eyes, and exquisitely arched eyelids. Her
+mouth, the vermilion of her lips, and her ivory teeth were all perfect.
+Her well-shaped forehead gave her an air approaching the majestic.
+Kindness and gaiety sparkled in her eyes; while her plump white hands,
+her rounded finger-tips, her pink nails, her breast, which the corset
+seemed scarcely able to restrain, her dainty feet, and her prominent
+hips, made her worthy of the chisel of Praxiteles. She was just on her
+eighteenth year, and so far had escaped the connoisseurs. By a lucky
+chance I came across her in a poor and wretched street, and I was
+fortunate enough to insure her happiness.
+
+It may easily be believed that I did not fail to keep the appointment,
+and when she was sure I had seen her she went out of the church. I
+followed her at a considerable distance: she entered a ruined building,
+and I after her. She climbed a flight of steps which seemed to be built
+in air, and when she had reached the top she turned.
+
+"No one will come and look for me here," said she, "so we can talk freely
+together."
+
+I sat beside her on a stone, and I then declared my passionate love for
+her.
+
+"Tell me," I added, "what I can do to make you happy; for I wish to
+possess you, but first to shew my deserts."
+
+"Make me happy, and I will yield to your desires, for I love you."
+
+"Tell me what I can do."
+
+"You can draw me out of the poverty and misery which overwhelm me. I live
+with my mother, who is a good woman, but devout to the point of
+superstition; she will damn my soul in her efforts to save it. She finds
+fault with my keeping myself clean, because I have to touch myself when I
+wash, and that might give rise to evil desires.
+
+"If you had given me the money you made me win in the lottery as a simple
+alms she would have made me refuse it, because you might have had
+intentions. She allows me to go by myself to mass because our confessor
+told her she might do so; but I dare not stay away a minute beyond the
+time, except on feast days, when I am allowed to pray in the church for
+two or three hours. We can only meet here, but if you wish to soften my
+lot in life you can do so as follows:
+
+"A fine young man, who is a hairdresser, and bears an excellent
+character, saw me at Momolo's a fortnight ago, and met me at the church
+door next day and gave me a letter. He declared himself my lover, and
+said that if I could bring him a dowry of four hundred crowns, he could
+open a shop, furnish it, and marry me.
+
+"'I am poor,' I answered, 'and I have only a hundred crowns in charity
+tickets, which my confessor keeps for me.' Now I have two hundred crowns,
+for if I marry, my mother will willingly give me her share of the money
+you made us gain. You can therefore make me happy by getting me tickets
+to the amount of two hundred crowns more. Take the tickets to my
+confessor, who is a very good man and fond of me; he will not say
+anything to my mother about it."
+
+"I needn't go about seeking for charity tickets, my angel. I will take
+two hundred piastres to your confessor to-morrow, and you must manage the
+rest yourself. Tell me his name, and to-morrow I will tell you what I
+have done, but not here, as the wind and the cold would be the death of
+me. You can leave me to find out a room where we shall be at our ease,
+and without any danger of people suspecting that we have spent an hour
+together. I will meet you at the church to-morrow at the same hour and
+when you see me follow me."
+
+Mariuccia told me her confessor's name, and allowed me all the caresses
+possible in our uncomfortable position. The kisses she gave me in return
+for mine left no doubt in my mind, as to her love for me. As nine o'clock
+struck I left her, perishing with cold, but burning with desire; my only
+thought being where to find a room in which I might possess myself of the
+treasure the next day.
+
+On leaving the ruined palace, instead of returning to the Piazza di
+Spagna I turned to the left and passed along a narrow and dirty street
+only inhabited by people of the lowest sort. As I slowly walked along, a
+woman came out of her house and asked me politely if I were looking for
+anybody.
+
+"I am looking for a room to let."
+
+"There are none here, sir, but, you will find a hundred in the square."
+
+"I know it, but I want the room to be here, not for the sake of the
+expense, but that I may be sure of being able to spend an hour or so of a
+morning with a person in whom I am interested. I am ready to pay
+anything."
+
+"I understand what you mean, and you should have a room in my house if I
+had one to spare, but a neighbour of mine has one on the ground floor,
+and if you will wait a moment I will go and speak to her."
+
+"You will oblige me very much."
+
+"Kindly step in here."
+
+I entered a poor room, where all seemed wretchedness, and I saw two
+children doing their lessons. Soon after, the good woman came back and
+asked me to follow her. I took several pieces of money from my pocket,
+and put them down on the only table which this poor place contained. I
+must have seemed very generous, for the poor mother came and kissed my
+hand with the utmost gratitude. So pleasant is it to do good, that now
+when I have nothing left the remembrance of the happiness I have given to
+others at small cost is almost the only pleasure I enjoy.
+
+I went to a neighbouring house where a woman received me in an empty
+room, which she told me she would let cheaply if I would pay three months
+in advance, and bring in my own furniture.
+
+"What do you ask for the three months' rent?"
+
+"Three Roman crowns."
+
+"If you will see to the furnishing of the room this very day I will give
+you twelve crowns."
+
+"Twelve crowns! What furniture do you want?"
+
+"A good clean bed, a small table covered with a clean cloth, four good
+chairs, and a large brazier with plenty of fire in it, for I am nearly
+perishing of cold here. I shall only come occasionally in the morning,
+and I shall leave by noon at the latest."
+
+"Come at three o'clock, then, to-day, and you will find everything to
+your satisfaction."
+
+From there I went to the confessor. He was a French monk, about sixty, a
+fine and benevolent-looking man, who won one's respect and confidence.
+
+"Reverend father," I began, "I saw at the house of Abbe Momolo, 'scoptore
+santissimo', a young girl named Mary, whose confessor you are. I fell in
+love with her, and offered her money to try and seduce her. She replied
+that instead of trying to lead her into sin I would do better to get her
+some charity tickets that she might be able to marry a young man who
+loved her, and would make her happy. I was touched by what she said, but
+my passion still remained. I spoke to her again, and said that I would
+give her two hundred crowns for nothing, and that her mother should keep
+them.
+
+"'That would be my ruin,' said she; 'my mother would think the money was
+the price of sin, and would not accept it. If you are really going to be
+so generous, take the money to my confessor, and ask him to do what he
+can for my marriage.'"
+
+"Here, then, reverend father, is the sum of money for the good girl; be
+kind enough to take charge of it, and I will trouble her no more. I am
+going to Naples the day after to-morrow, and I hope when I come back she
+will be married."
+
+The good confessor took the hundred sequins and gave me a receipt,
+telling me that in interesting myself on behalf of Mariuccia I was making
+happy a most pure and innocent dove, whom he had confessed since she was
+five years old, and that he had often told her that she might communicate
+without making her confession because he knew she was incapable of mortal
+sin.
+
+"Her mother," he added, "is a sainted woman, and as soon as I have
+enquired into the character of the future husband I will soon bring the
+marriage about. No one shall ever know from whom this generous gift
+comes."
+
+After putting this matter in order I dined with the Chevalier Mengs, and
+I willingly consented to go with the whole family to the Aliberti Theatre
+that evening. I did not forget, however, to go and inspect the room I had
+taken. I found all my orders executed, and I gave twelve crowns to the
+landlady and took the key, telling her to light the fire at seven every
+morning.
+
+So impatient did I feel for the next day to come that I thought the opera
+detestable, and the night for me was a sleepless one.
+
+Next morning I went to the church before the time, and when Mariuccia
+came, feeling sure that she had seen me, I went out. She followed me at a
+distance, and when I got to the door of the lodging I turned for her to
+be sure that it was I, and then went in and found the room well warmed.
+Soon after Mariuccia came in, looking timid, confused, and as if she were
+doubtful of the path she was treading. I clasped her to my arms, and
+reassured her by my tender embraces; and her courage rose when I shewed
+her the confessor's receipt, and told her that the worthy man had
+promised to care for her marriage. She kissed my hand in a transport of
+delight, assuring me that she would never forget my kindness. Then, as I
+urged her to make me a happy man, she said,--
+
+"We have three hours before us, as I told my mother I was going to give
+thanks to God for having made me a winner in the lottery."
+
+This reassured me, and I took my time, undressing her by degrees, and
+unveiling her charms one by one, to my delight, without the slightest
+attempt at resistance on her part. All the time she kept her eyes fixed
+on mine, as if to soothe her modesty; but when I beheld and felt all her
+charms I was in an ecstasy. What a body; what beauties! Nowhere was there
+the slightest imperfection. She was like Venus rising from the foam of
+the sea. I carried her gently to the bed, and while she strove to hide
+her alabaster breasts and the soft hair which marked the entrance to the
+sanctuary, I undressed in haste, and consummated the sweetest of
+sacrifices, without there being the slightest doubt in my mind of the
+purity of the victim. In the first sacrifice no doubt the young priestess
+felt some pain, but she assured me out of delicacy that she had not been
+hurt, and at the second assault she shewed that she shared my flames. I
+was going to immolate the victim for the third time when the clock struck
+ten. She began to be restless, and hurriedly put on our clothes. I had to
+go to Naples, but I assured her that the desire of embracing her once
+more before her marriage would hasten my return to Rome. I promised to
+take another hundred crowns to her confessor, advising her to spend the
+money she had won in the lottery on her trousseau.
+
+"I shall be at Monolo's to-night, dearest, and you must come, too; but we
+must appear indifferent to each other, though our hearts be full of joy,
+lest those malicious girls suspect our mutual understanding."
+
+"It is all the more necessary to be cautious," she replied, "as I have
+noticed that they suspect that we love each other."
+
+Before we parted she thanked me for what I had done for her, and begged
+me to believe that, her poverty notwithstanding, she had given herself
+for love alone.
+
+I was the last to leave the house, and I told my landlady that I should
+be away for ten or twelve days. I then went to the confessor to give him
+the hundred crowns I had promised my mistress. When the good old
+Frenchman heard that I had made this fresh sacrifice that Mariuccia might
+be able to spend her lottery winnings on her clothes, he told me that he
+would call on the mother that very day and urge her to consent to her
+daughter's marriage, and also learn where the young man lived. On my
+return from Naples I heard that he had faithfully carried out his
+promise.
+
+I was sitting at table with Mengs when a chamberlain of the Holy Father
+called. When he came in he asked M. Mengs if I lived there, and on that
+gentleman pointing me out, he gave me, from his holy master, the Cross of
+the Order of the Golden Spur with the diploma, and a patent under the
+pontifical seal, which, in my quality as doctor of laws, made me a
+prothonotary-apostolic 'extra urbem'.
+
+I felt that I had been highly honoured, and told the bearer that I would
+go and thank my new sovereign and ask his blessing the next day. The
+Chevalier Mengs embraced me as a brother, but I had the advantage over
+him in not being obliged to pay anything, whereas the great artist had to
+disburse twenty-five Roman crowns to have his diploma made out. There is
+a saying at Rome, 'Sine efusione sanguinis non fit remissio', which may
+be interpreted, Nothing without money; and as a matter of fact, one can
+do anything with money in the Holy City.
+
+Feeling highly flattered at the favour the Holy Father had shewn me, I
+put on the cross which depended from a broad red ribbon-red being the
+colour worn by the Knights of St. John of the Lateran, the companions of
+the palace, 'comites palatini', or count-palatins. About the same time
+poor Cahusac, author of the opera of Zoroaster, went mad for joy on the
+receipt of the same order. I was not so bad as that, but I confess, to my
+shame, that I was so proud of my decoration that I asked Winckelmann
+whether I should be allowed to have the cross set with diamonds and
+rubies. He said I could if I liked, and if I wanted such a cross he could
+get me one cheap. I was delighted, and bought it to make a show at
+Naples, but I had not the face to wear it in Rome. When I went to thank
+the Pope I wore the cross in my button-hole out of modesty. Five years
+afterwards when I was at Warsaw, Czartoryski, a Russian prince-palatine,
+made me leave it off by saying,--
+
+"What are you doing with that wretched bauble? It's a drug in the market,
+and no one but an impostor would wear it now."
+
+The Popes knew this quite well, but they continued to give the cross to
+ambassadors while they also gave it to their 'valets de chambre'. One has
+to wink at a good many things in Rome.
+
+In the evening Momolo gave me a supper by way of celebrating my new
+dignity. I recouped him for the expense by holding a bank at faro, at
+which I was dexterous enough to lose forty crowns to the family, without
+having the slightest partiality to Mariuccia who won like the rest. She
+found the opportunity to tell me that her confessor had called on her,
+that she had told him where her future husband lived, and that the worthy
+monk had obtained her mother's consent to the hundred crowns being spent
+on her trousseau.
+
+I noticed that Momolo's second daughter had taken a fancy to Costa, and I
+told Momolo that I was going to Naples, but that I would leave my man in
+Rome, and that if I found a marriage had been arranged on my return I
+would gladly pay the expenses of the wedding.
+
+Costa liked the girl, but he did not marry her then for fear of my
+claiming the first-fruits. He was a fool of a peculiar kind, though fools
+of all sorts are common enough. He married her a year later after robbing
+me, but I shall speak of that again.
+
+Next day, after I had breakfasted and duly embraced my brother, I set out
+in a nice carriage with the Abbe Alfani, Le Duc preceding me on
+horseback, and I reached Naples at a time when everybody was in a state
+of excitement because an eruption of Vesuvius seemed imminent. At the
+last stage the inn-keeper made me read the will of his father who had
+died during the eruption of 1754. He said that in the year 1761 God would
+overwhelm the sinful town of Naples, and the worthy host consequently
+advised me to return to Rome. Alfani took the thing seriously, and said
+that we should do well to be warned by so evident an indication of the
+will of God. The event was predicted, therefore it had to happen. Thus a
+good many people reason, but as I was not of the number I proceeded on my
+way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+My Short But Happy Stay at Naples--The Duke de Matalone My
+Daughter--Donna Lucrezia--My Departure
+
+I shall not, dear reader, attempt the impossible, however much I should
+like to describe the joy, the happiness, I may say the ecstasy, which I
+experienced in returning to Naples, of which I had such pleasant
+memories, and where, eighteen years ago, I had made my first fortune in
+returning from Mataro. As I had come there for the second time to keep a
+promise I had made to the Duke de Matalone to come and see him at Naples,
+I ought to have visited this nobleman at once; but foreseeing that from
+the time I did so I should have little liberty left me, I began by
+enquiring after all my old friends.
+
+I walked out early in the morning and called on Belloni's agent. He
+cashed my letter of credit and gave me as many bank-notes as I liked,
+promising that nobody should know that we did business together. From the
+bankers I went to see Antonio Casanova, but they told me he lived near
+Salerno, on an estate he had bought which gave him the title of marquis.
+I was vexed, but I had no right to expect to find Naples in the statu quo
+I left it. Polo was dead, and his son lived at St. Lucia with his wife
+and children; he was a boy when I saw him last, and though I should have
+much liked to see him again I had no time to do so.
+
+It may be imagined that I did not forget the advocate, Castelli, husband
+of my dear Lucrezia, whom I had loved so well at Rome and Tivoli. I
+longed to see her face once more, and I thought of the joy with which we
+should recall old times that I could never forget. But Castelli had been
+dead for some years, and his widow lived at a distance of twenty miles
+from Naples. I resolved not to return to Rome without embracing her. As
+to Lelio Caraffa, he was still alive and residing at the Matalone Palace.
+
+I returned, feeling tired with my researches, dressed with care, and
+drove to the Matalone Palace, where they told me that the duke was at
+table. I did not care for that but had my name sent in, and the duke came
+out and did me the honour of embracing me and thouing me, and then
+presented me to his wife, a daughter of the Duke de Bovino, and to the
+numerous company at table. I told him I had only come to Naples in
+fulfillment of the promise I had made him at Paris.
+
+"Then," said he, "you must stay with me;" and, without waiting for my
+answer, ordered my luggage to be brought from the inn, and my carriage to
+be placed in his coach-house. I accepted his invitation.
+
+One of the guests, a fine-looking man, on hearing my name announced, said
+gaily,--
+
+"If you bear my name, you must be one of my father's bastards."
+
+"No," said I, directly, "one of your mother's."
+
+This repartee made everybody laugh, and the gentleman who had addressed
+me came and embraced me, not in the least offended. The joke was
+explained to me. His name was Casalnovo, not Casanova, and he was duke
+and lord of the fief of that name.
+
+"Did you know," said the Duke de Matalone, "that I had a son?"
+
+"I was told so, but did not believe it, but now I must do penance for my
+incredulity, for I see before me an angel capable of working this
+miracle."
+
+The duchess blushed, but did not reward my compliment with so much as a
+glance; but all the company applauded what I had said, as it was
+notorious that the duke had been impotent before his marriage. The duke
+sent for his son, I admired him, and told the father that the likeness
+was perfect. A merry monk, who sat at the right hand of the duchess,
+said, more truthfully, that there was no likeness at all. He had scarcely
+uttered the words when the duchess coolly gave him a box on the ear,
+which the monk received with the best grace imaginable.
+
+I talked away to the best of my ability, and in half an hour's time I had
+won everybody's good graces, with the exception of the duchess, who
+remained inflexible. I tried to make her talk for two days without
+success; so as I did not care much about her I left her to her pride.
+
+As the duke was taking me to my room he noticed my Spaniard, and asked
+where my secretary was, and when he saw that it was the Abbe Alfani, who
+had taken the title so as to escape the notice of the Neapolitans, he
+said,--
+
+"The abbe is very wise, for he has deceived so many people with his false
+antiques that he might have got into trouble."
+
+He took me to his stables where he had some superb horses, Arabs,
+English, and Andalusians; and then to his gallery, a very fine one; to
+his large and choice library; and at last to his study, where he had a
+fine collection of prohibited books.
+
+I was reading titles and turning over leaves, when the duke said,--
+
+"Promise to keep the most absolute secrecy on what I am going to shew
+you."
+
+I promised, without making any difficulty, but I expected a surprise of
+some sort. He then shewed me a satire which I could not understand, but
+which was meant to turn the whole Court into ridicule. Never was there a
+secret so easily kept.
+
+"You must come to the St. Charles Theatre," said he, "and I will present
+you to the handsomest ladies in Naples, and afterwards you can go when
+you like, as my box is always open to my friends. I will also introduce
+you to my mistress, and she, I am sure, will always be glad to see you."
+
+"What! you have a mistress, have you?"
+
+"Yes, but only for form's sake, as I am very fond of my wife. All the
+same, I am supposed to be deeply in love with her, and even jealous, as I
+never introduce anyone to her, and do not allow her to receive any
+visitors."
+
+"But does not your young and handsome duchess object to your keeping a
+mistress?"
+
+"My wife could not possibly be jealous, as she knows that I am
+impotent--except, of course, with her."
+
+"I see, but it seems strange; can one be said to have a mistress whom one
+does not love?"
+
+"I did not say I loved her not; on the contrary, I am very fond of her;
+she has a keen and pleasant wit, but she interests my head rather than my
+heart."
+
+"I see; but I suppose she is ugly?"
+
+"Ugly? You shall see her to-night, and you can tell me what you think of
+her afterwards. She is a handsome and well-educated girl of seventeen."
+
+"Can she speak French?"
+
+"As well as a Frenchwoman."
+
+"I am longing to see her."
+
+When we got to the theatre I was introduced to several ladies, but none
+of them pleased me. The king, a mere boy, sat in his box in the middle of
+the theatre, surrounded by his courtiers, richly but tastefully dressed.
+The pit was full and the boxes also. The latter were ornamented with
+mirrors, and on that occasion were all illuminated for some reason or
+other. It was a magnificent scene, but all this glitter and light put the
+stage into the background.
+
+After we had gazed for some time at the scene, which is almost peculiar
+to Naples, the duke took me to his private box and introduced me to his
+friends, who consisted of all the wits in the town.
+
+I have often laughed on hearing philosophers declare that the
+intelligence of a nation is not so much the result of the climate as of
+education. Such sages should be sent to Naples and then to St.
+Petersburg, and be told to reflect, or simply to look before them. If the
+great Boerhaave had lived at Naples he would have learnt more about the
+nature of sulphur by observing its effects on vegetables, and still more
+on animals. In Naples, and Naples alone, water, and nothing but water,
+will cure diseases which are fatal elsewhere, despite the doctors'
+efforts.
+
+The duke, who had left me to the wits for a short time, returned and took
+me to the box of his mistress, who was accompanied by an old lady of
+respectable appearance. As he went in he said, "'Leonilda mia, ti
+presento il cavalier Don Giacomo Casanova, Veneziano, amico mio'."
+
+She received me kindly and modestly, and stopped listening to the music
+to talk to me.
+
+When a woman is pretty, one recognizes her charms instantaneously; if one
+has to examine her closely, her beauty is doubtful. Leonilda was
+strikingly beautiful. I smiled and looked at the duke, who had told me
+that he loved her like a daughter, and that he only kept her for form's
+sake. He understood the glance, and said,--
+
+"You may believe me."
+
+"It's credible," I replied.
+
+Leonilda no doubt understood what we meant, and said, with a shy smile,--
+
+"Whatever is possible is credible."
+
+"Quite so," said I, "but one may believe, or not believe, according to
+the various degrees of possibility."
+
+"I think it's easier to believe than to disbelieve. You came to Naples
+yesterday; that's true and yet incredible."
+
+"Why incredible?"
+
+"Would any man suppose that a stranger would come to Naples at a time
+when the inhabitants are wishing themselves away?"
