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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +Old Age and Death +By Jacques Casanova + + + +MEMOIRS OF JACQUES CASANOVA de SEINGALT 1725-1798 +SPANISH PASSIONS, Volume 6e--OLD AGE AND DEATH + + + +THE MEMOIRS OF JACQUES CASANOVA DE SEINGALT + +THE RARE UNABRIDGED LONDON EDITION OF 1894 TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR MACHEN TO +WHICH HAS BEEN ADDED THE CHAPTERS DISCOVERED BY ARTHUR SYMONS. + + + + +OLD AGE AND DEATH OF CASANOVA + + +APPENDIX AND SUPPLEMENT + + +Whether the author died before the work was complete, whether the +concluding volumes were destroyed by himself or his literary executors, +or whether the MS. fell into bad hands, seems a matter of uncertainty, +and the materials available towards a continuation of the Memoirs are +extremely fragmentary. We know, however, that Casanova at last succeeded +in obtaining his pardon from the authorities of the Republic, and he +returned to Venice, where he exercised the honourable office of secret +agent of the State Inquisitors--in plain language, he became a spy. It +seems that the Knight of the Golden Spur made a rather indifferent +"agent;" not surely, as a French writer suggests, because the dirty work +was too dirty for his fingers, but probably because he was getting old +and stupid and out-of-date, and failed to keep in touch with new forms of +turpitude. He left Venice again and paid a visit to Vienna, saw beloved +Paris once more, and there met Count Wallenstein, or Waldstein. The +conversation turned on magic and the occult sciences, in, which Casanova +was an adept, as the reader of the Memoirs will remember, and the count +took a fancy to the charlatan. In short Casanova became librarian at the +count's Castle of Dux, near Teplitz, and there he spent the fourteen +remaining years of his life. + +As the Prince de Ligne (from whose Memoirs we learn these particulars) +remarks, Casanova's life had been a stormy and adventurous one, and it +might have been expected that he would have found his patron's library a +pleasant refuge after so many toils and travels. But the man carried +rough weather and storm in his own heart, and found daily opportunities +of mortification and resentment. The coffee was ill made, the maccaroni +not cooked in the true Italian style, the dogs had bayed during the +night, he had been made to dine at a small table, the parish priest had +tried to convert him, the soup had been served too hot on purpose to +annoy him, he had not been introduced to a distinguished guest, the count +had lent a book without telling him, a groom had not taken off his hat; +such were his complaints. The fact is Casanova felt his dependent +position and his utter poverty, and was all the more determined to stand +to his dignity as a man who had talked with all the crowned heads of +Europe, and had fought a duel with the Polish general. And he had +another reason for finding life bitter--he had lived beyond his time. +Louis XV. was dead, and Louis XVI. had been guillotined; the Revolution +had come; and Casanova, his dress, and his manners, appeared as odd and +antique as some "blood of the Regency" would appear to us of these days. +Sixty years before, Marcel, the famous dancing-master, had taught young +Casanova how to enter a room with a lowly and ceremonious bow; and still, +though the eighteenth century is drawning to a close, old Casanova enters +the rooms of Dux with the same stately bow, but now everyone laughs. Old +Casanova treads the grave measures of the minuet; they applauded his +dancing once, but now everyone laughs. Young Casanova was always dressed +in the height of the fashion; but the age of powder, wigs, velvets, and +silks has departed, and old Casanova's attempts at elegance ("Strass" +diamonds have replaced the genuine stones with him) are likewise greeted +with laughter. No wonder the old adventurer denounces the whole house of +Jacobins and canaille; the world, he feels, is permanently out of joint +for him; everything is cross, and everyone is in a conspiracy to drive +the iron into his soul. + +At last these persecutions, real or imaginary, drive him away from Dux; +he considers his genius bids him go, and, as before, he obeys. Casanova +has but little pleasure or profit out of this his last journey; he has to +dance attendance in ante-chambers; no one will give him any office, +whether as tutor, librarian, or chamberlain. In one quarter only is he +well received--namely, by the famous Duke of Weimar; but in a few days he +becomes madly jealous of the duke's more famous protegees, Goethe and +Wieland, and goes off declaiming against them and