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+Project Gutenberg Etext of Return to Naples, by Jacques Casanova
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+Title: Return to Naples
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+Author: Jacques Casanova
+
+Release Date: December, 2001  [Etext #2968]
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+Project Gutenberg Etext of Return to Naples, by Jacques Casanova
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+
+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."
+
+Thp 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 their, 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 sems 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 Spainiard 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 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 this Project Gutenberg Etext of MEMOIRES OF JACQUES CASANOVA
+ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH, Vol. 4c, RETURN TO NAPLES
+by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
+