+
+"Indeed, I have felt afraid till this moment, but now I feel quite at my
+ease, since, you being here, St. Januarius will surely protect Naples."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I am sure he loves you; but you are laughing at me."
+
+"It is such a funny idea. I am afraid that if I had a lover like St.
+Januarius I should not grant him many favours."
+
+"Is he very ugly, then?"
+
+"If his portrait is a good likeness, you can see for yourself by
+examining his statue."
+
+Gaiety leads to freedom, and freedom to friendship. Mental graces are
+superior to bodily charms.
+
+Leonilda's frankness inspired my confidence, and I led the conversation
+to love, on which she talked like a past mistress.
+
+"Love," said she, "unless it leads to the possession of the beloved
+object, is a mere torment; if bounds are placed to passion, love must
+die."
+
+"You are right; and the enjoyment of a beautiful object is not a true
+pleasure unless it be preceded by love."
+
+"No doubt if love precedes it accompanies, but I do not think it
+necessarily follows, enjoyment."
+
+"True, it often makes love to cease."
+
+"She is a selfish daughter, then, to kill her father; and if after
+enjoyment love still continue in the heart of one, it is worse than
+murder, for the party in which love still survives must needs be
+wretched."
+
+"You are right; and from your strictly logical arguments I conjecture
+that you would have the senses kept in subjection: that is too hard!"
+
+"I would have nothing to do with that Platonic affection devoid of love,
+but I leave you to guess what my maxim would be."
+
+"To love and enjoy; to enjoy and love. Turn and turn about."
+
+"You have hit the mark."
+
+With this Leonilda burst out laughing, and the duke kissed her hand. Her
+governess, not understanding French, was attending to the opera, but I
+was in flames.
+
+Leonilda was only seventeen, and was as pretty a girl as the heart could
+desire.
+
+The duke repeated a lively epigram of Lafontaine's on "Enjoyment," which
+is only found in the first edition of his works. It begins as follows:--
+
+       "La jouissance et les desirs
+        Sont ce que l'homme a de plus rare;
+        Mais ce ne sons pas vrais plaisirs
+        Des le moment qu'on les separe."
+
+I have translated this epigram into Italian and Latin; in the latter
+language I was almost able to render Lafontaine line for line; but I had
+to use twenty lines of Italian to translate the first ten lines of the
+French. Of course this argues nothing as to the superiority of the one
+language over the other.
+
+In the best society at Naples one addresses a newcomer in the second
+person singular as a peculiar mark of distinction. This puts both parties
+at their ease without diminishing their mutual respect for one another.
+
+Leonilda had already turned my first feeling of admiration into something
+much warmer, and the opera, which lasted for five hours, seemed over in a
+moment.
+
+After the two ladies had gone the duke said, "Now we must part, unless
+you are fond of games of chance."
+
+"I don't object to them when I am to play with good hands."
+
+"Then follow me; ten or twelve of my friends will play faro, and then sit
+down to a cold collation, but I warn you it is a secret, as gaming is
+forbidden. I will answer for you keeping your own counsel, however."
+
+"You may do so."
+
+He took me to the Duke de Monte Leone's. We went up to the third floor,
+passed through a dozen rooms, and at last reached the gamester's chamber.
+A polite-looking banker, with a bank of about four hundred sequins, had
+the cards in his hands. The duke introduced me as his friend, and made me
+sit beside him. I was going to draw out my purse, but I was told that
+debts were not paid for twenty-four hours after they were due. The banker
+gave me a pack of cards, with a little basket containing a thousand
+counters. I told the company that I should consider each counter as a
+Naples ducat. In less than two hours my basket was empty. I stopped
+playing and proceeded to enjoy my supper. It was arranged in the
+Neapolitan style, and consisted of an enormous dish of macaroni and ten
+or twelve different kinds of shellfish which are plentiful on the
+Neapolitan coasts. When we left I took care not to give the duke time to
+condole with me on my loss, but began to talk to him about his delicious
+Leonilda.
+
+Early next day he sent a page to my room to tell me that if I wanted to
+come with him and kiss the king's hand I must put on my gala dress. I put
+on a suit of rose-coloured velvet, with gold spangles, and I had the
+great honour of kissing a small hand, covered with chilblains, belonging
+to a boy of nine. The Prince de St. Nicander brought up the young king to
+the best of his ability, but he was naturally a kindly, just, and
+generous monarch; if he had had more dignity he would have been an ideal
+king; but he was too unceremonious, and that, I think, is a defect in one
+destined to rule others.
+
+I had the honour of sitting next the duchess at dinner, and she deigned
+to say that she had never seen a finer dress. "That's my way," I said,
+"of distracting attention from my face and figure." She smiled, and her
+politeness to me during my stay were almost limited to these few words.
+
+When we left the table the duke took me to the apartment occupied by his
+uncle, Don Lelio, who recognized me directly. I kissed the venerable old
+man's hand, and begged him to pardon me for the freaks of my youth. "It's
+eighteen years ago," said he, "since I chose M. Casanova as the companion
+of your studies." I delighted him by giving him a brief account of my
+adventures in Rome with Cardinal Acquaviva. As we went out, he begged me
+to come and see him often.
+
+Towards the evening the duke said,--
+
+"If you go to the Opera Buffa you will please Leonilda."
+
+He gave me the number of her box, and added,--
+
+"I will come for you towards the close, and we will sup together as
+before."
+
+I had no need to order my horses to be put in, as there was always a
+carriage ready for me in the courtyard.
+
+When I got to the theatre the opera had begun. I presented myself to
+Leonilda, who received me with the pleasant words, "Caro Don Giacomo, I
+am so pleased to see you again."
+
+No doubt she did not like to thou me, but the expression of her eyes and
+the tone of her voice were much better than the to which is often used
+lavishly at Naples.
+
+The seductive features of this charming girl were not altogether unknown
+to me, but I could not recollect of what woman she reminded me. Leonilda
+was certainly a beauty, and something superior to a beauty, if possible.
+She had splendid light chestnut hair, and her black and brilliant eyes,
+shaded by thick lashes, seemed to hear and speak at the same time. But
+what ravished me still more was her expression, and the exquisite
+appropriateness of the gestures with which she accompanied what she was
+saying. It seemed as if her tongue could not give speech to the thoughts
+which crowded her brain. She was naturally quick-witted, and her
+intellect had been developed by an excellent education.
+
+The conversation turned upon Lafontaine's epigram, of which I had only
+recited the first ten verses, as the rest is too licentious; and she
+said,--
+
+"But I suppose it is only a poet's fancy, at which one could but smile."
+
+"Possibly, but I did not care to wound your ears."
+
+"You are very good," said she, using the pleasant tu, "but all the same,
+I am not so thin-skinned, as I have a closet which the duke has had
+painted over with couples in various amorous attitudes. We go there
+sometimes, and I assure you that I do not experience the slightest
+sensation."
+
+"That may be through a defect of temperament, for whenever I see
+well-painted voluptuous pictures I feel myself on fire. I wonder that
+while you and the duke look at them, you do not try to put some of them
+into practice."
+
+"We have only friendship for one another."
+
+"Let him believe it who will."
+
+"I am sure he is a man, but I am unable to say whether he is able to give
+a woman any real proofs of his love."
+
+"Yet he has a son."
+
+"Yes, he has a child who calls him father; but he himself confesses that
+he is only able to shew his manly powers with his wife."
+
+"That's all nonsense, for you are made to give birth to amorous desires,
+and a man who could live with you without being able to possess you ought
+to cease to live."
+
+"Do you really think so?"
+
+"Dear Leonilda, if I were in the duke's place I would shew you what a man
+who really loves can do."
+
+"Caro Don Giacomo, I am delighted to hear you love me, but you will soon
+forget me, as you are leaving Naples."
+
+"Cursed be the gaming-table, for without it we might spend some
+delightful hour together."
+
+"The duke told me that you lost a thousand ducats yesterday evening like
+a perfect gentleman. You must be very unlucky."
+
+"Not always, but when I play on a day in which I have fallen in love I am
+sure to lose."
+
+"You will win back your money this evening."
+
+"This is the declaration day; I shall lose again."
+
+"Then don't play."
+
+"People would say I was afraid, or that all my money was gone."
+
+"I hope at all events that you will win sometimes, and that you will tell
+me of your good luck. Come and see me to-morrow with the duke."
+
+The duke came in at that moment, and asked me if I had liked the opera.
+Leonilda answered for me,
+
+"We have been talking about love all the time, so we don't know what has
+been going on the stage."
+
+"You have done well."
+
+"I trust you will bring M. Casanova to see me tomorrow morning, as I hope
+he will bring me news that he has won."
+
+"It's my turn to deal this evening, dearest, but whether he wins or loses
+you shall see him to-morrow. You must give us some breakfast."
+
+"I shall be delighted."
+
+We kissed her hand, and went to the same place as the night before. The
+company was waiting for the duke. There were twelve members of the club,
+and they all held the bank in turn. They said that this made the chances
+more equal; but I laughed at this opinion, as there is nothing more
+difficult to establish than equality between players.
+
+The Duke de Matalone sat down, drew out his purse and his pocket-book,
+and put two thousand ducats in the bank, begging pardon of the others for
+doubling the usual sum in favour of the stranger. The bank never exceeded
+a thousand ducats.
+
+"Then," said I, "I will hazard two thousand ducats also and not more, for
+they say at Venice that a prudent player never risks more than he can
+win. Each of my counters will be equivalent to two ducats." So saying, I
+took ten notes of a hundred ducats each from my pocket, and gave them to
+the last evening's banker who had won them from me.
+
+Play began; and though I was prudent, and only risked my money on a
+single card, in less than three hours my counters were all gone. I
+stopped playing, though I had still twenty-five thousand ducats; but I
+had said that I would not risk more than two thousand, and I was ashamed
+to go back from my word.
+
+Though I have always felt losing my money, no one has ever seen me put
+out, my natural gaiety was heightened by art on such occasions, and
+seemed to be more brilliant than ever. I have always found it a great
+advantage to be able to lose pleasantly.
+
+I made an excellent supper, and my high spirits furnished me with such a
+fund of amusing conversation that all the table was in a roar. I even
+succeeded in dissipating the melancholy of the Duke de Matalone, who was
+in despair at having won such a sum from his friend and guest. He was
+afraid he had half ruined me, and also that people might say he had only
+welcomed me for the sake of my money.
+
+As we returned to the palace the conversation was affectionate on his
+side and jovial on mine, but I could see he was in some trouble, and
+guessed what was the matter. He wanted to say that I could pay the money
+I owed him whenever I liked, but was afraid of wounding my feelings; but
+as soon as he got in he wrote me a friendly note to the effect that if I
+wanted money his banker would let me have as much as I required. I
+replied directly that I felt the generosity of his offer, and if I was in
+need of funds I would avail myself of it.
+
+Early next morning I went to his room, and after an affectionate embrace
+I told him not to forget that we were going to breakfast with his fair
+mistress. We both put on great coats and went to Leonilda's pretty house.
+
+We found her sitting up in bed, negligently but decently dressed, with a
+dimity corset tied with red ribbons. She looked beautiful, and her
+graceful posture added to her charms. She was reading Crebillon's Sopha.
+The duke sat down at the bottom of the bed, and I stood staring at her in
+speechless admiration, endeavouring to recall to my memory where I had
+seen such another face as hers. It seemed to me that I had loved a woman
+like her. This was the first time I had seen her without the deceitful
+glitter of candles. She laughed at my absent-mindedness, and told me to
+sit down on a chair by her bedside.
+
+The duke told her that I was quite pleased at having lost two thousand
+ducats to his bank, as the loss made me sure she loved me.
+
+"Caro mio Don Giacomo, I am sorry to hear that! You would have done
+better not to play, for I should have loved you all the same, and you
+would have been two thousand ducats better off."
+
+"And I two thousand ducats worse off," said the duke, laughing.
+
+"Never mind, dear Leonilda, I shall win this evening if you grant me some
+favour to-day. If you do not do so, I shall lose heart, and you will
+mourn at my grave before long."
+
+"Think, Leonilda, what you can do for my friend."
+
+"I don't see that I can do anything."
+
+The duke told her to dress, that we might go and breakfast in the painted
+closet. She began at once, and preserved a just mean in what she let us
+see and what she concealed, and thus set me in flames, though I was
+already captivated by her face, her wit, and her charming manners. I cast
+an indiscreet glance towards her beautiful breast, and thus added fuel to
+the fire. I confess that I only obtained this satisfaction by a species
+of larceny, but I could not have succeeded if she had not been well
+disposed towards me. I pretended to have seen nothing.
+
+While dressing she maintained with much ingenuity that a wise girl will
+be much more chary of her favours towards a man she loves than towards a
+man she does not love, because she would be afraid to lose the first,
+whereas she does not care about the second.
+
+"It will not be so with me, charming Leonilda," said I.
+
+"You make a mistake, I am sure."
+
+The pictures with which the closet where we breakfasted was adorned were
+admirable more from the colouring and the design than from the amorous
+combats they represented.
+
+"They don't make any impression on me," said the duke, and he shewed us
+that it was so.
+
+Leonilda looked away, and I felt shocked, but concealed my feelings.
+
+"I am in the same state as you," said I, "but I will not take the trouble
+of convincing you."
+
+"That can't be," said he; and passing his hand rapidly over me he assured
+himself that it was so. "It's astonishing," he cried; "you must be as
+impotent as I am."
+
+"If I wanted to controvert that assertion one glance into Leonilda's eyes
+would be enough."
+
+"Look at him, dearest Leonilda, that I may be convinced."
+
+Leonilda looked tenderly at me, and her glance produced the result I had
+expected.
+
+"Give me your hand," said I, to the poor duke, and he did so.
+
+"I was in the wrong," he exclaimed, but when he endeavoured to bring the
+surprising object to light I resisted. He persisted in his endeavours,
+and I determined to play on him a trick. I took Leonilda's hand and
+pressed my lips to it, and just as the duke thought he had triumphed I
+besprinkled him, and went off into a roar of laughter. He laughed too,
+and went to get a napkin.
+
+The girl could see nothing of all this, as it went on under the table;
+and while my burning lips rested on her hand, my eyes were fixed on hers
+and our breath mingled. This close contact had enabled me to baptise the
+duke, but when she took in the joke we made a group worthy of the pen of
+Aretin.
+
+It was a delightful breakfast, though we passed certain bounds which
+decency ought to have proscribed to us, but Leonilda was wonderfully
+innocent considering her position. We ended the scene by mutual embraces,
+and when I took my burning lips from Leonilda's I felt consumed with a
+fire which I could not conceal.
+
+When we left I told the duke that I would see his mistress no more,
+unless he would give her up to me, declaring that I would marry her and
+give her a dower of five thousand ducats.
+
+"Speak to her, and if she consents I will not oppose it. She herself will
+tell you what property she has."
+
+I then went to dress for dinner. I found the duchess in the midst of a
+large circle, and she told me kindly that she was very sorry to hear of
+my losses.
+
+"Fortune is the most fickle of beings, but I don't complain of my
+loss--nay, when you speak thus I love it, and I even think that you will
+make me win this evening."
+
+"I hope so, but I am afraid not; you will have to contend against Monte
+Leone, who is usually very lucky."
+
+In considering the matter after dinner, I determined for the future to
+play with ready money and not on my word of honour, lest I should at any
+time be carried away by the excitement of play and induced to stake more
+than I possessed. I thought, too, that the banker might have his doubts
+after the two heavy losses I had sustained, and I confess that I was also
+actuated by the gambler's superstition that by making a change of any
+kind one changes the luck.
+
+I spent four hours at the theatre in Leonilda's box, where I found her
+more gay and charming than I had seen her before.
+
+"Dear Leonilda," I said, "the love I feel for you will suffer no delay
+and no rivals, not even the slightest inconstancy. I have told the duke
+that I am ready to marry you, and that I will give you a dower of five
+thousand ducats."
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"That I must ask you, and that he would offer no opposition."
+
+"Then we should leave Naples together."
+
+"Directly, dearest, and thenceforth death alone would part us."
+
+"We will talk of it to-morrow, dear Don Giacomo, and if I can make you
+happy I am sure you will do the same by me."
+
+As she spoke these delightful words the duke came in.
+
+"Don Giacomo and I are talking of marrying," said she.
+
+"Marriage, mia carissima," he replied, "ought to be well considered
+beforehand."
+
+"Yes, when one has time; but my dear Giacomo cannot wait, and we shall
+have plenty of time to think it over afterwards."
+
+"As you are going to marry," said the duke, "you can put off your
+departure, or return after the wedding."
+
+"I can neither put it off nor return, my dear duke. We have made up our
+minds, and if we repent we have plenty of time before us."
+
+He laughed and said we would talk it over next day. I gave my future
+bride a kiss which she returned with ardour, and the duke and I went to
+the club, where we found the Duke de Monte Leone dealing.
+
+"My lord," said I, "I am unlucky playing on my word of honour, so I hope
+you will allow me to stake money."
+
+"Just as you please; it comes to the same thing, but don't trouble
+yourself. I have made a bank of four thousand ducats that you may be able
+to recoup yourself for your losses."
+
+"Thanks, I promise to break it or to lose as much."
+
+I drew out six thousand ducats, gave two thousand ducats to the Duke de
+Matalone, and began to punt at a hundred ducats. After a short time the
+duke left the table, and I finally succeeded in breaking the bank. I went
+back to the place by myself, and when I told the duke of my victory the
+next day, he embraced me with tears of joy, and advised me to stake money
+for the future.
+
+As the Princess de Vale was giving a great supper, there was no play that
+evening. This was some respite. We called on Leonilda, and putting off
+talking of our marriage till the day after we spent the time in viewing
+the wonders of nature around Naples. In the evening I was introduced by a
+friend at the princess's supper, and saw all the highest nobility of the
+place.
+
+Next morning the duke told me that he had some business to do, and that I
+had better go and see Leonilda, and that he would call for me later on. I
+went to Leonilda, but as the duke did not put in an appearance we could
+not settle anything about our marriage. I spent several hours with her,
+but I was obliged to obey her commands, and could only shew myself
+amorous in words. Before leaving I repeated that it only rested with her
+to unite our lives by indissoluble ties, and to leave Naples almost
+immediately.
+
+When I saw the duke he said,--
+
+"Well, Don Giacomo, you have spent all the morning with my mistress; do
+you still wish to marry her?"
+
+"More than ever; what do you mean?"
+
+"Nothing; and as you have passed this trial to which I purposely
+subjected you, we will discuss your union tomorrow, and I hope you will
+make this charming woman happy, for she will be an excellent wife."
+
+"I agree with you."
+
+When we went to Monte Leone's in the evening, we saw a banker with a good
+deal of gold before him. The duke told me he was Don Marco Ottoboni. He
+was a fine-looking man, but he held the cards so closely together in his
+left hand that I could not see them. This did not inspire me with
+confidence, so I only punted a ducat at a time. I was persistently
+unlucky, but I only lost a score of ducats. After five or six deals the
+banker, asked me politely why I staked such small sums against him.
+
+"Because I can't see half the pack," I replied, "and I am afraid of
+losing."
+
+Some of the company laughed at my answer.
+
+Next night I broke the bank held by the Prince the Cassaro, a pleasant
+and rich nobleman, who asked me to give him revenge, and invited me to
+supper at his pretty house at Posilipo, where he lived with a virtuosa of
+whom he had become amorous at Palermo. He also invited the Duke de
+Matalone and three or four other gentlemen. This was the only occasion on
+which I held the bank while I was at Naples, and I staked six thousand
+ducats after warning the prince that as it was the eve of my departure I
+should only play for ready money.
+
+He lost ten thousand ducats, and only rose from the table because he had
+no more money. Everybody left the room, and I should have done the same
+if the prince's mistress had not owed me a hundred ducats. I continued to
+deal in the hope that she would get her money back, but seeing that she
+still lost I put down the cards, and told her that she must pay me at
+Rome. She was a handsome and agreeable woman, but she did not inspire me
+with any passions, no doubt because my mind was occupied with another,
+otherwise I should have drawn a bill on sight, and paid myself without
+meddling with her purse. It was two o'clock in the morning when I got to
+bed.
+
+Both Leonilda and myself wished to see Caserta before leaving Naples, and
+the duke sent us there in a carriage drawn by six mules, which went
+faster than most horses. Leonilda's governess accompanied us.
+
+The day after, we settled the particulars of our marriage in a
+conversation which lasted for two hours.
+
+"Leonilda," began the duke, "has a mother, who lives at a short distance
+from here, on an income of six hundred ducats, which I have given her for
+life, in return for an estate belonging to her husband; but Leonilda does
+not depend on her. She gave her up to me seven years ago, and I have
+given her an annuity of five hundred ducats, which she will bring to you,
+with all her diamonds and an extensive trousseau. Her mother gave her up
+to me entirely, and I gave my word of honour to get her a good husband. I
+have taken peculiar care of her education, and as her mind has developed
+I have put her on her guard against all prejudices, with the exception of
+that which bids a woman keep herself intact for her future husband. You
+may rest assured that you are the first man whom Leonilda (who is a
+daughter to me) has pressed to her heart."
+
+I begged the duke to get the contract ready, and to add to her dower the
+sum of five thousand ducats, which I would give him when the deed was
+signed.
+
+"I will mortgage them," said he, "on a house which is worth double."
+
+Then turning to Leonilda, who was shedding happy tears, he said,--
+
+"I am going to send for your mother, who will be delighted to sign the
+settlement, and to make the acquaintance of your future husband."