German literature +generally--with which literature he was wholly unacquainted. From Weimar +to Berlin; where there are Jews to whom he has introductions. Casanova +thinks them ignorant, superstitious, and knavish; but they lend him +money, and he gives bills on Count Wallenstein, which are paid. In six +weeks the wanderer returns to Dux, and is welcomed with open arms; his +journeys are over at last. + +But not his troubles. A week after his return there are strawberries at +dessert; everyone is served before himself, and when the plate comes +round to him it is empty. Worse still: his portrait is missing from his +room, and is discovered 'salement placarde a la porte des lieux +d'aisance'! + +Five more years of life remained to him. They were passed in such petty +mortifications as we have narrated, in grieving over his 'afreuse +vieillesse', and in laments over the conquest of his native land Venice, +once so splendid and powerful. His appetite began to fail, and with it +failed his last source of pleasure, so death came to him somewhat as a +release. He received the sacraments with devotion, exclaimed,-- + +"Grand Dieu, et vous tous temoins de ma mort, j'ai vecu en philosophe, et +je meurs en Chretien," and so died. + +It was a quiet ending to a wonderfully brilliant and entirely useless +career. It has been suggested that if the age in which Casanova lived +had been less corrupt, he himself might have used his all but universal +talents to some advantage, but to our mind Casanova would always have +remained Casanova. He came of a family of adventurers, and the reader of +his Memoirs will remark how he continually ruined his prospects by his +ineradicable love for disreputable company. His "Bohemianism" was in his +blood, and in his old age he regrets--not his past follies, but his +inability to commit folly any longer. Now and again we are inclined to +pronounce Casanova to be an amiable man; and if to his generosity and +good nature he had added some elementary knowledge of the distinction +between right and wrong, he might certainly have laid some claim to the +character. The Prince de Ligne draws the following portrait of him under +the name of Aventuros: + +"He would be a handsome man if he were not ugly; he is tall and strongly +built, but his dark complexion and his glittering eyes give him a fierce +expression. He is easier to annoy than amuse; he laughs little but makes +others laugh by the peculiar turn he gives to his conversation. He knows +everything except those matters on the knowledge of which he chiefly +prides himself, namely, dancing, the French language, good taste, and +knowledge of the world. Everything about him is comic, except his +comedies; and all his writings are philosophical, saving those which +treat of philosophy. He is a perfect well of knowledge, but he quotes +Homer and Horace ad nauseam." + + + + + + + SUPPLEMENT + TO + + THE MEMOIRS OF + JACQUES CASANOVA + DE SEINGALT + Containing an Outline of Casanova's career from the + year 1774, when his own Memoirs abruptly + end, until his death in 1798 + + + + + +PART THE FIRST + +VENICE +1774-1782 + + +CASANOVA'S RETURN TO VENICE + +Thus Casanova ended his Memoirs, concluding his narrative with his +sojourn at Trieste, in January 1774, where he had remained, except for a +few excursions, since the 15th November 1772. He was forty-nine years of +age. Since his unfortunate experiences in England, the loss of his +fortune and the failure of his efforts to obtain congenial and +remunerative employment in Germany or Russia, he had come to concentrate +his efforts on a return to his native city. + +Of his faithful friends, the nobles Bragadin, Barbaro and Dandolo, the +first had died in 1767, having gone into debt "that I might have enough," +sending Casanova, from his death-bed, a last gift of a thousand crowns. +Barbaro who had died also, in 1771, left Casanova a life-income of six +sequins a month. The survivor, Dandolo, was poor, but until his death, +he also gave Casanova a monthly provision of six sequins. +However, Casanova was not without influential friends who might not only +obtain a pardon from the State Inquisitors but also assist him to +employment; and, in fact, it was through such influence as that wielded +by the Avogador Zaguri and the Procurator Morosini, that Casanova +received his pardon, and later, a position as "Confidant," or Secret +Agent, to the Inquisitors at Venice. + +Casanova re-entered Venice the 14th September 1774 and, presenting +himself, on the 18th, to Marc-Antoine Businello, Secretary of the +Tribunal of the Inquisitors of State, was advised that mercy had been +accorded him by reason of his refutation