+
+The mother lived at the Marquis Galiani's, a day's journey from Naples.
+The duke said he would send a carriage for her the next day, and that we
+could all sup together the day after.
+
+"The law business will be all done by then, and we shall be able to go to
+the little church at Portici, and the priest will marry you. Then we will
+take your mother to St. Agatha and dine with her, and you can go your way
+with her maternal blessing."
+
+This conclusion gave me an involuntary shudder, and Leonilda fell
+fainting in the duke's arms. He called her dear child, cared for her
+tenderly, and brought her to herself.
+
+We all had to wipe our eyes, as we were all equally affected.
+
+I considered myself as a married man and under obligation to alter my way
+of living, and I stopped playing. I had won more than fifteen thousand
+ducats, and this sum added to what I had before and Leonilda's dowry
+should have sufficed for an honest livelihood.
+
+Next day, as I was at supper with the duke and Leonilda, she said,--
+
+"What will my mother say to-morrow evening, when she sees you?"
+
+"She will say that you are silly to marry a stranger whom you have only
+known for a week. Have you told her my name, my nation, my condition, and
+my age?"
+
+"I wrote to her as follows:
+
+"'Dear mamma, come directly and sign my marriage contract with a
+gentleman introduced to me by the duke, with whom I shall be leaving for
+Rome on Monday next.'"
+
+"My letter ran thus," said the duke,
+
+"'Come without delay, and sign your daughter's marriage contract, and
+give her your blessing. She has wisely chosen a husband old enough to be
+her father; he is a friend of mine.'"
+
+"That's not true," cried Leonilda, rushing to my arms, "she will think
+you are really old, and I am sorry."
+
+"Is your mother an elderly woman?"
+
+"She's a charming Woman," said the duke, "full of wit, and not
+thirty-eight yet."
+
+"What has she got to do with Galiani?"
+
+"She is an intimate friend of the marchioness's, and she lives with the
+family but pays for her board."
+
+Next morning, having some business with my banker to attend to, I told
+the duke that I should not be able to see Leonilda till supper-time. I
+went there at eight o'clock and I found the three sitting in front of the
+fire.
+
+"Here he is!" cried the duke.
+
+As soon as the mother saw me she screamed and fell nearly fainting on a
+chair. I looked at her fixedly for a minute, and exclaimed,--
+
+"Donna Lucrezia! I am fortunate indeed!"
+
+"Let us take breath, my dear friend. Come and sit by me. So you are going
+to marry my daughter, are you?"
+
+I took a chair and guessed it all. My hair stood on end, and I relapsed
+into a gloomy silence.
+
+The stupefied astonishment of Leonilda and the duke cannot be described.
+They could see that Donna Lucrezia and I knew each other, but they could
+not get any farther. As for myself, as I pondered gloomily and compared
+Leonilda's age with the period at which I had been intimate with Lucrezia
+Castelli, I could see that it was quite possible that she might be my
+daughter; but I told myself that the mother could not be certain of the
+fact, as at the time she lived with her husband, who was very fond of her
+and not fifty years of age. I could bear the suspense no longer, so,
+taking a light and begging Leonilda and the duke to excuse me, I asked
+Lucrezia to come into the next room with me.
+
+As soon as she was seated, she drew me to her and said,--
+
+"Must I grieve my dear one when I have loved so well? Leonilda is your
+daughter, I am certain of it. I always looked upon her as your daughter,
+and my husband knew it, but far from being angry, he used to adore her. I
+will shew you the register of her birth, and you can calculate for
+yourself. My husband was at Rome, and did not see me once, and my
+daughter did not come before her time. You must remember a letter which
+my mother should have given you, in which I told you I was with child.
+That was in January, 1744, and in six months my daughter will be
+seventeen. My late husband gave her the names of Leonilda Giacomina at
+the baptismal font, and when he played with her he always called her by
+the latter name. This idea of your marrying her horrifies me, but I
+cannot oppose it, as I am ashamed to tell the reason. What do you think?
+Have you still the courage to marry her? You seem to hesitate. Have you
+taken any earnest of the marriage-bed?"
+
+"No, dear Lucrezia, your daughter is as pure as a lily."
+
+"I breathe again."
+
+"Ah, yes! but my heart is torn asunder."
+
+"I am grieved to see you thus."
+
+"She has no likeness to me."
+
+"That proves nothing; she has taken after me. You are weeping, dearest,
+you will break my heart."
+
+"Who would not weep in my place? I will send the duke to you; he must
+know all."
+
+I left Lucrezia, and I begged the duke to go and speak to her. The
+affectionate Leonilda came and sat on my knee, and asked me what the
+dreadful mystery was. I was too much affected to be able to answer her;
+she kissed me, and we began to weep. We remained thus sad and silent till
+the return of the duke and Donna Lucrezia, who was the only one to keep
+her head cool.
+
+"Dear Leonilda," said she, "you must be let into the secret of this
+disagreeable mystery, and your mother is the proper person to enlighten
+you. Do you remember what name my late husband used to call you when he
+petted you?"
+
+"He used to call me his charming Giacomina."
+
+"That is M. Casanova's name; it is the name of your father. Go and kiss
+him; his blood flows in your veins; and if he has been your lover, repent
+of the crime which was happily quite involuntary."
+
+The scene was a pathetic one, and we were all deeply moved. Leonilda
+clung to her mother's knees, and in a voice that struggled with sobs
+exclaimed,--
+
+"I have only felt what an affectionate daughter might feel for a father."
+
+At this point silence fell on us, a silence that was only broken by the
+sobs of the two women, who held each other tightly embraced; while the
+duke and I sat as motionless as two posts, our heads bent and our hands
+crossed, without as much as looking at each other.
+
+Supper was served, and we sat at table for three hours, talking sadly
+over this dramatic recognition, which had brought more grief than joy;
+and we departed at midnight full of melancholy, and hoping that we should
+be calmer on the morrow, and able to take the only step that now remained
+to us.
+
+As we were going away the duke made several observations on what moral
+philosophers call prejudices. There is no philosopher who would maintain
+or even advance the thesis that the union of a father and daughter is
+horrible naturally, for it is entirely a social prejudice; but it is so
+widespread, and education has graven it so deeply in our hearts, that
+only a man whose heart is utterly depraved could despise it. It is the
+result of a respect for the laws, it keeps the social scheme together; in
+fact, it is no longer a prejudice, it is a principle.
+
+I went to bed, but as usual, after the violent emotion I had undergone, I
+could not sleep. The rapid transition from carnal to paternal love cast
+my physical and mental faculties into such a state of excitement that I
+could scarcely withstand the fierce struggle that was taking place in my
+heart.
+
+Towards morning I fell asleep for a short time, and woke up feeling as
+exhausted as two lovers who have been spending a long and voluptuous
+winter's night.
+
+When I got up I told the duke that I intended to set out from Naples the
+next day; and he observed that as everybody knew I was on the eve of my
+departure, this haste would make people talk.
+
+"Come and have some broth with me," said he; "and from henceforth look
+upon this marriage project as one of the many pranks in which you have
+engaged. We will spend the three or four days pleasantly together, and
+perhaps when we have thought over all this for some time we shall end by
+thinking it matter for mirth and not sadness. Believe me the mother's as
+good as the daughter; recollection is often better than hope; console
+yourself with Lucrezia. I don't think you can see any difference between
+her present appearance and that of eighteen years ago, for I don't see
+how she can ever have been handsomer than she is now."
+
+This remonstrance brought me to my senses. I felt that the best thing I
+could do would be to forget the illusion which had amused me for four or
+five days, and as my self-esteem was not wounded it ought not to be a
+difficult task; but yet I was in love and unable to satisfy my love.
+
+Love is not like merchandise, where one can substitute one thing for
+another when one cannot have what one wants. Love is a sentiment, only
+the object who has kindled the flame can soothe the heat thereof.
+
+We went to call on my daughter, the duke in his usual mood, but I looking
+pale, depressed, weary, and like a boy going to receive the rod. I was
+extremely surprised when I came into the room to find the mother and
+daughter quite gay, but this helped on my cure. Leonilda threw her arms
+round my neck, calling me dear papa, and kissing me with all a daughter's
+freedom. Donna Lucrezia stretched out her hand, addressing me as her dear
+friend. I regarded her attentively, and I was forced to confess that the
+eighteen years that had passed away had done little ill to her charms.
+There was the same sparkling glance, that fresh complexion, those perfect
+shapes, those beautiful lips--in fine, all that had charmed my youthful
+eyes.
+
+We mutely caressed each other. Leonilda gave and received the tenderest
+kisses without seeming to notice what desires she might cause to arise;
+no doubt she knew that as her father I should have strength to resist,
+and she was right. One gets used to everything, and I was ashamed to be
+sad any longer.
+
+I told Donna Lucrezia of the curious welcome her sister had given me in
+Rome, and she went off into peals of laughter. We reminded each other of
+the night at Tivoli, and these recollections softened our hearts. From
+these softened feelings to love is but a short way; but neither place nor
+time were convenient, so we pretended not to be thinking of it.
+
+After a few moments of silence I told her that if she cared to come to
+Rome with me to pay a visit to her sister Angelique, I would take her
+back to Naples at the beginning of Lent. She promised to let me know
+whether she could come on the following day.
+
+I sat between her and Leonilda at dinner; and as I could no longer think
+of the daughter, it was natural that my old flame for Lucrezia should
+rekindle; and whether from the effect of her gaiety and beauty, or from
+my need of someone to love, or from the excellence of the wine, I found
+myself in love with her by the dessert, and asked her to take the place
+which her daughter was to have filled.
+
+"I will marry you," said I, "and we will all of us go to Rome on Monday,
+for since Leonilda is my daughter I do not like to leave her at Naples."
+
+At this the three guests looked at each other and said nothing. I did not
+repeat my proposal, but led the conversation to some other topic.
+
+After dinner I felt sleepy and lay down on a bed, and did not wake till
+eight o'clock, when to my surprise I found that my only companion was
+Lucrezia, who was writing. She heard me stir, and came up to me and said
+affectionately,--
+
+"My dear friend, you have slept for five hours; and as I did not like to
+leave you alone I would not go with the duke and our daughter to the
+opera."
+
+The memory of former loves awakens when one is near the once beloved
+object, and desires rapidly become irresistible if the beauty still
+remain. The lovers feel as if they were once more in possession of a
+blessing which belongs to them, and of which they have been long deprived
+by unfortunate incidents. These were our feelings, and without delay,
+without idle discussion, and above all, without false modesty, we
+abandoned ourselves to love, the only true source of nature.
+
+In the first interval, I was the first to break the silence; and if a man
+is anything of a wit, is he the less so at that delicious moment of
+repose which follows on an amorous victory?
+
+"Once again, then," said I, "I am in this charming land which I entered
+for the first time to the noise of the drum and the rattle of musket
+shots."
+
+This remark made her laugh, and recalled past events to her memory. We
+recollected with delight all the pleasures we had enjoyed at Testaccio,
+Frascati, and Tivoli. We reminded each other of these events, only to
+make each other laugh; but with two lovers, what is laughter but a
+pretext for renewing the sweet sacrifice of the goddess of Cythera?
+
+At the end of the second act, full of the enthusiasm of the fortunate
+lover, I said,--
+
+"Let us be united for life; we are of the same age, we love each other,
+our means are sufficient for us, we may hope to live a happy life, and to
+die at the same moment."
+
+"Tis the darling wish of my heart," Lucrezia replied, "but let us stay at
+Naples and leave Leonilda to the duke. We will see company, find her a
+worthy husband, and our happiness will be complete."
+
+"I cannot live at Naples, dearest, and you know that your daughter
+intended to leave with me."
+
+"My daughter! Say our daughter. I see that you are still in love with
+her, and do not wish to be considered her father."
+
+"Alas, yes! But I am sure that if I live with you my passion for her will
+be stilled, but otherwise I cannot answer for myself. I shall fly, but
+flight will not bring me happiness. Leonilda charms me still more by her
+intelligence than by her beauty. I was sure that she loved me so well
+that I did not attempt to seduce her, lest thereby I should weaken my
+hold on her affections; and as I wanted to make her happy I wished to
+deserve her esteem. I longed to possess her, but in a lawful manner, so
+that our rights should have been equal. We have created an angel,
+Lucrezia, and I cannot imagine how the duke . . ."
+
+"The duke is completely impotent. Do you see now how I was able to trust
+my daughter to his care?"
+
+"Impotent? I always thought so myself, but he has a son."
+
+"His wife might possibly be able to explain that mystery to you, but you
+may take it for granted that the poor duke will die a virgin in spite of
+himself; and he knows that as well as anybody."
+
+"Do not let us say any more about it, but allow me to treat you as at
+Tivoli."
+
+"Not just now, as I hear carriage wheels."
+
+A moment after the door opened, and Leonilda laughed heartily to see her
+mother in my arms, and threw herself upon us, covering us with kisses.
+The duke came in a little later, and we supped together very merrily. He
+thought me the happiest of men when I told him I was going to pass the
+night honourably with my wife and daughter; and he was right, for I was
+so at that moment.
+
+As soon as the worthy man left us we went to bed, but here I must draw a
+veil over the most voluptuous night I have ever spent. If I told all I
+should wound chaste ears, and, besides, all the colours of the painter
+and all the phrases of the poet could not do justice to the delirium of
+pleasure, the ecstasy, and the license which passed during that night,
+while two wax lights burnt dimly on the table like candles before the
+shrine of a saint.
+
+We did not leave the stage, which I watered with my blood, till long
+after the sun had risen. We were scarcely dressed when the duke arrived.
+
+Leonilda gave him a vivid description of our nocturnal labours, but in
+his unhappy state of impotence he must have been thankful for his
+absence.
+
+I was determined to start the next day so as to be at Rome for the last
+week of the carnival and I begged the duke to let me give Leonilda the
+five thousand ducats which would have been her dower if she had become my
+bride.
+
+"As she is your daughter," said he, "she can and ought to take this
+present from her father, if only as a dowry for her future husband."
+
+"Will you accept it, then, my dear Leonilda?"
+
+"Yes, papa dear," she said, embracing me, "on the condition that you will
+promise to come and see me again as soon as you hear of my marriage."
+
+I promised to do so, and I kept my word.
+
+"As you are going to-morrow," said the duke, "I shall ask all the
+nobility of Naples to meet you at supper. In the meanwhile I leave you
+with your daughter; we shall see each other again at suppertime."
+
+He went out and I dined with my wife and daughter in the best of spirits.
+I spent almost the whole afternoon with Leonilda, keeping within the
+bounds of decency, less, perhaps, out of respect to morality, than
+because of my labours of the night before. We did not kiss each other
+till the moment of parting, and I could see that both mother and daughter
+were grieved to lose me.
+
+After a careful toilette I went to supper, and found an assembly of a
+hundred of the very best people in Naples. The duchess was very
+agreeable, and when I kissed her hand to take leave, she said,
+
+"I hope, Don Giacomo, that you have had no unpleasantness during your
+short stay at Naples, and that you will sometimes think of your visit
+with pleasure."
+
+I answered that I could only recall my visit with delight after the
+kindness with which she had deigned to treat me that evening; and, in
+fact, my recollections of Naples were always of the happiest description.
+
+After I had treated the duke's attendants with generosity, the poor
+nobleman, whom fortune had favoured, and whom nature had deprived of the
+sweetest of all enjoyments, came with me to the door of my carriage and I
+went on my way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+My Carriage Broken--Mariuccia's Wedding-Flight of Lord Lismore--My Return
+to Florence, and My Departure with the Corticelli
+
+My Spaniard was going on before us on horseback, and I was sleeping
+profoundly beside Don Ciccio Alfani in my comfortable carriage, drawn by
+four horses, when a violent shock aroused me. The carriage had been
+overturned on the highway, at midnight, beyond Francolisa and four miles
+from St. Agatha.
+
+Alfani was beneath me and uttered piercing shrieks, for he thought he had
+broken his left arm. Le Duc rode back and told me that the postillions
+had taken flight, possibly to give notice of our mishap to highwaymen,
+who are very common in the States of the Church and Naples.
+
+I got out of the carriage easily enough, but poor old Alfani, who was
+unwieldly with fat, badly hurt, and half dead with fright, could not
+extricate himself without assistance. It took us a quarter of an hour to
+get him free. The poor wretch amused me by the blasphemies which he
+mingled with prayers to his patron saint, St. Francis of Assisi.
+
+I was not without experience of such accidents and was not at all hurt,
+for one's safety depends a good deal on the position one is in. Don
+Ciccio had probably hurt his arm by stretching it out just as the
+accident took place.
+
+I took my sword, my musket, and my horse-pistols out of the carriage, and
+I made them and my pockets pistols ready so as to offer a stiff
+resistance to the brigands if they came; and I then told Le Duc to take
+some money and ride off and see if he could bring some peasants to our
+assistance.
+
+Don Ciccio groaned over the accident, but I, resolving to sell my money
+and my life dearly, made a rampart of the carriage and four horses, and
+stood sentry, with my arms ready.
+
+I then felt prepared for all hazards, and was quite calm, but my
+unfortunate companion continued to pour forth his groans, and prayers,
+and blasphemies, for all that goes together at Naples as at Rome. I could
+do nothing but compassionate him; but in spite of myself I could not help
+laughing, which seemed to vex the poor abbe, who looked for all the world
+like a dying dolphin as he rested motionless against the bank. His
+distress may be imagined, when the nearest horse yielded to the call of
+nature, and voided over the unfortunate man the contents of its bladder.
+There was nothing to be done, and I could not help roaring with laughter.
+
+Nevertheless, a strong northerly wind rendered our situation an extremely
+unpleasant one. At the slightest noise I cried, "Who goes there?"
+threatening to fire on anyone who dared approach. I spent two hours in
+this tragic-comic position, until at last Le Duc rode up and told me that
+a band of peasants, all armed and provided with lanterns, were
+approaching to our assistance.
+
+In less than an hour, the carriage, the horses, and Alfani were seen to.
+I kept two of the country-folk to serve as postillions, and I sent the
+others away well paid for the interruption of their sleep. I reached St.
+Agatha at day-break, and I made the devil's own noise at the door of the
+postmaster, calling for an attorney to take down my statement, and
+threatening to have the postillions who had overturned and deserted me,
+hanged.
+
+A wheelwright inspected my coach and pronounced the axle-tree broken, and
+told me I should have to remain for a day at least.
+
+Don Ciccio, who stood in need of a surgeon's aid, called on the Marquis
+Galliani without telling me anything about it. However, the marquis
+hastened to beg me to stay at his home till I could continue my journey.
+I accepted the invitation with great pleasure, and with this my ill
+humour, which was really only the result of my desire to make a great
+fuss like a great man, evaporated.
+
+The marquis ordered my carriage to be taken to his coach-house, took me
+by the arm, and led me to his house. He was as learned as he was polite,
+and a perfect Neapolitan--i.e., devoid of all ceremony. He had not the
+brilliant wit of his brother, whom I had known at Paris as secretary of
+embassy under the Count Cantillana Montdragon, but he possessed a
+well-ordered judgment, founded on study and the perusal of ancient and
+modern classics. Above all, he was a great mathematician, and was then
+preparing an annotated edition of Vitruvius, which was afterwards
+published.
+
+The marquis introduced me to his wife, whom I knew as the intimate friend
+of my dear Lucrezia. There was something saint-like in her expression,
+and to see her surrounded by her little children was like looking at a
+picture of the Holy Family.
+
+Don Ciccio was put to bed directly, and a surgeon sent for, who consoled
+him by saying that it was only a simple luxation, and that he would be
+well again in a few days.
+
+At noon a carriage stopped at the door, and Lucrezia got down. She
+embraced the marchioness, and said to me in the most natural manner, as
+we shook hands,--
+
+"What happy chance brings you hear, dear Don Giacomo?"
+
+She told her friend that I was a friend of her late husband's, and that
+she had recently seen me again with great pleasure at the Duke de
+Matalone's.
+
+After dinner, on finding myself alone with this charming woman, I asked
+her if it were not possible for us to pass a happy night together, but
+she shewed me that it was out of the question, and I had to yield. I
+renewed my offer to marry her.
+
+"Buy a property," said she, "in the kingdom of Naples, and I will spend
+the remainder of my days with you, without asking a priest to give us his
+blessing, unless we happen to have children."
+
+I could not deny that Lucrezia spoke very sensibly, and I could easily
+have bought land in Naples, and lived comfortably on it, but the idea of
+binding myself down to one place was so contrary to my feelings that I
+had the good sense to prefer my vagabond life to all the advantages which
+our union would have given me, and I do not think that Lucrezia
+altogether disapproved of my resolution.
+
+After supper I took leave of everybody, and I set out at day-break in
+order to get to Rome by the next day. I had only fifteen stages to do,
+and the road was excellent.
+
+As we were getting into Carillano, I saw one of the two-wheeled
+carriages, locally called mantice, two horses were being put into it,
+while my carriage required four. I got out, and on hearing myself called
+I turned round. I was not a little surprised to find that the occupants
+of the mantice were a young and pretty girl and Signora Diana, the Prince
+de Sassaro's mistress, who owed me three hundred ounces. She told me that
+she was going to Rome, and that she would be glad if we could make the
+journey together.
+
+"I suppose you don't mind stopping for the night at Piperno?"
+
+"No," said I, "I am afraid that can't be managed; I don't intend to break
+my journey."
+
+"But you would get to Rome by to-morrow."
+
+"I know that, but I sleep better in my carriage than in the bad beds they
+give you in the inns."
+
+"I dare not travel by night."
+
+"Well, well, madam, I have no doubt we shall see each other at Rome."
+
+"You are a cruel man. You see I have only a stupid servant, and a maid
+who is as timid as I am, besides it is cold and my carriage is open. I
+will keep you company in yours."
+
+"I really can't take you in, as all the available space is taken up by my
+old secretary, who broke his arm yesterday."
+
+"Shall we dine together at Terracino? We could have a little talk."
+
+"Certainly."
+
+We made good cheer at this small town, which is the frontier of the
+States of the Church. We should not reach Piperno till far on in the
+night, and the lady renewed and redoubled her efforts to keep me till
+daybreak; but though young and pretty she did not take my fancy; she was
+too fair and too fat. But her maid, who was a pretty brunette, with a
+delicious rounded form and a sparkling eye, excited all my feelings of
+desire. A vague hope of possessing the maid won me over, and I ended by
+promising the signora to sup with her, and not to continue my journey
+without giving notice to the landlord.
+
+When we got to Piperno, I succeeded in telling the pretty maid that if
+she would let me have her quietly I would not go any further. She
+promised to wait for me, and allowed me to take such liberties as are
+usually the signs of perfect complaisance.
+
+We had our supper, and I wished the ladies good night and escorted them
+to their room, where I took note of the relative positions of their beds
+so that there should be no mistake. I left them and came back in a
+quarter of an hour. Finding the door open I felt sure of success, and I
+got into bed; but as I found out, it was the signora and not the maid who
+received me. Evidently the little hussy had told her mistress the story,
+and the mistress had thought fit to take the maid's place. There was no
+possibility of my being mistaken, for though I could not see I could
+feel.
+
+For a moment I was undecided, should I remain in bed and make the best of
+what I had got, or go on my way to Rome immediately? The latter counsel
+prevailed. I called Le Duc, gave my orders, and started, enjoying the
+thought of the confusion of the two women, who must have been in a great
+rage at the failure of their plans. I saw Signora Diana three or four
+times at Rome, and we bowed without speaking; if I had thought it likely
+that she would pay me the four hundred louis she owed me I might have
+taken the trouble to call on her, but I know that your stage queens are
+the worst debtors in the world.
+
+My brother, the Chevalier Mengs, and the Abbe Winckelmann were all in
+good health and spirits. Costa was delighted to see me again. I sent him
+off directly to His Holiness's 'scopatore maggiore' to warn him that I
+was coming to take polenta with him, and all he need do was to get a good
+supper for twelve. I was sure of finding Mariuccia there, for I knew that
+Momolo had noticed her presence pleased me.
+
+The carnival began the day after my arrival, and I hired a superb landau
+for the whole week. The Roman landaus seat four people and have a hood
+which may be lowered at pleasure. In these landaus one drives along the
+Corso with or without masks from nine to twelve o'clock during the
+carnival time.
+
+From time immemorial the Corso at Rome has presented a strange and
+diverting spectacle during the carnival. The horses start from the Piazza
+del Popolo, and gallop along to the Column of Trajan, between two lines
+of carriages drawn up beside two narrow pavements which are crowded with
+maskers and people of all classes. All the windows are decorated. As soon
+as the horses have passed the carriages begin to move, and the maskers on
+foot and horseback occupy the middle of the street. The air is full of
+real and false sweetmeats, pamphlets, pasquinades, and puns. Throughout
+the mob, composed of the best and worst classes of Rome, liberty reigns
+supreme, and when twelve o'clock is announced by the third report of the
+cannon of St. Angelo the Corso begins to clear, and in five minutes you
+would look in vain for a carriage or a masker. The crowd disperses
+amongst the neighbouring streets, and fills the opera houses, the
+theatres, the rope-dancers' exhibitions, and even the puppet-shows. The
+restaurants and taverns are not left desolate; everywhere you will find
+crowds of people, for during the carnival the Romans only think of
+eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves.
+
+I banked my money with M. Belloni and got a letter of credit on Turin,
+where I expected to find the Abbe Gama and to receive a commission to
+represent the Portuguese Court at the Congress of Augsburg, to which all
+Europe was looking forward, and then I went to inspect my little room,
+where I hoped to meet Mariuccia the next day. I found everything in good
+order.
+
+In the evening Momolo and his family received me with joyful
+exclamations. The eldest daughter said with a smile that she was sure she
+would please me by sending for Mariuccia.
+
+"You are right," said I, "I shall be delighted to see the fair
+Mariuccia."
+
+A few minutes after she entered with her puritanical mother, who told me
+I must not be surprised to see her daughter better dressed, as she was
+going to be married in a few days. I congratulated her, and Momolo's
+daughters asked who was the happy man. Mariuccia blushed and said
+modestly, to one of them,--
+
+"It is somebody whom you know, So and so, he saw me here, and we are
+going to open a hair-dresser's shop."
+
+"The marriage was arranged by good Father St. Barnabe," added the mother.
+"He has in his keeping my daughter's dower of four hundred Roman crowns."
+
+"He's a good lad," said Momolo. "I have a high opinion of him; he would
+have married one of my daughters if I could have given him such a dowry."
+
+At these words the girl in question blushed and lowered her eyes.
+
+"Never mind, my dear," said I, "your turn will come in time."
+
+She took my words as seriously meant, and her face lit up with joy. She
+thought I had guessed her love for Costa, and her idea was confirmed when
+I told him to get my landau the next day and take out all Momolo's
+daughters, well masked, as it would not do for them to be recognized in a
+carriage I meant to make use of myself. I also bade him hire some
+handsome costumes from a Jew, and paid the hire-money myself. This put
+them all in a good humour.
+
+"How about Signora Maria?" said the jealous sister.
+
+"As Signora Maria is going to be married," I replied, "she must not be
+present at any festivity without her future husband."
+
+The mother applauded this decision of mine, and sly Mariuccia pretended
+to feel mortified. I turned to Momolo and begged him to ask Mariuccia's
+future husband to meet me at supper, by which I pleased her mother
+greatly.
+
+I felt very tired, and having nothing to keep me after seeing Mariuccia,
+I begged the company to excuse me, and after wishing them a good appetite
+I left them.
+
+I walked out next morning at an early hour. I had no need of going into
+the church, which I reached at seven o'clock, for Mariuccia saw me at
+some distance off and followed me, and we were soon alone together in the
+little room, which love and voluptuous pleasure had transmuted into a
+sumptuous place. We would gladly have talked to each other, but as we had
+only an hour before us, we set to without even taking off our clothes.
+After the last kiss which ended the third assault, she told me that she
+was to be married on the eve of Shrove Tuesday, and that all had been
+arranged by her confessor. She also thanked me for having asked Momolo to
+invite her intended.
+
+"When shall we see each other again, my angel?"
+
+"On Sunday, the eve of my wedding, we shall be able to spend four hours
+together."
+
+"Delightful! I promise you that when you leave me you will be in such a
+state that the caresses of your husband won't hurt you."
+
+She smiled and departed, and I threw myself on the bed where I rested for
+a good hour.
+
+As I was going home I met a carriage and four going at a great speed. A
+footman rode in front of the carriage, and within it I saw a young
+nobleman. My attention was arrested by the blue ribbon on his breast. I
+gazed at him, and he called out my name and had the carriage stopped. I
+was extremely surprised when I found it was Lord O'Callaghan, whom I had
+known at Paris at his mother's, the Countess of Lismore, who was
+separated from her husband, and was the kept mistress of M. de St. Aubin,
+the unworthy successor of the good and virtuous Fenelon in the
+archbishopric of Cambrai. However, the archbishop owed his promotion to
+the fact that he was a bastard of the Duc d'Orleans, the French Regent.
+
+Lord O'Callaghan was a fine-looking young man, with wit and talent, but
+the slave of his unbridled passions and of every species of vice. I knew
+that if he were lord in name he was not so in fortune, and I was
+astonished to see him driving such a handsome carriage, and still more so
+at his blue ribbon. In a few words he told me that he was going to dine
+with the Pretender, but that he would sup at home. He invited me to come
+to supper, and I accepted.
+
+After dinner I took a short walk, and then went to enliven myself at the
+theatre, where I saw Momolo's girls strutting about with Costa;
+afterwards I went to Lord O'Callaghan, and was pleasantly surprised to
+meet the poet Poinsinet. He was young, short, ugly, full of poetic fire,
+a wit, and dramatist. Five or six years later the poor fellow fell into
+the Guadalquivir and was drowned. He had gone to Madrid in the hope of
+making his fortune. As I had known him at Paris I addressed him as an old
+acquaintance.
+
+"What are you doing at Rome? Where's my Lord O'Callaghan?"
+
+"He's in the next room, but as his father is dead his title is now Earl
+of Lismore. You know he was an adherent of the Pretender's. I left Paris
+with him, well enough pleased at being able to come to Rome without its
+costing me anything."
+
+"Then the earl is a rich man now?"
+
+"Not exactly; but he will be, as he is his father's heir, and the old
+earl left an immense fortune. It is true that it is all confiscated, but
+that is nothing, as his claims are irresistible."
+
+"In short, he is rich in claims and rich in the future; but how did he
+get himself made a knight of one of the French king's orders?"
+
+"You're joking. That is the blue ribbon of the Order of St. Michael, of
+which the late Elector of Cologne was grand master. As you know, my lord
+plays exquisitely on the violin, and when he was at Bonn he played the
+Elector a concerto by Tartini. The prince could not find words in which
+to express the pleasure of my lord's performance, and gave him the ribbon
+you have seen."
+
+"A fine present, doubtless."
+
+"You don't know what pleasure it gave my lord, for when we go back to
+Paris everybody will take it for the Order of the Holy Ghost."
+
+We passed into a large room, where we found the earl with the party he
+had asked to supper. As soon as he saw me he embraced me, called me his
+dear friend, and named his guests. There were seven or eight girls, all
+of them pretty, three or four castrati who played women's parts in the
+Roman theatre, and five or six abbes, the husband of every wife and the
+wives of every husband, who boasted of their wickedness, and challenged
+the girls to be more shameless than they. The girls were not common
+courtezans, but past mistresses of music, painting, and vice considered
+as a fine art. The kind of society may be imagined when I say that I
+found myself a perfect novice amongst them.
+
+"Where are you going, prince?" said the earl to a respectable-looking man
+who was making for the door.
+
+"I don't feel well, my lord. I think I must go out."
+
+"What prince is that?" said I.
+
+"The Prince de Chimai. He is a sub-deacon, and is endeavouring to gain
+permission to marry, lest his family should become extinct."
+
+"I admire his prudence or his delicacy, but I am afraid I should not
+imitate him."
+
+There were twenty-four of us at table, and it is no exaggeration to say
+that we emptied a hundred bottles of the choicest wines. Everybody was
+drunk, with the exception of myself and the poet Poinsinet, who had taken
+nothing but water. The company rose from table, and then began a foul
+orgy which I should never have conceived possible, and which no pen could
+describe, though possibly a seasoned profligate might get some idea of
+it.
+
+A castrato and a girl of almost equal height proposed to strip in an
+adjoining room, and to lie on their backs, in the same bed with their
+faces covered. They challenged us all to guess which was which.
+
+We all went in and nobody could pronounce from sight which was male and
+which was female, so I bet the earl fifty crowns that I would point out
+the woman.
+
+He accepted the wager, and I guessed correctly, but payment was out of
+the question.
+
+This first act of the orgy ended with the prostitution of the two
+individuals, who defied everybody to accomplish the great act. All, with
+the exception of Poinsinet and myself, made the attempt, but their
+efforts were in vain.
+
+The second act displayed four or five couples reversed, and here the
+abbes shone, both in the active and passive parts of this lascivious
+spectacle. I was the only person respected.
+
+All at once, the earl, who had hitherto remained perfectly motionless,
+attacked the wretched Poinsinet, who in vain attempted to defend himself.
+He had to strip like my lord, who was as naked as the others. We stood
+round in a circle. Suddenly the earl, taking his watch, promised it to
+the first who succeeded in giving them a sure mark of sensibility. The
+desire of gaining the prize excited the impure crowd immensely, and the
+castrati, the girls, and the abbes all did their utmost, each one
+striving to be the first. They had to draw lots. This part interested me
+most, for throughout this almost incredible scene of debauchery I did not
+experience the slightest sensation, although under other circumstances
+any of the girls would have claimed my homage, but all I did was to
+laugh, especially to see the poor poet in terror of experiencing the lust
+of the flesh, for the profligate nobleman swore that if he made him lose
+he would deliver him up to the brutal lust of all the abbes. He escaped,
+probably through fear of the consequences.
+
+The orgy came to an end when nobody had any further hopes of getting the
+watch. The secret of the Lesbians was only employed, however, by the
+abbes and the castrata. The girls, wishing to be able to despise those
+who made use of it, refrained from doing so. I suspect they were actuated
+by pride rather than shame, as they might possibly have employed it
+without success.
+
+This vile debauch disgusted me, and yet gave me a better knowledge of
+myself. I could not help confessing that my life had been endangered, for
+the only arm I had was my sword, but I should certainly have used it if
+the earl had tried to treat me like the others, and as he had treated
+poor Poinsinet. I never understood how it was that he respected me, for
+he was quite drunk, and in a kind of Bacchic fury.
+
+As I left, I promised to come and see him as often as he pleased, but I
+promised myself never to set foot in his house again.
+
+Next day, he came to see me in the afternoon, and asked me to walk with
+him to the Villa Medici.
+
+I complimented him on the immense wealth he had inherited to enable him
+to live so splendidly, but he laughed and told me that he did not possess
+fifty piastres, that his father had left nothing but debts, and that he
+himself already owed three or four thousand crowns.
+
+"I wonder people give you credit, then."
+
+"They give me credit because everybody knows that I have drawn a bill of
+exchange on Paris to the tune of two hundred thousand francs. But in four
+or five days the bill will be returned protested, and I am only waiting
+for that to happen to make my escape."
+
+"If you are certain of its being protested, I advise you to make your
+escape to-day; for as it is so large a sum it may be taken up before it
+is due."
+
+"No, I won't do that; I have one hope left. I have written to tell my
+mother that I shall be undone if she does not furnish the banker, on whom
+I have drawn the bill, with sufficient funds and if she does that, the
+bill will be accepted. You know my mother is very fond of me."
+
+"Yes, but I also know that she is far from rich."
+
+"True, but M. de St. Aubin is rich enough, and between you and me I think
+he is my father. Meanwhile, my creditors are almost as quiet as I am. All
+those girls you saw yesterday would give me all they have if I asked
+them, as they are all expecting me to make them a handsome present in the
+course of the week, but I won't abuse their trust in me. But I am afraid
+I shall be obliged to cheat the Jew, who wants me to give him three
+thousand sequins for this ring, as I know it is only worth one thousand."
+
+"He will send the police after you."
+
+"I defy him to do whatever he likes."
+
+The ring was set with a straw-coloured diamond of nine or ten carats. He
+begged me to keep his secret as we parted. I did not feel any sentiments
+of pity for this extravagant madman, as I only saw in him a man
+unfortunate by his own fault, whose fate would probably make him end his
+days in a prison unless he had the courage to blow his brains out.
+
+I went to Momolo's in the evening, and found the intended husband of my
+fair Mariuccia there, but not the lady herself. I heard she had sent word
+to the 'scopatore santissimo' that, as her father had come from
+Palestrina to be present at her wedding, she could not come to supper. I
+admired her subtlety. A young girl has no need of being instructed in
+diplomacy, nature and her own heart are her teachers, and she never
+blunders. At supper I studied the young man, and found him eminently
+suitable for Mariuccia; he was handsome, modest, and intelligent, and
+whatever he said was spoken frankly and to the point.
+
+He told me before Momolo's daughter, Tecla, that he would have married
+her if she had possessed means to enable him to open his shop, and that
+he had reason to thank God for having met Maria, whose confessor had been
+such a true spiritual father to her. I asked him where the wedding
+festivities were to take place, and he told me they were to be at his
+father's house, on the other side of the Tiber. As his father, who kept a
+garden, was poor, he had furnished him with ten crowns to defray the
+expenses.
+
+I wanted to give him the ten crowns, but how was I to do it? It would
+have betrayed me.
+
+"Is your father's garden a pretty one?" I asked.
+
+"Not exactly pretty, but very well kept. As he owns the land, he has
+separated a plot which he wants to sell; it would bring in twenty crowns
+a year, and I should be as happy as a cardinal if I could buy it."
+
+"How much will it cost?"
+
+"It's a heavy price; two hundred crowns."
+
+"Why, that's cheap! Listen to me. I have met your future bride at this
+house, and I have found her all worthy of happiness. She deserves an
+honest young fellow like you for a husband. Now what would you do
+supposing I were to make you a present of two hundred crowns to buy the
+garden?"
+
+"I should put it to my wife's dowry."
+
+"Then here are the two hundred crowns. I shall give them to Momolo, as I
+don't know you well enough, though I think you are perfectly to be
+trusted. The garden is yours, as part of your wife's dowry."
+
+Momolo took the money, and promised to buy the garden the following day,
+and the young man shedding tears of joy and gratitude fell on his knees
+and kissed my hand. All the girls wept, as I myself did, for there's a
+contagion in such happy tears. Nevertheless, they did not all proceed
+from the same source; some were virtuous and some vicious, and the young
+man's were the only ones whose source was pure and unalloyed. I lifted
+him from the ground, kissed him, and wished him a happy marriage. He made
+bold to ask me to his wedding, but I refused, thanking him kindly. I told
+him that if he wanted to please me, he must come and sup at Momolo's on
+the eve of his wedding, and I begged the good scopatore to ask Mariuccia,
+her father and mother as well. I was sure of seeing her for the last time
+on the Sunday morning.
+
+At seven o'clock on the Sunday morning we were in each other's arms, with
+four hours before us. After the first burst of mutual ardour she told me
+that all arrangements had been made in her house the evening before, in
+the presence of her confessor and of Momolo; and that on the receipt for
+the two hundred crowns being handed in the notary had put the garden into
+the settlement, and that the good father had made her a present of twenty
+piastres towards defraying the notary's fees and the wedding expenses.
+
+"Everything is for the best, and I am sure I shall be happy. My intended
+adores you, but you did wisely not to accept his invitation, for you
+would have found everything so poor, and besides tongues might have been
+set wagging to my disadvantage."
+
+"You are quite right, dearest, but what do you intend to do if your
+husband finds that the door has been opened by someone else, for possibly
+he expects you to be a maid."
+
+"I expect he will know no more about it than I did the first time you
+knew me; besides, I do not feel that you have defiled me, and my clean
+conscience will not allow me to think of the matter; and I am sure that
+he will not think of it any more than I."
+
+"Yes, but if he does?"
+
+"It would not be delicate on his part, but what should prevent me from
+replying that I don't know what he means?"
+
+"You are right; that's the best way. But have you told your confessor of
+our mutual enjoyment?"
+
+"No, for as I did not give myself up to you with any criminal intention,
+I do not think I have offended God."
+
+"You are an angel, and I admire the clearness of your reasoning. But
+listen to me; it's possible that you are already with child, or that you
+may become so this morning; promise to name the child after me."
+
+"I will do so."
+
+The four hours sped rapidly away. After the sixth assault we were wearied
+though not satiated. We parted with tears, and swore to love each other
+as brother and sister ever after.
+
+I went home, bathed, slept an hour, rose, dressed, and dined pleasantly
+with the family. In the evening I took the Mengs family for a drive in my
+landau, and we then went to the theatre, where the castrato who played
+the prima donna was a great attraction. He was the favourite pathic of
+Cardinal Borghese, and supped every evening with his eminence.
+
+This castrato had a fine voice, but his chief attraction was his beauty.
+I had seen him in man's clothes in the street, but though a fine-looking
+fellow, he had not made any impression on me, for one could see at once
+that he was only half a man, but on the stage in woman's dress the
+illusion was complete; he was ravishing.
+
+He was enclosed in a carefully-made corset and looked like a nymph; and
+incredible though it may seem, his breast was as beautiful as any
+woman's; it was the monster's chiefest charm. However well one knew the
+fellow's neutral sex, as soon as one looked at his breast one felt all
+aglow and quite madly amorous of him. To feel nothing one would have to
+be as cold and impassive as a German. As he walked the boards, waiting
+for the refrain of the air he was singing, there was something grandly
+voluptuous about him; and as he glanced towards the boxes, his black
+eyes, at once tender and modest, ravished the heart. He evidently wished
+to fan the flame of those who loved him as a man, and probably would not
+have cared for him if he had been a woman.
+
+Rome the holy, which thus strives to make all men pederasts, denies the
+fact, and will not believe in the effects of the glamour of her own
+devising.
+
+I made these reflections aloud, and an ecclesiastic, wishing to blind me
+to the truth, spoke as follows:--
+
+"You are quite right. Why should this castrato be allowed to shew his
+breast, of which the fairest Roman lady might be proud, and yet wish
+everyone to consider him as a man and not a woman? If the stage is
+forbidden to the fair sex lest they excite desires, why do they seek out
+men-monsters made in the form of women, who excite much more criminal
+desires? They keep on preaching that pederasty is comparatively unknown
+and entraps only a few, but many clever men endeavour to be entrapped,
+and end by thinking it so pleasant that they prefer these monsters to the
+most beautiful women."