of the History of the Venetian +Government by Amelot de la Houssaie which he had written during his +forty-two day imprisonment at Barcelona in 1768. The three Inquisitors, +Francesco Grimani, Francesco Sagredo and Paolo Bembo, invited him to +dinner to hear his story of his escape from The Leads. + +In 1772, Bandiera, the Republic's resident at Ancona, drew this portrait +of Casanova: + +"One sees everywhere this unhappy rebel against the justice of the August +Council, presenting himself boldly, his head carried high, and well +equipped. He is received in many houses and announces his intention of +going to Trieste and, from there, of returning to Germany. He is a man +of forty years or more," [in reality, forty-seven] "of high stature and +excellent appearance, vigorous, of a very brown color, the eye bright, +the wig short and chestnut-brown. He is said to be haughty and +disdainful; he speaks at length, with spirit and erudition." [Letter of +information to the Very Illustrious Giovanni Zon, Secretary of the August +Council of Ten at Venice. 2 October 1772.] + +Returning to Venice after an absence of eighteen years, Casanova renewed +his acquaintance with many old friends, among whom were: + +The Christine of the Memoirs. Charles, who married Christine, the +marriage being arranged by Casanova while in Venice in 1747, was of +financial assistance to Casanova, who "found him a true friend." Charles +died "a few months before my last departure from Venice," in 1783. + +Mlle. X---- C---- V----, really Giustina de Wynne, widow of the Count +Rosenberg, Austrian Ambassador at Venice. "Fifteen years afterwards, I +saw her again and she was a widow, happy enough, apparently, and enjoying +a great reputation on account of her rank, wit and social qualities, but +our connection was never renewed." + +Callimena, who was kind to him "for love's sake alone" at Sorrento in +1770. + +Marcoline, the girl he took away from his younger brother, the Abby +Casanova, at Geneva in 1763. + +Father Balbi, the companion of his flight from The Leads. + +Doctor Gozzi, his former teacher at Padua, now become Arch-Priest of St. +George of the Valley, and his sister Betting. "When I went to pay him a +visit . . . she breathed her last in my arms, in 1776, twenty-four +hours after my arrival. I will speak of her death in due time." + +Angela Toselli, his first passion. In 1758 this girl married the +advocate Francesco Barnaba Rizzotti, and in the following year she gave +birth to a daughter, Maria Rizzotti (later married to a M. Kaiser) who +lived at Vienna and whose letters to Casanova were preserved at Dux. + +C---- C----, the young girl whose love affair with Casanova became +involved with that of the nun M---- M---- Casanova found her in Venice "a +widow and poorly off." + +The dancing girl Binetti, who assisted Casanova in his flight from +Stuttgart in 1760, whom he met again in London in 1763, and who was the +cause of his duel with Count Branicki at Warsaw in 1766. She danced +frequently at Venice between 1769 and 1780. + +The good and indulgent Mme. Manzoni, "of whom I shall have to speak very +often." + +The patricians Andrea Memmo and his brother Bernardo who, with +P. Zaguri were personages of considerable standing in the Republic and +who remained his constant friends. Andrea Memmo was the cause of the +embarrassment in which Mlle. X---- C---- V---- found herself in Paris +and which Casanova vainly endeavored to remove by applications of his +astonishing specific, the 'aroph of Paracelsus'. + +It was at the house of these friends that Casanova became acquainted with +the poet, Lorenzo Da Ponte. "I made his acquaintance," says the latter, +in his own Memoirs, "at the house of Zaguri and the house of Memmo, who +both sought after his always interesting conversation, accepting from +this man all he had of good, and closing their eyes, on account of his +genius, upon the perverse parts of his nature." + +Lorenzo Da Ponte, known above all as Mozart's librettist, and whose youth +much resembled that of Casanova, was accused of having eaten ham on +Friday and was obliged to flee from Venice in 1777, to escape the +punishment of the Tribunal of Blasphemies. In his Memoirs, he speaks +unsparingly of his compatriot and yet, as M. Rava notes, in the numerous +letters he wrote Casanova, and which were preserved at Dux, he proclaims +his friendship and admiration. + +Irene Rinaldi, whom he met again at Padua in 1777, with her daughter who +"had become a charming girl; and our acquaintance was renewed in the +tenderest manner." + +The ballet-girl Adelaide, daughter of Mme. Soavi, who was also a dancer, +and of a M. de Marigny. + +Barbara, who