+
+"The Pope would be sure of heaven if he put a stop to this scandalous
+practice."
+
+"I don't agree with you. One could not have a pretty actress to supper
+without causing a scandal, but such an invitation to a castrato makes
+nobody talk. It is of course known perfectly well that after supper both
+heads rest on one pillow, but what everybody knows is ignored by all. One
+may sleep with a man out of mere friendship, it is not so with a woman."
+
+"True, monsignor, appearances are saved, and a sin concealed is half
+pardoned, as they say in Paris."
+
+"At Rome we say it is pardoned altogether. 'Peccato nascosto non
+offende'."
+
+His jesuitical arguments interested me, for I knew that he was an avowed
+partisan of the forbidden fruit.
+
+In one of the boxes I saw the Marchioness Passarini (whom I had known at
+Dresden) with Don Antonio Borghese, and I went to pay my addresses to
+them. The prince, whom I had known at Paris ten years before, recognized
+me, and asked me to dine with him on the following day. I went, but my
+lord was not at home. A page told me that my place was laid at table, and
+that I could dine just as if the prince was there, on which I turned my
+back on him and went away. On Ash Wednesday he sent his man to ask me to
+sup with him and the marchioness, who was his mistress, and I sent word
+that I would not fail to come; but he waited for me in vain. Pride is the
+daughter of folly, and always keeps its mother's nature.
+
+After the opera I went to Momolo's, where I found Mariuccia, her father,
+her mother, and her future husband. They were anxiously expecting me. It
+is not difficult to make people happy when one selects for one's bounty
+persons who really deserve happiness. I was amidst poor but honest
+people, and I can truly say that I had a delightful supper. It may be
+that some of my enjoyment proceeded from a feeling of vanity, for I knew
+that I was the author of the happiness depicted on the faces of the bride
+and bridegroom and of the father and mother of Mariuccia; but when vanity
+causes good deeds it is a virtue. Nevertheless, I owe it to myself to
+tell my readers that my pleasure was too pure to have in it any admixture
+of vice.
+
+After supper I made a small bank at faro, making everybody play with
+counters, as nobody had a penny, and I was so fortunate as to make
+everyone win a few ducats.
+
+After the game we danced in spite of the prohibition of the Pope, whom no
+Roman can believe to be infallible, for he forbids dancing and permits
+games of chance. His successor Ganganelli followed the opposite course,
+and was no better obeyed. To avoid suspicion I did not give the pair any
+present, but I gave up my landau to them that they might enjoy the
+carnival on the Corso, and I told Costa to get them a box at the
+Capranica Theatre. Momolo asked me to supper on Shrove Tuesday.
+
+I wished to leave Rome on the second day of Lent, and I called on the
+Holy Father at a time when all Rome was on the Corso. His Holiness
+welcomed me most graciously, and said he was surprised that I had not
+gone to see the sights on the Corso like everybody else. I replied that
+as a lover of pleasure I had chosen the greatest pleasure of all for a
+Christian--namely, to kneel at the feet of the vicar of Christ on earth.
+He bowed with a kind of majestic humility, which shewed me how the
+compliment had pleased him. He kept me for more than an hour, talking
+about Venice, Padua, and Paris, which latter city the worthy man would
+not have been sorry to have visited. I again commended myself to his
+apostolic intercession to enable me to return to my native country, and
+he replied,--
+
+"Have recourse to God, dear son; His grace will be more efficacious than
+my prayers;" and then he blessed me and wished me a prosperous journey.
+
+I saw that the Head of the Church had no great opinion of his own power.
+
+On Shrove Tuesday I dressed myself richly in the costume of Polichinello,
+and rode along the Corso showering sweetmeats on all the pretty women I
+saw. Finally I emptied the basket on the daughters of the worthy
+'scopatore', whom Costa was taking about in my landau with all the
+dignity of a pasha.
+
+At night-time I took off my costume and went to Momolo's, where I
+expected to see dear Mariuccia for the last time. Supper passed off in
+almost a similar manner to the supper of last Sunday; but there was an
+interesting novelty for me--namely, the sight of my beloved mistress in
+her character of bride. Her husband seemed to be much more reserved with
+respect to me than at our first meeting. I was puzzled by his behaviour,
+and sat down by Mariuccia and proceeded to question her. She told me all
+the circumstances which had passed on the first night, and she spoke
+highly of her husband's good qualities. He was kind, amorous,
+good-tempered, and delicate. No doubt he must have noticed that the
+casket had been opened, but he had said nothing about it. As he had
+spoken about me, she had not been able to resist the pleasure of telling
+him that I was her sole benefactor, at which, so far from being offended,
+he seemed to trust in her more than ever.
+
+"But has he not questioned you indirectly as to the connection between
+us?"
+
+"Not at all. I told him that you went to my confessor after having spoken
+to me once only in the church, where I told you what a good chance I had
+of being married to him."
+
+"Do you think he believed you?"
+
+"I am not sure; however, even if it were otherwise, it is enough that he
+pretends to, for I am determined to win his esteem."
+
+"You are right, and I think all the better of him for his suspicions, for
+it is better to marry a man with some sense in his head than to marry a
+fool."
+
+I was so pleased with what she told me that when I took leave of the
+company I embraced the hairdresser, and drawing a handsome gold watch
+from my fob I begged him to accept it as a souvenir of me. He received it
+with the utmost gratitude. From my pocket I took a ring, worth at least
+six hundred francs, and put it on his wife's finger, wishing them a fair
+posterity and all manner of happiness, and I then went home to bed,
+telling Le Duc and Costa that we must begin to pack up next day.
+
+I was just getting up when they brought me a note from Lord Lismore,
+begging me to come and speak to him at noon at the Villa Borghese.
+
+I had some suspicion of what he might want, and kept the appointment. I
+felt in a mood to give him some good advice. Indeed, considering the
+friendship between his mother and myself, it was my duty to do so.
+
+He came up to me and gave me a letter he had received the evening before
+from his mother. She told him that Paris de Monmartel had just informed
+her that he was in possession of a bill for two hundred thousand francs
+drawn by her son, and that he would honour it if she would furnish him
+with the funds. She had replied that she would let him know in two or
+three days if she could do so; but she warned her son that she had only
+asked for this delay to give him time to escape, as the bill would
+certainly be protested and returned, it being absolutely out of the
+question for her to get the money.
+
+"You had better make yourself scarce as soon as you can," said I,
+returning him the letter.
+
+"Buy this ring, and so furnish me with the means for my escape. You would
+not know that it was not my property if I had not told you so in
+confidence."
+
+I made an appointment with him, and had the stone taken out and valued by
+one of the best jewellers in Rome.
+
+"I know this stone," said he, "it is worth two thousand Roman crowns."
+
+At four o'clock I took the earl five hundred crowns in gold and fifteen
+hundred crowns in paper, which he would have to take to a banker, who
+would give him a bill of exchange in Amsterdam.
+
+"I will be off at nightfall," said he, "and travel by myself to
+Amsterdam, only taking such effects as are absolutely necessary, and my
+beloved blue ribbon."
+
+"A pleasant journey to you," said I, and left him. In ten days I had the
+stone mounted at Bologna.
+
+I got a letter of introduction from Cardinal Albani for Onorati, the
+nuncio at Florence, and another letter from M. Mengs to Sir Mann, whom he
+begged to receive me in his house. I was going to Florence for the sake
+of the Corticelli and my dear Therese, and I reckoned on the auditor's
+feigning to ignore my return, in spite of his unjust order, especially if
+I were residing at the English minister's.
+
+On the second day of Lent the disappearance of Lord Lismore was the talk
+of the town. The English tailor was ruined, the Jew who owned the ring
+was in despair, and all the silly fellow's servants were turned out of
+the house in almost a state of nakedness, as the tailor had
+unceremoniously taken possession of everything in the way of clothes that
+he could lay his hands on.
+
+Poor Poinsinet came to see me in a pitiable condition; he had only his
+shirt and overcoat. He had been despoiled of everything, and threatened
+with imprisonment. "I haven't a farthing," said the poor child of the
+muses, "I have only the shirt on my back. I know nobody here, and I think
+I shall go and throw myself into the Tiber."
+
+He was destined, not to be drowned in the Tiber but in the Guadalquivir.
+I calmed him by offering to take him to Florence with me, but I warned
+him that I must leave him there, as someone was expecting me at Florence.
+He immediately took up his abode with me, and wrote verses incessantly
+till it was time to go.
+
+My brother Jean made me a present of an onyx of great beauty. It was a
+cameo, representing Venus bathing, and a genuine antique, as the name of
+the artist, Sostrates, was cut on the stone. Two years later I sold it to
+Dr. Masti, at London, for three hundred pounds, and it is possibly still
+in the British Museum.
+
+I went my way with Poinsinet who amused me, in spite of his sadness, with
+his droll fancies. In two days I got down at Dr. Vannini's, who tried to
+conceal his surprise at seeing me. I lost no time, but waited on
+Sir---- Mann immediately, and found him sitting at table. He gave me a
+very friendly reception, but he seemed alarmed when, in reply to his
+question, I told him that my dispute with the auditor had not been
+arranged. He told me plainly that he thought I had made a mistake in
+returning to Florence, and that he would be compromised by my staying
+with him. I pointed out that I was only passing through Florence.
+
+"That's all very well," said he, "but you know you ought to call on the
+auditor."
+
+I promised to do so, and returned to my lodging. I had scarcely shut the
+door, when an agent of police came and told me that the auditor had
+something to say to me, and would be glad to see me at an early hour next
+morning.
+
+I was enraged at this order, and determined to start forthwith rather
+than obey. Full of this idea I called on Therese and found she was at
+Pisa. I then went to see the Corticelli, who threw her arms round my
+neck, and made use of the Bolognese grimaces appropriate to the occasion.
+To speak the truth, although the girl was pretty, her chief merit in my
+eyes was that she made me laugh.
+
+I gave some money to her mother to get us a good supper, and I took the
+girl out on pretence of going for a walk. I went with her to my lodging,
+and left her with Poinsinet, and going to another room I summoned Costa
+and Vannini. I told Costa in Vannini's presence to go on with Le Duc and
+my luggage the following day, and to call for me at the "Pilgrim" at
+Bologna. I gave Vannini my instructions, and he left the room; and then I
+ordered Costa to leave Florence with Signora Laura and her son, and to
+tell them that I and the daughter were on in front. Le Duc received
+similar orders, and calling Poinsinet I gave him ten Louis, and begged
+him to look out for some other lodging that very evening. The worthy but
+unfortunate young man wept grateful tears, and told me that he would set
+out for Parma on foot next day, and that there M. Tillot would do some,
+thing for him.
+
+I went back to the next room, and told the Corticelli to come with me.
+She did so under the impression that we were going back to her mother's,
+but without taking the trouble to undeceive her I had a carriage and pair
+got ready, and told the postillion to drive to Uccellatoio, the first
+post on the Bologna road.
+
+"Where in the world are we going?" said she.
+
+"Bologna."
+
+"How about mamma?"
+
+"She will come on to-morrow."
+
+"Does she know about it?"
+
+"No, but she will to-morrow when Costa comes to tell her, and to fetch
+her and your brother."
+
+She liked the joke, and got into the carriage laughing, and we drove
+away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+My Arrival at Bologna--I Am Expelled from Modena--I Visit Parma and
+Turin--The Pretty Jewess--The Dressmaker
+
+The Corticelli had a good warm mantle, but the fool who carried her off
+had no cloak, even of the most meagre kind, to keep off the piercing
+cold, which was increased by a keen wind blowing right in our faces.
+
+In spite of all I would not halt, for I was afraid I might be pursued and
+obliged to return, which would have greatly vexed me.
+
+When I saw that the postillion was slackening his speed, I increased the
+amount of the present I was going to make him, and once more we rushed
+along at a headlong pace. I felt perishing with the cold; while the
+postillions seeing me so lightly clad, and so prodigal of my money to
+speed them on their way, imagined that I was a prince carrying off the
+heiress of some noble family. We heard them talking to this effect while
+they changed horses, and the Corticelli was so much amused that she did
+nothing but laugh for the rest of the way. In five hours we covered forty
+miles; we started from Florence at eight o'clock, and at one in the
+morning we stopped at a post in the Pope's territory, where I had nothing
+to fear. The stage goes under the name of "The Ass Unburdened."
+
+The odd name of the inn made my mistress laugh afresh. Everybody was
+asleep, but the noise I made and the distribution of a few pauls procured
+me the privilege of a fire. I was dying of hunger, and they coolly told
+me there was nothing to eat. I laughed in the landlord's face, and told
+him to bring me his butter, his eggs, his macaroni, a ham, and some
+Parmesan cheese, for I knew that so much will be found in the inns all
+over Italy. The repast was soon ready, and I shewed the idiot host that
+he had materials for an excellent meal. We ate like four, and afterwards
+they made up an impromptu bed and we went to sleep, telling them to call
+me as soon as a carriage and four drew up.
+
+Full of ham and macaroni, slightly warmed with the Chianti and
+Montepulciano, and tired with our journey, we stood more in need of
+slumber than of love, and so we gave ourselves up to sleep till morning.
+Then we gave a few moments to pleasure, but it was so slight an affair as
+not to be worth talking about.
+
+At one o'clock we began to feel hungry again and got up, and the host
+provided us with an excellent dinner, after receiving instructions from
+me. I was astonished not to see the carriage draw up, but I waited
+patiently all day. Night came on and still no coach, and I began to feel
+anxious; but the Corticelli persisted in laughing at everything. Next
+morning I sent off an express messenger with instructions for Costa. In
+the event of any violence having taken place, I was resolved to return to
+Florence, of which city I could at any time make myself free by the
+expenditure of two hundred crowns.
+
+The messenger started at noon, and returned at two o'clock with the news
+that my servants would shortly be with me. My coach was on its way, and
+behind it a smaller carriage with two horses, in which sat an old woman
+and a young man.
+
+"That's the mother," said Corticelli; "now we shall have some fun. Let's
+get something for them to eat, and be ready to hear the history of this
+marvellous adventure which she will remember to her dying day."
+
+Costa told me that the auditor had revenged my contempt of his orders by
+forbidding the post authorities to furnish any horses for my carriage.
+Hence the delay. But here we heard the allocution of the Signora Laura.
+
+"I got an excellent supper ready," she began, "according to your orders;
+it cost me more than ten pauls, as I shall shew you, and I hope you will
+make it up to me as I'm but a poor woman. All was ready and I joyfully
+expected you, but in vain; I was in despair. At last when midnight came I
+sent my son to your lodging to enquire after you, but you may imagine my
+'grief when I heard that nobody knew what had become of you. I passed a
+sleepless night, weeping all the time, and in the morning I went and
+complained to the police that you had taken off my daughter, and asked
+them to send after you and make you give her back to me. But only think,
+they laughed at me! 'Why did you let her go out without you? laughing in
+my face. 'Your daughter's in good hands,' says another, 'you know
+perfectly well where she is.' In fact I was grossly slandered."
+
+"Slandered?" said the Corticelli.
+
+"Yes, slandered, for it was as much as to say that I had consented to
+your being carried off, and if I had done that the fools might have known
+I would not have come to them about it. I went away in a rage to Dr.
+Vannini's, where I found your man, who told me that you had gone to
+Bologna, and that I could follow you if I liked. I consented to this
+plan, and I hope you wilt pay my travelling expenses. But I can't help
+telling you that this is rather beyond a joke."
+
+I consoled her by telling her I would pay all she had spent, and we set
+off for Bologna the next day, and reached that town at an early hour. I
+sent my servants to the inn with my carriage, and I went to lodge with
+the Corticelli.
+
+I spent a week with the girl, getting my meals from the inn, and enjoying
+a diversity of pleasures which I shall remember all my days; my young
+wanton had a large circle of female friends, all pretty and all kind. I
+lived with them like a sultan, and still I delight to recall this happy
+time, and I say with a sigh, 'Tempi passati'!
+
+There are many towns in Italy where one can enjoy all the pleasures
+obtainable at Bologna; but nowhere so cheaply, so easily, or with so much
+freedom. The living is excellent, and there are arcades where one can
+walk in the shade in learned and witty company. It is a great pity that
+either from the air, the water, or the wine--for men of science have not
+made up their minds on the subject persons who live at Bologna are
+subject to a slight itch. The Bolognese, however, far from finding this
+unpleasant, seem to think it an advantage; it gives them the pleasure of
+scratching themselves. In springtime the ladies distinguish themselves by
+the grace with which they use their fingers.
+
+Towards mid-Lent I left the Corticelli, wishing her a pleasant journey,
+for she was going to fulfil a year's engagement at Prague as second
+dancer. I promised to fetch her and her mother to Paris, and my readers
+will see how I kept my word.
+
+I got to Modena the evening after I left Bologna, and I stopped there,
+with one of those sudden whims to which I have always been subject. Next
+morning I went out to see the pictures, and as I was returning to my
+lodging for dinner a blackguardly-looking fellow came up and ordered me,
+on the part of the Government, to continue my journey on the day
+following at latest.
+
+"Very good," said I, and the fellow went away.
+
+"Who is that man?" I said to the landlord.
+"A SPY."
+
+"A spy; and the Government dares to send such a fellow to me?"
+
+"The 'borgello' must have sent him."
+
+"Then the 'borgello' is the Governor of Modena--the infamous wretch!"
+
+"Hush! hush! all the best families speak to him in the street."
+
+"Then the best people are very low here, I suppose?"
+
+"Not more than anywhere else. He is the manager of the opera house, and
+the greatest noblemen dine with him and thus secure his favour."
+
+"It's incredible! But why should the high and mighty borgello send me
+away from Modena?"
+
+"I don't know, but do you take my advice and go and speak to him; you
+will find him a fine fellow."
+
+Instead of going to see this b. . . . I called on the Abbe Testa Grossa,
+whom I had known at Venice in 1753. Although he was a man of low
+extraction he had a keen wit. At this time he was old and resting on his
+laurels; he had fought his way into favour by the sheer force of merit,
+and his master, the Duke of Modena, had long chosen him as his
+representative with other powers.
+
+Abbe Testa Grossa recognized me and gave me the most gracious reception,
+but when he heard of what had befallen me he seemed much annoyed.
+
+"What can I do?" said I.
+
+"You had better go, as the man may put a much more grievous insult on
+you."
+
+"I will do so, but could you oblige me by telling me the reason for such
+a high-handed action?"
+
+"Come again this evening; I shall probably be able to satisfy you."
+
+I called on the abbe again in the evening, for I felt anxious to learn in
+what way I had offended the lord borgello, to whom I thought I was quite
+unknown. The abbe satisfied me.
+
+"The borgello," said he, "saw your name on the bill which he receives
+daily containing a list of the names of those who enter or leave the
+city. He remembered that you were daring enough to escape from The Leads,
+and as he does not at all approve of that sort of thing he resolved not
+to let the Modenese be contaminated by so egregious an example of the
+defiance of justice, however unjust it may be; and in short he has given
+you the order to leave the town."
+
+"I am much obliged, but I really wonder how it is that while you were
+telling me this you did not blush to be a subject of the Duke of
+Modena's. What an unworthy action! How contrary is such a system of
+government to all the best interests of the state!"
+
+"You are quite right, my dear sir, but I am afraid that as yet men's eyes
+are not open to what best serves their interests."
+
+"That is doubtless due to the fact that so many men are unworthy."
+
+"I will not contradict you."
+
+"Farewell, abbe."
+
+"Farewell, M. Casanova."
+
+Next morning, just as I was going to get into my carriage, a young man
+between twenty-five and thirty, tall and strong and broad shouldered, his
+eyes black and glittering, his eyebrows strongly arched, and his general
+air being that of a cut-throat, accosted me and begged me to step aside
+and hear what he had to say.
+
+"If you like to stop at Parma for three days, and if you will promise to
+give me fifty sequins when I bring you the news that the borgello is
+dead, I promise to shoot him within the next twenty-four hours."
+
+"Thanks. Such an animal as that should be allowed to die a natural death.
+Here's a crown to drink my health."
+
+At the present time I feel very thankful that I acted as I did, but I
+confess that if I had felt sure that it was not a trap I should have
+promised the money. The fear of committing myself spared me this crime.
+
+The next day I got to Parma, and I put up at the posting-house under the
+name of the Chevalier de Seingalt, which I still bear. When an honest man
+adopts a name which belongs to no one, no one has a right to contest his
+use of it; it becomes a man's duty to keep the name. I had now borne it
+for two years, but I often subjoined to it my family name.
+
+When I got to Parma I dismissed Costa, but in a week after I had the
+misfortune to take him on again. His father, who was a poor violin
+player, as I had once been, with a large family to provide for, excited
+my pity.
+
+I made enquiries about M. Antonio, but he had left the place; and M.
+Dubois Chalelereux, Director of the Mint, had gone to Venice with the
+permission of the Duke of Parma, to set up the beam, which was never
+brought into use. Republics are famous for their superstitious attachment
+to old customs; they are afraid that changes for the better may destroy
+the stability of the state, and the government of aristocratic Venice
+still preserves its original Greek character.
+
+My Spaniard was delighted when I dismissed Costa and proportionately
+sorry when I took him back.
+
+"He's no profligate," said Le Duc; "he is sober, and has no liking for
+bad company. But I think he's a robber, and a dangerous robber, too. I
+know it, because he seems so scrupulously careful not to cheat you in
+small things. Remember what I say, sir; he will do you. He is waiting to
+gain your confidence, and then he will strike home. Now, I am quite a
+different sort of fellow, a rogue in a small way; but you know me."
+
+His insight was, keener than mine, for five or six months later the
+Italian robbed me of fifty thousand crowns. Twenty-three years
+afterwards, in 1784, I found him in Venice, valet to Count Hardegg, and I
+felt inclined to have him hanged. I shewed him by proof positive that I
+could do so if I liked; but he had resource to tears and supplications,
+and to the intercession of a worthy man named Bertrand, who lived with
+the ambassador of the King of Sardinia. I esteemed this individual, and
+he appealed to me successfully to pardon Costa. I asked the wretch what
+he had done with the gold and jewels he had stolen from me, and he told
+me that he had lost the whole of it in furnishing funds for a bank at
+Biribi, that he had been despoiled by his own associates, and had been
+poor and miserable ever since.
+
+In the same year in which he robbed me he married Momolo's daughter, and
+after making her a mother he abandoned her.
+
+To pursue our story.
+
+At Turin I lodged in a private house with the Abbe Gama, who had been
+expecting me. In spite of the good abbe's sermon on economy, I took the
+whole of the first floor, and a fine suite it was.
+
+We discussed diplomatic topics, and he assured me that I should be
+accredited in May, and that he would give me instructions as to the part
+I was to play. I was pleased with his commission, and I told the abbe
+that I should be ready to go to Augsburg whenever the ambassadors of the
+belligerent powers met there.
+
+After making the necessary arrangements with my landlady with regard to
+my meals I went to a coffeehouse to read the papers, and the first person
+I saw was the Marquis Desarmoises, whom I had known in Savoy. The first
+thing he said was that all games of chance were forbidden, and that the
+ladies I had met would no doubt be delighted to see me. As for himself,
+he said that he lived by playing backgammon, though he was not at all
+lucky at it, as talent went for more than luck at that game. I can
+understand how, if fortune is neutral, the best player will win, but I do
+not see how the contrary can take place.
+
+We went for a walk in the promenade leading to the citadel, where I saw
+numerous extremely pretty women. In Turin the fair sex is most
+delightful, but the police regulations are troublesome to a degree. Owing
+to the town being a small one and thinly peopled, the police spies find
+out everything. Thus one cannot enjoy any little freedoms without great
+precautions and the aid of cunning procuresses, who have to be well paid,
+as they would be cruelly punished if they were found out. No prostitutes
+and no kept women are allowed, much to the delight of the married women,
+and with results which the ignorant police might have anticipated. As
+well be imagined, pederasty has a fine field in this town, where the
+passions are kept under lock and key.
+
+Amongst the beauties I looked at, one only attracted me. I asked
+Desarmoises her name, as he knew all of them.
+
+"That's the famous Leah," said he; "she is a Jewess, and impregnable. She
+has resisted the attacks of the best strategists in Turin. Her father's a
+famous horse-dealer; you can go and see her easily enough, but there's
+nothing to be done there."
+
+The greater the difficulty the more I felt spurred on to attempt it.
+
+"Take me there," said I, to Desarmoises.
+
+"As soon as you please."
+
+I asked him to dine with me, and we were on our way when we met M. Zeroli
+and two or three other persons whom I had met at Aix. I gave and received
+plenty of compliments, but not wishing to pay them any visits I excused
+myself on the pretext of business.
+
+When we had finished dinner Desarmoises took me to the horse-dealer's. I
+asked if he had a good saddle horse. He called a lad and gave his orders,
+and whilst he was speaking the charming daughter appeared on the scene.
+She was dazzlingly beautiful, and could not be more than twenty-two. Her
+figure was as lissom as a nymph's, her hair a raven black, her complexion
+a meeting of the lily and the rose, her eyes full of fire, her lashes
+long, and her eye-brows so well arched that they seemed ready to make war
+on any who would dare the conquest of her charms. All about her betokened
+an educated mind and knowledge of the world.
+
+I was so absorbed in the contemplation of her charms that I did not
+notice the horse when it was brought to me. However, I proceeded to
+scrutinise it, pretending to be an expert, and after feeling the knees
+and legs, turning back the ears, and looking at the teeth, I tested its
+behaviour at a walk, a trot, and a gallop, and then told the Jew that I
+would come and try it myself in top-boots the next day. The horse was a
+fine dappled bay, and was priced at forty Piedmontese pistoles--about a
+hundred sequins.
+
+"He is gentleness itself," said Leah, "and he ambles as fast as any other
+horse trots."
+
+"You have ridden it, then?"
+
+"Often, sir, and if I were rich I would never sell him."
+
+"I won't buy the horse till I have seen you ride it."
+
+She blushed at this.
+
+"You must oblige the gentleman," said her father. She consented to do so,
+and I promised to come again at nine o'clock the next day.
+
+I was exact to time, as may be imagined, and I found Leah in riding
+costume. What proportions! What a Venus Callipyge! I was captivated.
+
+Two horses were ready, and she leapt on hers with the ease and grace of a
+practised rider, and I got up on my horse. We rode together for some
+distance. The horse went well enough, but what of that; all my eyes were
+for her.
+
+As we were turning, I said,--
+
+"Fair Leah, I will buy the horse, but as a present for you; and if you
+will not take it I shall leave Turin today. The only condition I attach
+to the gift is, that you will ride with me whenever I ask you."
+
+I saw she seemed favourably inclined to my proposal, so I told her that I
+should stay six weeks at Turin, that I had fallen in love with her on the
+promenade, and that the purchase of the horse had been a mere pretext for
+discovering to her my feelings. She replied modestly that she was vastly
+flattered by the liking I had taken to her, and that I need not have made
+her such a present to assure myself of her friendship.
+
+"The condition you impose on me is an extremely pleasant one, and I am
+sure that my father will like me to accept it."
+
+To this she added,--
+
+"All I ask is for you to make me the present before him, repeating that
+you will only buy it on the condition that I will accept it."
+
+I found the way smoother than I had expected, and I did what she asked
+me. Her father, whose name was Moses, thought it a good bargain,
+congratulated his daughter, took the forty pistoles and gave me a
+receipt, and begged me to do them the honour of breakfasting with them
+the next day. This was just what I wanted.
+
+The following morning Moses received me with great respect. Leah, who was
+in her ordinary clothes, told me that if I liked to ride she would put on
+her riding habit.
+
+"Another day," said I; "to-day I should like to converse with you in your
+own house."
+
+But the father, who was as greedy as most Jews are, said that if I liked
+driving he could sell me a pretty phaeton with two excellent horses.
+
+"You must shew them to the gentleman," said Leah, possibly in concert
+with her father.
+
+Moses said nothing, but went out to get the horses harnessed.
+
+"I will look at them," I said to Leah, "but I won't buy, as I should not
+know what to do with them."
+
+"You can take your lady-love out for a drive."
+
+"That would be you; but perhaps you would be afraid!"
+
+"Not at all, if you drove in the country or the suburbs."
+
+"Very good, Leah, then I will look at them."
+
+The father came in, and we went downstairs. I liked the carriage and the
+horses, and I told Leah so.
+
+"Well," said Moses, "you can have them now for four hundred sequins, but
+after Easter the price will be five hundred sequins at least."
+
+Leah got into the carriage, and I sat beside her, and we went for an
+hour's drive into the country. I told Moses I would give him an answer by
+the next day, and he went about his business, while Leah and I went
+upstairs again.
+
+"It's quite worth four hundred sequins," said I, "and to-morrow I will
+buy it with pleasure; but on the same condition as that on which I bought
+the horse, and something more--namely, that you will grant me all the
+favours that a tender lover can desire."
+
+"You speak plainly, and I will answer you in the same way. I'm an honest
+girl, sir, and not for sale."
+
+"All women, dear Leah, whether they are honest or not, are for sale. When
+a man has plenty of time he buys the woman his heart desires by
+unremitting attentions; but when he's in a hurry he buys her with
+presents, and even with money."
+
+"Then he's a clumsy fellow; he would do better to let sentiment and
+attention plead his cause and gain the victory."
+
+"I wish I could give myself that happiness, fair Leah, but I'm in a great
+hurry."
+
+As I finished this sentence her father came in, and I left the house
+telling him that if I could not come the next day I would come the day
+after, and that we could talk about the phaeton then.
+
+It was plain that Leah thought I was lavish of my money, and would make a
+capital dupe. She would relish the phaeton, as she had relished the
+horse, but I knew that I was not quite such a fool as that. It had not
+cost me much trouble to resolve to chance the loss of a hundred sequins,
+but beyond that I wanted some value for my money.
+
+I temporarily suspended my visits to see how Leah and her father would
+settle it amongst themselves. I reckoned on the Jew's greediness to work
+well for me. He was very fond of money, and must have been angry that his
+daughter had not made me buy the phaeton by some means or another, for so
+long as the phaeton was bought the rest would be perfectly indifferent to
+him. I felt almost certain that they would come and see me.
+
+The following Saturday I saw the fair Jewess on the promenade. We were
+near enough for me to accost her without seeming to be anxious to do so,
+and her look seemed to say, "Come."
+
+"We see no more of you now," said she, "but come and breakfast with me
+to-morrow, or I will send you back the horse."
+
+I promised to be with her in good time, and, as the reader will imagine,
+I kept my word.
+
+The breakfast party was almost confined to ourselves, for though her aunt
+was present she was only there for decency's sake. After breakfast we
+resolved to have a ride, and she changed her clothes before me, but also
+before her aunt. She first put on her leather breeches, then let her
+skirts fall, took off her corset, and donned a jacket. With seeming
+indifference I succeeded in catching a glimpse of a magnificent breast;
+but the sly puss knew how much my indifference was worth.
+
+"Will you arrange my frill?" said she.
+
+This was a warm occupation for me, and I am afraid my hand was
+indiscreet. Nevertheless, I thought I detected a fixed design under all
+this seeming complaisance, and I was on my guard.
+
+Her father came up just as we were getting on horseback.
+
+"If you will buy the phaeton and horses," said he, "I will abate twenty
+sequins."
+
+"All that depends on your daughter," said I.
+
+We set off at a walk, and Leah told me that she had been imprudent enough
+to confess to her father that she could make me buy the carriage, and
+that if I did not wish to embroil her with him I would be kind enough to
+purchase it.
+
+"Strike the bargain," said she, "and you can give it me when you are sure
+of my love."
+
+"My dear Leah, I am your humble servant, but you know on what condition."
+
+"I promise to drive out with you whenever you please, without getting out
+of the carriage, but I know you would not care for that. No, your
+affection was only a temporary caprice."
+
+"To convince you of the contrary I will buy the phaeton and put it in a
+coach-house. I will see that the horses are taken-care of, though I shall
+not use them. But if you do not make me happy in the course of a week I
+shall re-sell the whole."
+
+"Come to us to-morrow."
+
+"I will do so, but I trust have some pledge of your affection this
+morning."
+
+"This morning? It's impossible."
+
+"Excuse me; I will go upstairs with you, and you can shew me more than
+one kindness while you are undressing."
+
+We came back, and I was astonished to hear her telling her father that
+the phaeton was mine, and all he had to do was to put in the horses. The
+Jew grinned, and we all went upstairs, and Leah coolly said,--
+
+"Count out the money."
+
+"I have not any money about me, but I will write you a cheque, if you
+like."
+
+"Here is paper."
+
+I wrote a cheque on Zappata for three hundred sequins, payable at sight.
+The Jew went off to get the money, and Leah remained alone with me.
+
+"You have trusted me," she said, "and have thus shewn yourself worthy of
+my love."
+
+"Then undress, quick!"
+
+"No, my aunt is about the house; and as I cannot shut the door without
+exciting suspicion, she might come in; but I promise that you shall be
+content with me tomorrow. Nevertheless, I am going to undress, but you
+must go in this closet; you may come back when I have got my woman's
+clothes on again."
+
+I agreed to this arrangement, and she shut me in. I examined the door,
+and discovered a small chink between the boards. I got on a stool, and
+saw Leah sitting on a sofa opposite to me engaged in undressing herself.
+She took off her shift and wiped her breasts and her feet with a towel,
+and just as she had taken off her breeches, and was as naked as my hand,
+one of her rings happened to slip off her finger, and rolled under the
+sofa. She got up, looked to right and left, and then stooped to search
+under the sofa, and to do this she had to kneel with her head down. When
+she got back to couch, the towel came again into requisition, and she
+wiped herself all over in such a manner that all her charms were revealed
+to my eager eyes. I felt sure that she knew I was a witness of all these
+operations, and she probably guessed what a fire the sight would kindle
+in my inflammable breast.
+
+At last her toilette was finished, and she let me out. I clasped her in
+my arms, with the words, "I have seen everything." She pretended not to
+believe me, so I chewed her the chink, and was going to obtain my just
+dues, when the accursed Moses came in. He must have been blind or he
+would have seen the state his daughter had put me in; however, he thanked
+me, and gave me a receipt for the money, saying, "Everything in my poor
+house is at your service."
+
+I bade them adieu, and I went away in an ill temper. I got into my
+phaeton, and drove home and told the coachman to find me a stable for the
+horses and a coach-house for the carriage.
+
+I did not expect to see Leah again, and I felt enraged with her. She had
+pleased me only too much by her voluptuous attitudes, but she had set up
+an irritation wholly hostile to Love. She had made Love a robber, and the
+hungry boy had consented, but afterwards, when he craved more substantial
+fare, she refused him, and ardour was succeeded by contempt. Leah did not
+want to confess herself to be what she really was, and my love would not
+declare itself knavish.
+
+I made the acquaintance of an amiable chevalier, a soldier, a man of
+letters, and a great lover of horses, who introduced me to several
+pleasant families. However, I did not cultivate them, as they only
+offered me the pleasures of sentiment, while I longed for lustier fare
+for which I was willing to pay heavily. The Chevalier de Breze was not
+the man for me; he was too respectable for a profligate like myself. He
+bought the phaeton and horses, and I only lost thirty sequins by the
+transaction.
+
+A certain M. Baretti, who had known me at Aix, and had been the Marquis
+de Pries croupier, took me to see the Mazzoli, formerly a dancer, and
+then mistress to the Chevalier Raiberti, a hardheaded but honest man, who
+was then secretary for foreign affairs. Although the Mazzoli was by no
+means pretty, she was extremely complaisant, and had several girls at her
+house for me to see; but I did not think any of them worthy of occupying
+Leah's place. I fancied I no longer loved Leah, but I was wrong.
+
+The Chevalier Cocona, who had the misfortune to be suffering from a
+venereal disease, gave me up his mistress, a pretty little 'soubrette';
+but in spite of the evidence of my own eyes, and in spite of the
+assurances she gave me, I could not make up my mind to have her, and my
+fear made me leave her untouched. Count Trana, a brother of the
+chevalier's whom I had known at Aix, introduced me to Madame de Sc----, a
+lady of high rank and very good-looking, but she tried to involve me in a
+criminal transaction, and I ceased to call on her. Shortly after, Count
+Trana's uncle died and he became rich and got married, but he lived an
+unhappy life.
+
+I was getting bored, and Desarmoises, who had all his meals with me, did
+not know what to do. At last he advised me to make the acquaintance of a
+certain Madame R----, a Frenchwoman, and well known in Turin as a
+milliner and dressmaker. She had six or eight girls working for her in a
+room adjoining her shop. Desarmoises thought that if I got in there I
+might possibly be able to find one to my taste. As my purse was well
+furnished I thought I should not have much difficulty, so I called on
+Madame R----. I was agreeably surprised to find Leah there, bargaining
+for a quantity of articles, all of which she pronounced to be too dear.
+She told me kindly but reproachfully that she had thought I must be ill.
+
+"I have been very busy," I said; and felt all my old ardour revive. She
+asked me to come to a Jewish wedding, where there would be a good many
+people and several pretty girls. I knew that ceremonies of this kind are
+very amusing, and I promised to be present. She proceeded with her
+bargaining, but the price was still too high and she left the shop.
+Madame R---- was going to put back all the trifles in their places, but I
+said,--
+
+"I will take the lot myself."
+
+She smiled, and I drew out my purse and paid the money.
+
+"Where do you live, sir?" said she; "and when shall I send you your
+purchases?"
+
+"You may bring them to-morrow yourself, and do me the honour of
+breakfasting with me."
+
+"I can never leave the shop, sir." In spite of her thirty-five years,
+Madame R---- was still what would be called a tasty morsel, and she had
+taken my fancy.
+
+"I want some dark lace," said I.
+
+"Then kindly follow me, sir."
+
+I was delighted when I entered the room to see a lot of young work-girls,
+all charming, hard at work, and scarcely daring to look at me. Madame
+R---- opened several cupboards, and showed me some magnificent lace. I was
+distracted by the sight of so many delicious nymphs, and I told her that
+I wanted the lace for two 'baoutes' in the Venetian style. She knew what
+I meant. The lace cost me upwards of a hundred sequins. Madame R---- told
+two of her girls to bring me the lace the next day, together with the
+goods which Leah had thought too dear. They meekly replied,--
+
+"Yes, mother."
+
+They rose and kissed the mother's hand, which I thought a ridiculous
+ceremony; however, it gave me an opportunity of examining them, and I
+thought them delicious. We went back to the shop, and sitting down by the
+counter I enlarged on the beauty of the girls, adding, though not with
+strict truth, that I vastly preferred their mistress. She thanked me for
+the compliment and told me plainly that she had a lover, and soon after
+named him. He was the Comte de St. Giles, an infirm and elderly man, and
+by no means a model lover. I thought Madame R---- was jesting, but next
+day I ascertained that she was speaking the truth. Well, everyone to his
+taste, and I suspect that she was more in love with the count's purse
+than his person. I had met him at the "Exchange" coffeehouse.
+
+The next day the two pretty milliners brought me my goods. I offered them
+chocolate, but they firmly and persistently declined. The fancy took me
+to send them to Leah with all the things she had chosen, and I bade them
+return and tell me what sort of a reception they had had. They said they
+would do so, and waited for me to write her a note.
+
+I could not give them the slightest mark of affection. I dared not shut
+the door, and the mistress and the ugly young woman of the house kept
+going and coming all the time; but when they came back I waited for them
+on the stairs, and giving them a sequin each told each of them that she
+might command my heart if she would. Leah had accepted my handsome
+present and sent to say that she was waiting for me.
+
+As I was walking aimlessly about in the afternoon I happened to pass the
+milliner's shop, and Madame R---- saw me and made me come in and sit down
+beside her.
+
+"I am really much obliged to you," said she, "for your kindness to my
+girls. They came home enchanted. Tell me frankly whether you are really
+in love with the pretty Jewess."
+
+"I am really in love with her, but as she will not make me happy I have
+signed my own dismissal."
+
+"You were quite right. All Leah thinks of is duping those who are
+captivated by her charms."
+
+"Do not your charming apprentices follow your maxims?"
+
+"No; but they are only complaisant when I give them leave."
+
+"Then I commend myself to your intercession, for they would not even take
+a cup of chocolate from me."
+
+"They were perfectly right not to accept your chocolate: but I see you do
+not know the ways of Turin. Do you find yourself comfortable in your
+present lodging?"
+
+"Quite so."
+
+"Are you perfectly free to do what you like?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"Can you give supper to anyone you like in your own rooms? I am certain
+you can't."
+
+"I have not had the opportunity of trying the experiment so far, but I
+believe . . . ."
+
+"Don't flatter yourself by believing anything; that house is full of the
+spies of the police."
+
+"Then you think that I could not give you and two or three of your girls
+a little supper?"
+
+"I should take very good care not to go to it, that's all I know. By next
+morning it would be known to all the town, and especially to the police."
+
+"Well, supposing I look out for another lodging?"
+
+"It's the same everywhere. Turin is a perfect nest of spies; but I do
+know a house where you could live at ease, and where my girls might
+perhaps be able to bring you your purchases. But we should have to be
+very careful."
+
+"Where is the house I will be guided by you in everything."
+
+"Don't trust a Piedmontese; that's the first commandment here."
+
+She then gave me the address of a small furnished house, which was only
+inhabited by an old door-keeper and his wife.
+
+"They will let it you by the month," said she, "and if you pay a month in
+advance you need not even tell them your name."
+
+I found the house to be a very pretty one, standing in a lonely street at
+about two hundred paces from the citadel. One gate, large enough to admit
+a carriage, led into the country. I found everything to be as Madame
+R---- had described it. I paid a month in advance without any bargaining,
+and in a day I had settled in my new lodging. Madame R---- admired my
+celerity.
+
+I went to the Jewish wedding and enjoyed myself, for there is something
+at once solemn and ridiculous about the ceremony; but I resisted all
+Leah's endeavours to get me once more into her meshes.. I hired a close
+carriage from her father, which with the horses I placed in the
+coach-house and stables of my new house. Thus I was absolutely free to go
+whenever I would by night or by day, for I was at once in the town and in
+the country. I was obliged to tell the inquisitive Gama where I was
+living, and I hid nothing from Desarmoises, whose needs made him
+altogether dependent on me. Nevertheless I gave orders that my door was
+shut to them as to everyone else, unless I had given special instructions
+that they were to be admitted. I had no reason to doubt the fidelity of
+my two servants.
+
+In this blissful abode I enjoyed all Mdlle. R----'s girls, one after the
+other. The one I wanted always brought a companion, whom I usually sent
+back after giving her a slice of the cake. The last of them, whose name
+was Victorine, as fair as day and as soft as a dove, had the misfortune
+to be tied, though she knew nothing about it. Mdlle. R----, who was
+equally ignorant on the subject, had represented her to me as a virgin,
+and so I thought her for two long hours in which I strove with might and
+main to break the charm, or rather open the shell. All my efforts were in
+vain. I was exhausted at last, and I wanted to see in what the obstacle
+consisted. I put her in the proper position, and armed with a candle I
+began my scrutiny. I found a fleshy membrane pierced by so small a hole
+that large pin's head could scarcely have gone through. Victorine
+encouraged me to force a passage with my little finger, but in vain I
+tried to pierce this wall, which nature had made impassable by all
+ordinary means. I was tempted to see what I could do with a bistoury, and
+the girl wanted me to try, but I was afraid of the haemorrhage which
+might have been dangerous, and I wisely refrained.
+
+Poor Victorine, condemned to die a maid, unless some clever surgeon
+performed the same operation that was undergone by Mdlle. Cheruffini
+shortly after M. Lepri married her, wept when I said,--
+
+"My dear child, your little Hymen defies the most vigorous lover to enter
+his temple."
+
+But I consoled her by saying that a good surgeon could easily make a
+perfect woman of her.
+
+In the morning I told Madame R---- of the case.
+
+She laughed and said,--
+
+"It may prove a happy accident for Victorine; it may make her fortune."
+
+A few years after the Count of Padua had her operated on, and made her
+fortune. When I came back from Spain I found that she was with child, so
+that I could not exact the due reward for all the trouble I had taken
+with her.
+
+Early in the morning on Maunday Thursday they told me that Moses and Leah
+wanted to see me. I had not expected to see them, but I welcomed them
+warmly. Throughout Holy Week the Jews dared not shew themselves in the
+streets of Turin, and I advised them to stay with me till the Saturday.
+Moses began to try and get me to purchase a ring from him, and I judged
+from that that I should not have to press them very much.
+
+"I can only buy this ring from Leah's hands," said I.
+
+He grinned, thinking doubtless that I intended to make her a present of
+it, but I was resolved to disappoint him. I gave them a magnificent
+dinner and supper, and in the evening they were shewn a double-bedded
+room not far from mine. I might have put them in different rooms, and
+Leah in a room adjoining mine, which would have facilitated any nocturnal
+excursions; but after all I had done for her I was resolved to owe
+nothing to a surprise; she should come of herself.
+
+The next day Moses (who noticed that I had not yet bought the ring) was
+obliged to go out on business, and asked for the loan of my carriage for
+the whole day, telling me that he would come for his daughter in the
+evening. I had the horses harnessed, and when he was gone I bought the
+ring for six hundred sequins, but on my own terms. I was in my own house,
+and Leah could not deceive me. As soon as the father was safely out of
+the way I possessed myself of the daughter. She proved a docile and
+amorous subject the whole day. I had reduced her to a state of nature,
+and though her body was as perfect as can well be imagined I used it and
+abused it in every way imaginable. In the evening her father found her
+looking rather tired, but he seemed as pleased as I was. Leah was not
+quite so well satisfied, for till the moment of their departure she was
+expecting me to give her the ring, but I contented myself with saying
+that I should like to reserve myself the pleasure of taking it to her.
+
+On Easter Monday a man brought me a note summoning me to appear at the
+police office.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+My Victory Over the Deputy Chief of Police--My
+Departure--Chamberi--Desarmoises's Daughter--M. Morin--M * * * M * *
+*--At Aix--The Young Boarder--Lyons--Paris
+
+This citation, which did not promise to lead to anything agreeable,
+surprised and displeased me exceedingly. However, I could not avoid it,
+so I drove to the office of the deputy-superintendent of police. I found
+him sitting at a long table, surrounded by about a score of people in a
+standing posture. He was a man of sixty, hideously ugly, his enormous
+nose half destroyed by an ulcer hidden by a large black silk plaster, his
+mouth of huge dimensions, his lips thick, with small green eyes and
+eyebrows which had partly turned white. As soon as this disgusting fellow
+saw me, he began,--
+
+"You are the Chevalier de Seingalt?"
+
+"That is my name, and I have come here to ask how I can oblige you?"
+
+"I have summoned you here to order you to leave the place in three days
+at latest."
+
+"And as you have no right to give such an order, I have come here to tell
+you that I shall go when I please, and not before."
+
+"I will expel you by force."
+
+"You may do that whenever you please. I cannot resist force, but I trust
+you will give the matter a second thought; for in a well-ordered city
+they do not expel a man who has committed no crimes, and has a balance of
+a hundred thousand francs at the bank."
+
+"Very good, but in three days you have plenty of time to pack up and
+arrange matters with your banker. I advise you to obey, as the command
+comes from the king."
+
+"If I were to leave the town I should become accessory to your injustice!
+I will not obey, but since you mention the king's name, I will go to his
+majesty at once, and he will deny your words or revoke the unjust order
+you have given me with such publicity."
+
+"Pray, does not the king possess the power to make you go?"
+
+"Yes, by force, but not by justice. He has also the power to kill me, but
+he would have to provide the executioner, as he could not make me commit
+suicide."
+
+"You argue well, but nevertheless you will obey."
+
+"I argue well, but I did not learn the art from you, and I will not
+obey."
+
+With these words I turned my back on him, and left without another word.
+
+I was in a furious rage. I felt inclined to offer overt resistance to all
+the myrmidons of the infamous superintendent. Nevertheless I soon calmed
+myself, and summoning prudence to my aid I remembered the Chevalier
+Raiberti, whom I had seen at his mistress's house, and I decided on
+asking his advice. He was the chief permanent official in the department
+of foreign affairs. I told the coachman to drive to his house, and I
+recounted to him the whole tale, saying, finally, that I should like to
+speak to the king, as I was resolved that I would not go unless I was
+forced to do so. The worthy man advised me to go to the Chevalier Osorio,
+the principal secretary for foreign affairs, who could always get an
+audience of the king. I was pleased with his advice, and I went
+immediately to the minister, who was a Sicilian and a man of parts. He
+gave me a very good reception, and after I had informed him of the
+circumstances of the case I begged him to communicate the matter to his
+majesty, adding that as the superintendent's order appeared horribly
+unjust to me I was resolved not to obey it unless compelled to do so by
+main force. He promised to oblige me in the way I wished, and told me to
+call again the next day.
+
+After leaving him I took a short walk to cool myself, and then went to
+the Abbe Gama, hoping to be the first to impart my ridiculous adventure
+to him. I was disappointed; he already knew that I had been ordered to
+go, and how I had answered the superintendent. When he saw that I
+persisted in my determination to resist, he did not condemn my firmness,
+though he must have thought it very extraordinary, for the good abbe
+could not understand anybody's disobeying the order of the authorities.
+He assured me that if I had to go he would send me the necessary
+instructions to any address I liked to name.
+
+The next day the Chevalier Osorio received me with the utmost politeness,
+which I thought a good omen. The Chevalier Raiberti had spoken to him in
+my behalf, and he had laid the matter before the king and also before the
+Count d'Aglie, and the result was that I could stay as long as I liked.
+The Count d'Aglie was none other than the horrible superintendent. I was
+told that I must wait on him, and he would give me leave to remain at
+Turin till my affairs were settled.
+
+"My only business here," said I, "is to spend my money till I have
+instructions from the Court of Portugal to attend the Congress of
+Augsburg on behalf of his most faithful majesty."
+
+"Then you think that this Congress will take place?"
+
+"Nobody doubts it."
+
+"Somebody believes it will all end in smoke. However, I am delighted to
+have been of service to you, and I shall be curious to hear what sort of
+reception you get from the superintendent."
+
+I felt ill at ease. I went to the police office immediately, glad to shew
+myself victorious, and anxious to see how the superintendent would look
+when I came in. However, I could not flatter myself that he looked
+ashamed of himself; these people have a brazen forehead, and do not know
+what it is to blush.
+
+As soon as he saw me, he began,--
+
+"The Chevalier Osorio tells me that you have business in Turin which will
+keep you for some days. You may therefore stay, but you must tell me as
+nearly as possible how long a time you require."
+
+"I cannot possibly tell you that."
+
+"Why? if you don't mind telling me."
+
+"I am awaiting instructions from the Court of Portugal to attend the
+Congress to be held at Augsburg, and before I could tell you how long I
+shall have to stay I should be compelled to ask his most faithful
+majesty. If this time is not sufficient for me to do my business, I will
+intimate the fact to you."
+
+"I shall be much obliged by your doing so."
+
+This time I made him a bow, which was returned, and on leaving the office
+I returned to the Chevalier Osorio, who said, with a smile, that I had
+caught the superintendent, as I had taken an indefinite period, which
+left me quite at my ease.
+
+The diplomatic Gama, who firmly believed that the Congress would meet,
+was delighted when I told him that the Chevalier Osorio was incredulous
+on the subject. He was charmed to think his wit keener than the
+minister's; it exalted him in his own eyes. I told him that whatever the
+chevalier might say I would go to Augsburg, and that I would set out in
+three or four weeks.
+
+Madame R. congratulated me over and over again, for she was enchanted
+that I had humiliated the superintendent; but all the same we thought we
+had better give up our little suppers. As I had had a taste of all her
+girls, this was not such a great sacrifice for me to make.
+
+I continued thus till the middle of May, when I left Turin, after
+receiving letters from the Abbe Gama to Lord Stormont, who was to
+represent England at the approaching Congress. It was with this nobleman
+that I was to work in concert at the Congress.
+
+Before going to Germany I wanted to see Madame d'Urfe, and I wrote to
+her, asking her to send me a letter of introduction to M. de Rochebaron,
+who might be useful to me. I also asked M. Raiberti to give me a letter
+for Chamberi, where I wanted to visit the divine M---- M---- (of whom I
+still thought with affection) at her convent grating. I wrote to my
+friend Valenglard, asking him to remind Madame Morin that she had
+promised to shew me a likeness to somebody at Chamberi.
+
+But here I must note down an event worthy of being recorded, which was
+extremely prejudicial to me.
+
+Five or six days before my departure Desarmoises came to me looking very
+downcast, and told me that he had been ordered to leave Turin in
+twenty-four hours.
+
+"Do you know why?" I asked him.
+
+"Last night when I was at the coffee-house, Count Scarnafis dared to say
+that France subsidised the Berne newspapers. I told him he lied, at which
+he rose and left the place in a rage, giving me a glance the meaning of
+which is not doubtful. I followed him to bring him to reason or to give
+him satisfaction; but he would do nothing and I suspect he went to the
+police to complain. I shall have to leave Turin early to-morrow morning."
+
+"You're a Frenchman, and as you can claim the protection of your
+ambassador you will be wrong to leave so suddenly."
+
+"In the first place the ambassador is away, and in the second my cruel
+father disavows me. No, I would rather go, and wait for you at Lyons. All
+I want is for you to lend me a hundred crowns, for which I will give you
+an account."
+
+"It will be an easy account to keep," said I, "but a long time before it
+is settled."
+
+"Possibly; but if it is in my power I will shew my gratitude for the
+kindnesses you have done me."
+
+I gave him a hundred crowns and wished him a pleasant journey, telling
+him that I should stop some time at Lyons.
+
+I got a letter of credit on an Augsburg house, and three days after I
+left Turin I was at Chamberi. There was only one inn there in those days,
+so I was not much puzzled to choose where I would go, but for all that I
+found myself very comfortable.
+
+As I entered my room, I was struck by seeing an extremely pretty girl
+coming out of an adjacent room.
+
+"Who is that young lady?" said I to the chambermaid who was escorting me.
+
+"That's the wife of a young gentleman who has to keep his bed to get
+cured of a sword-thrust which he received four days ago on his way from
+France."
+
+I could not look at her without feeling the sting of concupiscence. As I
+was leaving my room I saw the door half open, and I stopped short and
+offered my services as a neighbour. She thanked me politely, and asked me
+in. I saw a handsome young man sitting up in bed, so I went up to enquire
+how he felt.
+
+"The doctor will not let him talk," said the young lady, "on account of a
+sword-thrust in the chest he received at half a league from here. We hope
+he will be all right in a few days, and then we can continue our
+journey."
+
+"Where are you going, madam?"
+
+"To Geneva."
+
+Just as I was leaving, a maid came to ask me if I would take supper in my
+own room or with the lady. I laughed at her stupidity, and said I would
+sup in my own apartment, adding that I had not the honour of the lady's
+acquaintance.
+
+At this the young lady said it would give her great pleasure if I would
+sup with her, and the husband repeated this assurance in a whisper. I
+accepted the invitation gratefully, and I thought that they were really
+pleased. The lady escorted me out as far as the stairs, and I took the
+liberty of kissing her hand, which in France is a declaration of tender
+though respectful affection.
+
+At the post-office I found a letter from Valenglard, telling me that
+Madame Morin would wait on me at Chamberi if I would send her a carriage,
+and another from Desarmoises dated from Lyons. He told me that as he was
+on his way from Chamberi he had encountered his daughter in company with
+a rascal who had carried her off. He had buried his sword in his body,
+and would have killed them if he had been able to stop their carriage. He
+suspected that they had been staying in Chamberi, and he begged me to try
+and persuade his daughter to return to Lyons; and he added that if she
+would not do so I ought to oblige him by sending her back by force. He
+assured me that they were not married, and he begged me to answer his
+letter by express, for which purpose he sent me his address.
+
+I guessed at once that this daughter of his was my fair neighbour, but I
+did not feel at all inclined to come to the aid of the father in the way
+he wished.
+
+As soon as I got back to the inn I sent off Le Duc in a travelling
+carriage to Madame Morin, whom I informed by letter that as I was only at
+Chamberi for her sake I would await her convenience. This done, I
+abandoned myself to the delight I felt at the romantic adventure which
+fortune had put in my way.
+
+I repeated Mdlle. Desarmoises and her ravisher, and I did not care to
+enquire whether I was impelled in what I did by virtue or vice; but I
+could not help perceiving that my motives were of a mixed nature; for if
+I were amorous, I was also very glad to be of assistance to two young
+lovers, and all the more from my knowledge of the father's criminal
+passion.
+
+On entering their room I found the invalid in the surgeon's hands. He
+pronounced the wound not to be dangerous, in spite of its depth;
+suppuration had taken place without setting up inflammation--in short,
+the young man only wanted time and rest. When the doctor had gone I
+congratulated the patient on his condition, advising him to be careful
+what he ate, and to keep silent. I then gave Mdlle. Desarmoises her
+father's letter, and I said farewell for the present, telling them that I
+would go to my own room till supper-time. I felt sure that she would come
+and speak to me after reading her father's letter.
+
+In a quarter of an hour she knocked timidly at my door, and when I let
+her in she gave me back the letter and asked me what I thought of doing.
+
+"Nothing. I shall be only too happy, however, if I can be of any service
+to you."
+
+"Ah! I breathe again!"
+
+"Could you imagine me pursuing any other line of conduct? I am much
+interested in you, and will do all in my power to help you. Are you
+married?"
+
+"Not yet, but we are going to be married when we get to Geneva."
+
+"Sit down and tell me all about yourself. I know that your father is
+unhappily in love with you, and that you avoid his attentions."
+
+"He has told you that much? I am glad of it. A year ago he came to Lyons,
+and as soon as I knew he was in the town I took refuge with a friend of
+my mother's, for I was aware that I could not stay in the same house with
+my father for an hour without exposing myself to the most horrible
+outrage. The young man in bed is the son of a rich Geneva merchant. My
+father introduced him to me two years ago, and we soon fell in love with
+each other. My father went away to Marseilles, and my lover asked my
+mother to give me in marriage to him; but she did not feel authorized to
+do so without my father's consent. She wrote and asked him, but he
+replied that he would announce his decision when he returned to Lyons. My
+lover went to Geneva, and as his father approved of the match he returned
+with all the necessary documents and a strong letter of commendation from
+M. Tolosan. When my father came to Lyons I escaped, as I told you, and my
+lover got M. Tolosan to ask my hand for him of my father. His reply was,
+'I can give no answer till she returns to my house!'
+
+"M. Tolosan brought this reply to me, and I told him that I was ready to
+obey if my mother would guarantee my safety. She replied, however, that
+she knew her husband too well to dare to have us both under the same
+roof. Again did M. Tolosan endeavour to obtain my father's consent, but
+to no purpose. A few days after he left Lyons, telling us that he was
+first going to Aix and then to Turin, and as it was evident that he would
+never give his consent my lover proposed that I should go off with him,
+promising to marry me as soon as we reached Geneva. By ill luck we
+travelled through Savoy, and thus met my father. As soon as he saw us he
+stopped the carriage and called to me to get out. I began to shriek, and
+my lover taking me in his arms to protect me my father stabbed him in the
+chest. No doubt he would have killed him, but seeing that my shrieks were
+bringing people to our rescue, and probably believing that my lover was
+as good as dead, he got on horseback again and rode off at full speed. I
+can chew you the sword still covered with blood."
+
+"I am obliged to answer this letter of his, and I am thinking how I can
+obtain his consent."
+
+"That's of no consequence; we can marry and be happy without it."
+
+"True, but you ought not to despise your dower."
+
+"Good heavens! what dower? He has no money!"
+
+"But on the death of his father, the Marquis Desarmoises . . . . "
+
+"That's all a lie. My father has only a small yearly pension for having
+served thirty years as a Government messenger. His father has been dead
+these thirty years, and my mother and my sister only live by the work
+they do."
+
+I was thunderstruck at the impudence of the fellow, who, after imposing
+on me so long, had himself put me in a position to discover his deceit. I
+said nothing. Just then we were told that supper was ready, and we sat at
+table for three hours talking the matter over. The poor wounded man had
+only to listen to me to know my feelings on the subject. His young
+mistress, as witty as she was pretty, jested on the foolish passion of
+her father, who had loved her madly ever since she was eleven.
+
+"And you were always able to resist his attempts?" said I.
+
+"Yes, whenever he pushed things too far."
+
+"And how long did this state of things continue?"
+
+"For two years. When I was thirteen he thought I was ripe, and tried to
+gather the fruit; but I began to shriek, and escaped from his bed stark
+naked, and I went to take refuge with my mother, who from that day forth
+would not let me sleep with him again."
+
+"You used to sleep with him? How could your mother allow it?"
+
+"She never thought that there was anything criminal in his affection for
+me, and I knew nothing about it. I thought that what he did to me, and
+what he made me do to him, were mere trifles."
+
+"But you have saved the little treasure?"
+
+"I have kept it for my lover."
+
+The poor lover, who was suffering more from the effects of hunger than
+from his wounds, laughed at this speech of hers, and she ran to him and
+covered his face with kisses. All this excited me intensely. Her story
+had been told with too much simplicity not to move me, especially when I
+had her before my eyes, for she possessed all the attractions which a
+woman can have, and I almost forgave her father for forgetting she was
+his daughter and falling in love with her.
+
+When she escorted me back to my room I made her feel my emotion, and she
+began to laugh; but as my servants were close by I was obliged to let her
+go.
+
+Early next morning I wrote to her father that his daughter had resolved
+not to leave her lover, who was only slightly wounded, that they were in
+perfect safety and under the protection of the law at Chamberi, and
+finally that having heard their story, and judging them to be well
+matched, I could only approve of the course they had taken. When I had
+finished I went into their room and gave them the letter to read, and
+seeing the fair runaway at a loss how to express her 'gratitude, I begged
+the invalid to let me kiss her.
+
+"Begin with me," said he, opening his arms.
+
+My hypocritical love masked itself under the guise of paternal affection.
+I embraced the lover, and then more amorously I performed the same office
+for the mistress, and skewed them my purse full of gold, telling them it
+was at their service. While this was going on the surgeon came in, and I
+retired to my room.
+
+At eleven o'clock Madame Morin and her daughter arrived, preceded by Le
+Duc on horseback, who announced their approach by numerous smacks of his
+whip. I welcomed her with open arms, thanking her for obliging me.
+
+The first piece of news she gave me was that Mdlle. Roman had become
+mistress to Louis XV., that she lived in a beautiful house at Passi, and
+that she was five months gone with child. Thus she was in a fair way to
+become queen of France, as my divine oracle had predicted.
+
+"At Grenoble," she added, "you are the sole topic of conversation; and I
+advise you not to go there unless you wish to settle in the country, for
+they would never let you go. You would have all the nobility at your
+feet, and above all, the ladies anxious to know the lot of their
+daughters. Everybody believes in judicial astrology now, and Valenglard
+triumphs. He has bet a hundred Louis to fifty that my niece will be
+delivered of a young prince, and he is certain of winning; though to be
+sure, if he loses, everybody will laugh at him."
+
+"Don't be afraid of his losing."
+
+"Is it quite certain?"
+
+"Has not the horoscope proved truthful in the principal particular? If
+the other circumstances do not follow, I must have made a great mistake
+in my calculations."
+
+"I am delighted to hear you say so."
+
+"I am going to Paris and I hope you will give me a letter of introduction
+to Madame Varnier, so that I may have the pleasure of seeing your niece."
+
+"You shall have the letter to-morrow without fail."
+
+I introduced Mdlle. Desarmoises to her under the family name of her
+lover, and invited her to dine with Madame Morin and myself. After dinner
+we went to the convent, and M---- M---- came down very surprised at this
+unexpected visit from her aunt; but when she saw me she had need of all
+her presence of mind. When her aunt introduced me to her by name, she
+observed with true feminine tact that during her stay at Aix she had seen
+me five or six times at the fountain, but that I could not remember her
+features as she had always worn her veil. I admired her wit as much as
+her exquisite features. I thought she had grown prettier than ever, and
+no doubt my looks told her as much. We spent an hour in talking about
+Grenoble and her old friends, whom she gladly recalled to her memory, and
+then she went to fetch a young girl who was boarding at the convent, whom
+she liked and wanted to present to her aunt.
+
+I seized the opportunity of telling Madame Morin that I was astonished at
+the likeness, that her very voice was like that of my Venetian
+M---- M----, and I begged her to obtain me the privilege of breakfasting
+with her niece the next day, and of presenting her with a dozen pounds of
+capital chocolate. I had brought it with me from Genoa.
+
+"You must make her the present yourself," said Madame Morin, "for though
+she's a nun she's a woman, and we women much prefer a present from a
+man's than from a woman's hand."
+
+M---- M---- returned with the superior of the convent, two other nuns, and
+the young boarder, who came from Lyons, and was exquisitely beautiful. I
+was obliged to talk to all the nuns, and Madame Morin told her niece that
+I wanted her to try some excellent chocolate I had brought from Genoa,
+but that I hoped her lay-sister would make it.
+
+"Sir," said M---- M----, "kindly send me the chocolate, and to-morrow we
+will breakfast together with these dear sisters."
+
+As soon as I got back to my inn I sent the chocolate with a respectful
+note, and I took supper in Madame Morin's room with her daughter and
+Mdlle. Desarmoises, of whom I was feeling more and more amorous, but I
+talked of M---- M---- all the time, and I could see that the aunt suspected
+that the pretty nun was not altogether a stranger to me.
+
+I breakfasted at the convent and I remember that the chocolate, the
+biscuits, and the sweetmeats were served with a nicety which savoured
+somewhat of the world. When we had finished breakfast I told
+M---- M---- that she would not find it so easy to give me a dinner, with
+twelve persons sitting down to table, but I added that half the company
+could be in the convent and half in the parlour, separated from the
+convent by a light grating.
+
+"It's a sight I should like to see," said I, "if you will allow me to pay
+all expenses."
+
+"Certainly," replied M---- M----, and this dinner was fixed for the next
+day.
+
+M---- M---- took charge of the whole thing, and promised to ask six nuns.
+Madame Morin, who knew my tastes, told her to spare nothing, and I warned
+her that I would send in the necessary wines.
+
+I escorted Madame Morin, her daughter, and Mdlle. Desarmoises back to the
+hotel, and I then called on M. Magnan, to whom I had been recommended by
+the Chevalier Raiberti. I asked him to get me some of the best wine, and
+he took me down to his cellar, and told me to take what I liked. His
+wines proved to be admirable.
+
+This M. Magnan was a clever man, of a pleasant appearance, and very
+comfortably off. He occupied an extremely large and convenient house
+outside the town, and there his agreeable wife dispensed hospitality. She
+had ten children, amongst whom there were four pretty daughters; the
+eldest, who was nineteen, was especially good-looking.
+
+We went to the convent at eleven o'clock, and after an hour's
+conversation we were told that dinner was ready. The table was
+beautifully laid, covered with a fair white cloth, and adorned with vases
+filled with artificial flowers so strongly scented that the air of the
+parlour was quite balmy. The fatal grill was heavier than I had hoped. I
+found myself seated to the left of M---- M----, and totally unable to see
+her. The fair Desarmoises was at my right, and she entertained us all the
+time with her amusing stories.
+
+We in the parlour were waited on by Le Duc and Costa, and the nuns were
+served by their lay-sisters. The abundant provision, the excellent wines,
+the pleasant though sometimes equivocal conversation, kept us all merrily
+employed for three hours. Mirth had the mastery over reason, or, to speak
+more plainly, we were all drunk; and if it had not been for the fatal
+grill, I could have had the whole eleven ladies without much trouble. The
+young Desarmoises was so gay, indeed, that if I had not restrained her
+she would probably have scandalised all the nuns, who would have liked
+nothing better. I was longing to have her to myself, that I might quench
+the flame she had kindled in my breast, and I had no doubt of my success
+on the first attempt. After coffee had been served, we went into another
+parlour and stayed there till night came on. Madame Morin took leave of
+her niece, and the hand-shakings, thanks, and promises of remembrance
+between me and the nuns, lasted for a good quarter of an hour. After I
+had said aloud to M---- M---- that I hoped to have the pleasure of seeing
+her before I left, we went back to the inn in high good humour with our
+curious party which I still remember with pleasure.
+
+Madame Morin gave me a letter for her cousin Madame Varnier, and I
+promised to write to her from Paris, and tell her all about the fair
+Mdlle. Roman. I presented the daughter with a beautiful pair of
+ear-rings, and I gave Madame Morin twelve pounds of good chocolate which
+M. Magnan got me, and which the lady thought had come from Genoa. She
+went off at eight o'clock preceded by Le Duc, who had orders to greet the
+doorkeeper's family on my behalf.
+
+At Magnan's I had a dinner worthy of Lucullus, and I promised to stay
+with him whenever I passed Chamberi, which promise I have faithfully
+performed.
+
+On leaving the gourmand's I went to the convent, and M---- M---- came down
+alone to the grating. She thanked me for coming to see her, and added
+that I had come to disturb her peace of mind.
+
+"I am quite ready, dearest, to climb the harden wall, and I shall do it
+more dexterously than your wretched humpback."
+
+"Alas! that may not be, for, trust me, you are already spied upon.
+Everybody here is sure that we knew each other at Aix. Let us forget all,
+and thus spare ourselves the torments of vain desires."
+
+"Give me your hand."
+
+"No. All is over. I love you still, probably I shall always love you; but
+I long for you to go, and by doing so, you will give me a proof of your
+love."
+
+"This is dreadful; you astonish me. You appear to me in perfect health,
+you are prettier than ever, you are made for the worship of the sweetest
+of the gods, and I can't understand how, with a temperament like yours,
+you can live in continual abstinence."
+
+"Alas! lacking the reality we console ourselves by pretending. I will not
+conceal from you that I love my young boarder. It is an innocent passion,
+and keeps my mind calm. Her caresses quench the flame which would
+otherwise kill me."
+
+"And that is not against your conscience?"
+
+"I do not feel any distress on the subject."
+
+"But you know it is a sin."
+
+"Yes, so I confess it."
+
+"And what does the confessor say?"
+
+"Nothing. He absolves me, and I am quite content:"
+
+"And does the pretty boarder confess, too?"
+
+"Certainly, but she does not tell the father of a matter which she thinks
+is no sin."
+
+"I wonder the confessor has not taught her, for that kind of instruction
+is a great pleasure."
+
+"Our confessor is a wise old man."
+
+"Am I to leave you, then, without a single kiss?"
+
+"Not one."
+
+"May I come again to-morrow? I must go the day after."
+
+"You may come, but I cannot see you by myself as the nuns might talk. I
+will bring my little one with me to save appearances. Come after dinner,
+but into the other parlour."
+
+If I had not known M---- M---- at Aix, her religious ideas would have
+astonished me; but such was her character. She loved God, and did not
+believe that the kind Father who made us with passions would be too
+severe because we had not the strength to subdue them. I returned to the
+inn, feeling vexed that the pretty nun would have no more to do with me,
+but sure of consolation from the fair Desarmoises.
+
+I found her sitting on her lover's bed; his poor diet and the fever had
+left him in a state of great weakness. She told me that she would sup in
+my room to leave him in quiet, and the worthy young man shook my hand in
+token of his gratitude.
+
+As I had a good dinner at Magnan's I ate very little supper, but my
+companion who had only had a light meal ate and drank to an amazing
+extent. I gazed at her in a kind of wonder, and she enjoyed my
+astonishment. When my servants had left the room I challenged her to
+drink a bowl of punch with me, and this put her into a mood which asked
+for nothing but laughter, and which laughed to find itself deprived of
+reasoning power. Nevertheless, I cannot accuse myself of taking an
+advantage of her condition, for in her voluptuous excitement she entered
+eagerly into the pleasure to which I excited her till two o'clock in the
+morning. By the time we separated we were both of us exhausted.
+
+I slept till eleven, and when I went to wish her good day I found her
+smiling and as fresh as a rose. I asked her how she had passed the rest
+of the night.
+
+"Very pleasantly," said she, "like the beginning of the night."
+
+"What time would you like to have dinner?"
+
+"I won't dine; I prefer to keep my appetite for supper."
+
+Here her lover joined in, saying in a weak voice,--
+
+"It is impossible to keep up with her."
+
+"In eating or drinking?" I asked.
+
+"In eating, drinking, and in other things," he replied, with a smile. She
+laughed, and kissed him affectionately.
+
+This short dialogue convinced me that Mdlle. Desarmoises must adore her
+lover; for besides his being a handsome young man, his disposition was
+exactly suitable to hers. I dined by myself, and Le Duc came in as I was
+having dessert. He told me that the door-keeper's daughters and their
+pretty cousin had made him wait for them to write to me, and he gave me
+three letters and three dozen of gloves which they had presented me. The
+letters urged me to come and spend a month with them, and gave me to
+understand that I should be well pleased with my treatment. I had not the
+courage to return to a town, where with my reputation I should have been
+obliged to draw horoscopes for all the young ladies or to make enemies by
+refusing.
+
+After I had read the letters from Grenoble I went to the convent and
+announced my presence, and then entered the parlour which M---- M---- had
+indicated. She soon came down with the pretty boarder, who feebly
+sustained my part in her amorous ecstacies. She had not yet completed her
+twelfth year, but she was extremely tall and well developed for her age.
+Gentleness, liveliness, candour, and wit were united in her features, and
+gave her expression an exquisite charm. She wore a well-made corset which
+disclosed a white throat, to which the fancy easily added the two spheres
+which would soon appear there. Her entrancing face, her raven locks, and
+her ivory throat indicated what might be concealed, and my vagrant
+imagination made her into a budding Venus. I began by telling her that
+she was very pretty, and would make her future husband a happy man. I
+knew she would blush at that. It may be cruel, but it is thus that the
+language of seduction always begins. A girl of her age who does not blush
+at the mention of marriage is either an idiot or already an expert in
+profligacy. In spite of this, however, the blush which mounts to a young
+girl's cheek at the approach of such ideas is a puzzling problem. Whence
+does it arise? It may be from pure simplicity, it may be from shame, and
+often from a mixture of both feelings. Then comes the fight between vice
+and virtue, and it is usually virtue which has to give in. The
+desires--the servants of vice--usually attain their ends. As I knew the
+young boarder from M---- M----'s description, I could not be ignorant of
+the source of those blushes which added a fresh attraction to her
+youthful charms.
+
+Pretending not to notice anything, I talked to M---- M---- for a few
+moments, and then returned to the assault. She had regained her calm.
+
+"What age are you, pretty one?" said I.
+
+"I am thirteen."
+
+"You are wrong," said M---- M----, "you have not yet completed your
+twelfth year."
+
+"The time will come," said I, "when you will diminish the tale of your
+years instead of increasing it."
+
+"I shall never tell a lie, sir; I am sure of that."
+
+"So you want to be a nun, do you?"
+
+"I have not yet received my vocation; but even if I live in the world I
+need not be a liar."
+
+"You are wrong; you will begin to lie as soon as you have a lover."
+
+"Will my lover tell lies, too?"
+
+"Certainly he will."
+
+"If the matter were really so, then, I should have a bad opinion of love;
+but I do not believe it, for I love my sweetheart here, and I never
+conceal the truth from her."
+
+"Yes, but loving a man is a different thing to loving a woman."
+
+"No, it isn't; it's just the same."
+
+"Not so, for you do not go to bed with a woman and you do with your
+husband."
+
+"That's no matter, my love would be the same."
+
+"What? You would not rather sleep with me than with M---- M----?"
+
+"No, indeed I should not, because you are a man and would see me."
+
+"You don't want a man to see you, then?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Do you think you are so ugly, then?"
+
+At this she turned to M---- M---- and said, with evident vexation, "I am
+not really ugly, am I?"
+
+"No, darling," said M---- M----, bursting with laughter, "it is quite the
+other way; you are very pretty." With these words she took her on her
+knee and embraced her tenderly.
+
+"Your corset is too tight; you can't possibly have such a small waist as
+that."
+
+"You make a mistake, you can put your hand there and see for yourself."
+
+"I can't believe it."
+
+M---- M---- then held her close to the grill and told me to see for myself.
+At the same moment she turned up her dress.
+
+"You were right," said I, "and I owe you an apology;" but in my heart I
+cursed the grating and the chemise.
+
+"My opinion is," said I to M---- M----, "that we have here a little boy."
+
+I did not wait for a reply, but satisfied myself by my sense of touch as
+to her sex, and I could see that the little one and her governess were
+both pleased that my mind was at rest on the subject.
+
+I drew my hand away, and the little girl looked at M---- M----, and
+reassured by her smiling air asked if she might go away for a moment. I
+must have reduced her to a state in which a moment's solitude was
+necessary, and I myself was in a very excited condition.
+
+As soon as she was gone I said to M---- M----,
+
+"Do you know that what you have shewn me has made me unhappy?"
+
+"Has it? Why?"
+
+"Because your boarder is charming, and I am longing to enjoy her."
+
+"I am sorry for that, for you can't possibly go any further; and besides,
+I know you, and even if you could satisfy your passion without danger to
+her, I would not give her up to you, you would spoil her."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Do you think that after enjoying you she would care to enjoy me? I
+should lose too heavily by the comparison."
+
+"Give me your hand."
+
+"No."
+
+"Stay, one moment."
+
+"I don't want to see anything."
+
+"Not a little bit?"
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+"Are you angry with me, then?"
+
+"Not at all. If you have been pleased I am glad, and if you have filled
+her with desires she will love me all the better."
+
+"How pleasant it would be, sweetheart, if we could all three of us be
+together alone and at liberty!"
+
+"Yes; but it is impossible."
+
+"Are you sure that no inquisitive eye is looking upon us?"
+
+"Quite sure."
+
+"The height of that fatal grill has deprived me of the sight of many
+charms."
+
+"Why didn't you go to the other parlour it is much lower there."
+
+"Let us go there, then."
+
+"Not to-day; I should not be able to give any reason for the change."
+
+"I will come again to-morrow, and start for Lyons in the evening."
+
+The little boarder came back, and I stood up facing her. I had a number
+of beautiful seals and trinkets hanging from my watch-chain, and I had
+not had the time to put myself in a state of perfect decency again.
+
+She noticed it, and by way of pretext she asked if she might look at
+them.
+
+"As long as you like; you may look at them and touch them as well."
+
+M---- M---- foresaw what would happen and left the room, saying that she
+would soon be back. I had intended to deprive the young boarder of all
+interest in my seals by shewing her a curiosity of another kind. She did
+not conceal her pleasure in satisfying her inquisitiveness on an object
+which was quite new to her, and which she was able to examine minutely
+for the first time in her life. But soon an effusion changed her
+curiosity into surprise, and I did not interrupt her in her delighted
+gaze.
+
+I saw M---- M---- coming back slowly, and I lowered my shirt again, and sat
+down. My watch and chains were still on the ledge of the grating, and
+M---- M---- asked her young friend if the trinkets had pleased her.
+
+"Yes," she replied, but in a dreamy and melancholy voice. She had learnt
+so much in the course of less than two hours that she had plenty to think
+over. I spent the rest of the day in telling M---- M---- the adventures I
+had encountered since I had left her; but as I had not time to finish my
+tale I promised to return the next day at the same time.
+
+The little girl, who had been listening to me all the time, though I
+appeared to be only addressing her friend, said that she longed to know
+the end of my adventure with the Duke of Matelone's mistress.
+
+I supped with the fair Desarmoises, and after giving her sundry proofs of
+my affection till midnight, and telling her that I only stopped on for
+her sake, I went to bed.
+
+The next day after dinner I returned to the convent, and having sent up
+my name to M---- M---- I entered the room where the grating was more
+convenient.
+
+Before long M---- M---- arrived alone, but she anticipated my thoughts by
+telling me that her pretty friend would soon join her.
+
+"You have fired her imagination. She has told me all about it, playing a
+thousand wanton tricks, and calling me her dear husband. You have seduced
+the girl, and I am very glad you are going or else you would drive her
+mad. You will see how she has dressed herself."
+
+"Are you sure of her discretion?"
+
+"Perfectly, but I hope you won't do anything in my presence. When I see
+the time coming I will leave the room."
+
+"You are an angel, dearest, but you might be something better than that
+if you would--"
+
+"I want nothing for myself; it is out of the question."
+
+"You could--"
+
+"No, I will have nothing to do with a pastime which would rekindle fires
+that are hardly yet quenched. I have spoken; I suffer, but let us say no
+more about it."
+
+At this moment the young adept came in smiling, with her eyes full of
+fire. She was dressed in a short pelisse, open in front, and an
+embroidered muslin skirt which did not go beyond her knees. She looked
+like a sylph.
+
+We had scarcely sat down when she reminded me of the place where my tale
+had stopped. I continued my recital, and when I was telling them how
+Donna Lucrezia shewed me Leonilda naked, M---- M---- went out, and the sly
+little puss asked me how I assured myself that my daughter was a maid.
+
+I took bold of her through the fatal grating, against which she placed
+her pretty body, and shewed her how assured myself of the fact, and the
+girl liked it so much that she pressed my hand to the spot. She then gave
+me her hand that I might share her pleasure, and whilst this enjoyable
+occupation was in progress M---- M---- appeared. My sweetheart said
+hastily,--
+
+"Never mind, I told her all about it. She is a good creature and will not
+be vexed." Accordingly M---- M---- pretended not to see anything, and the
+precocious little girl wiped her hand in a kind of voluptuous ecstacy,
+which shewed how well she was pleased.
+
+I proceeded with my history, but when I came to the episode of the poor
+girl who was 'tied', describing all the trouble I had vainly taken with
+her, the little boarder got so curious that she placed herself in the
+most seducing attitude so that I might be able to shew her what I did.
+Seeing this M---- M---- made her escape.
+
+"Kneel down on the ledge, and leave the rest to me," said the little
+wanton.
+
+The reader will guess what she meant, and I have no doubt that she would
+have succeeded in her purpose if the fire which consumed me had not
+distilled itself away just at the happy moment.
+
+The charming novice felt herself sprinkled, but after ascertaining that
+nothing more could be done she withdrew in some vexation. My fingers,
+however, consoled her for the disappointment, and I had the pleasure of
+seeing her look happy once more.
+
+I left these charming creatures in the evening, promising to visit them
+again in a year, but as I walked home I could not help reflecting how
+often these asylums, supposed to be devoted to chastity and prayer,
+contain in themselves the hidden germs of corruption. How many a timorous
+and trustful mother is persuaded that the child of her affection will
+escape the dangers of the world by taking refuge in the cloister. But
+behind these bolts and bars desires grow to a frenzied extreme; they
+crave in vain to be satisfied.
+
+When I returned to the inn I took leave of the wounded man, whom I was
+happy to see out of danger. In vain I urged him to make use of my purse;
+he told me, with an affectionate embrace, that he had sufficient money,
+and if not, he had only to write to his father. I promised to stop at
+Lyons, and to oblige Desarmoises to desist from any steps he might be
+taking against them, telling them I had a power over him which would
+compel him to obey. I kept my word. After we had kissed and said
+good-bye, I took his future bride into my room that we might sup together
+and enjoy ourselves till midnight; but she could not have been very
+pleased with my farewell salute, for I was only able to prove my love for
+her once, as M---- M----'s young friend had nearly exhausted me.
+
+I started at day-break, and the next day I reached the "Hotel du Parc,"
+at Lyons. I sent for Desarmoises, and told him plainly that his
+daughter's charms had seduced me, that I thought her lover worthy of her,
+and that I expected him out of friendship for me to consent to the
+marriage. I went further, and told him that if he did not consent to
+everything that very instant I could no longer be his friend, and at this
+he gave in. He executed the requisite document in the presence of two
+witnesses, and I sent it to Chamberi by an express messenger.
+
+This false marquis made me dine with him in his poor house. There was
+nothing about his younger daughter to remind me of the elder, and his
+wife inspired me with pity. Before I left I managed to wrap up six Louis
+in a piece of paper, and gave it to her without the knowledge of her
+husband. A grateful look shewed me how welcome the present was.
+
+I was obliged to go to Paris, so I gave Desarmoises sufficient money for
+him to go to Strasburg, and await me there in company with my Spaniard.
+
+I thought myself wise in only taking Costa, but the inspiration came from
+my evil genius.
+
+I took the Bourbonnais way, and on the third day I arrived at Paris, and
+lodged at the Hotel du St. Esprit, in the street of the same name.
+
+Before going to bed I sent Costa with a note to Madame d'Urfe, promising
+to come and dine with her the next day. Costa was a good-looking young
+fellow, and as he spoke French badly and was rather a fool I felt sure
+that Madame d'Urfe would take him for some extraordinary being. She wrote
+to say that she was impatiently expecting me.
+
+"How did the lady receive you, Costa?"
+
+"She looked into a mirror, sir, and said some words I could make nothing
+of; then she went round the room three times burning incense; then she
+came up to me with a majestic air and looked me in the face; and at last
+she smiled very pleasantly, and told me to wait for a reply in the
+ante-chamber."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Adventures In The South: Return to
+Naples, by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
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