attracted Casanova's attention at Trieste, in 1773, while he +was frequenting a family named Leo, but toward whom he had maintained an +attitude of respect. This girl, on meeting him again in 1777, declared +that "she had guessed my real feelings and had been amused by my foolish +restraint." + +At Pesaro, the Jewess Leah, with whom he had the most singular +experiences at Ancona in 1772. + + + + + II + RELATIONS WITH THE INQUISITORS + + +Soon after reaching Venice, Casanova learned that the Landgrave of Hesse +Cassel, following the example of other German princes, wished a Venetian +correspondent for his private affairs. Through some influence he +believed he might obtain this small employment; but before applying for +the position he applied to the Secretary of the Tribunal for permission. +Apparently nothing came of this, and Casanova obtained no definite +employment until 1776. + +Early in 1776, Casanova entered the service of the Tribunal of +Inquisitors as an "occasional Confidant," under the fictitious name of +Antonio Pratiloni, giving his address as "at the Casino of S. E. Marco +Dandolo." + +In October 1780, his appointment was more definitely established and he +was given a salary of fifteen ducats a month. This, with the six sequins +of life-income left by Barbaro and the six given by Dandolo, gave him a +monthly income of three hundred and eighty-four lires--about seventy-four +U. S. dollars--from 1780 until his break with the Tribunal at the end of +1781. + +In the Archives of Venice are preserved forty-eight letters from +Casanova, including the Reports he wrote as a "Confidant," all in the +same handwriting as the manuscript of the Memoirs. The Reports may be +divided into two classes: those referring to commercial or industrial +matters, and those referring to the public morals. + +Among those of the first class, we find: + +A Report relating to Casanova's success in having a change made in the +route of the weekly diligence running from Trieste to Mestre, for which +service, rendered during Casanova's residence at Trieste in 1773, he +received encouragement and the sum of one hundred ducats from the +Tribunal. + +A Report, the 8th September 1776, with information concerning the rumored +project of the future Emperor of Austria to invade Dalmatia after the +death of Maria Theresa. Casanova stated he had received this information +from a Frenchman, M. Salz de Chalabre, whom he had known in Paris twenty +years before. This M. Chalabre [printed Calabre] was the pretended +nephew of Mme. Amelin. "This young man was as like her as two drops of +water, but she did not find that a sufficient reason for avowing herself +his mother." The boy was, in fact, the son of Mme. Amelin and of M. de +Chalabre, who had lived together for a long time. + +A Report, the 12th of December 1776, of a secret mission to Trieste, in +regard to a project of the court of Vienna for making Fiume a French +port; the object being to facilitate communications between this port and +the interior of Hungary. For this inquiry, Casanova received sixteen +hundred lires, his expenditures amounting to seven hundred and sixty-six +lires. + +A Report, May-July 1779, of an excursion in the market of Ancona for +information concerning the commercial relations of the Pontifical States +with the Republic of Venice. At Forli, in the course of this excursion, +Casanova visited the dancing-girl Binetti. For this mission Casanova +received forty-eight sequins. + +A Report, January 1780, remarking a clandestine recruiting carried out by +a certain Marrazzani for the [Prussian] regiment of Zarembal. + +A Report, the 11th October 1781, regarding a so-called Baldassare +Rossetti, a Venetian subject living at Trieste, whose activities and +projects were of a nature to prejudice the commerce and industry of the +Republic. + +Among the Reports relating to public morals may be noted: + +December 1776. A Report on the seditious character of a ballet called +"Coriolanus." The back of this report is inscribed: "The impressario of +S. Benedetto, Mickel de l'Agata, shall be summoned immediately; it has +been ordered that he cease, under penalty of his life, from giving the +ballet Coriolanus at the theater. Further, he is to collect and deposit +all the printed programmes of this ballet." + +December 1780. A Report calling to the attention of the Tribunal the +scandalous disorders produced in the theaters when the lights were +extinguished. + +3rd May 1781. A Report remarking that the AbbE Carlo Grimani believed +himself exempt, in his position as a priest, from the interdiction laid +on patricians against frequenting foreign ministers and their suites. On +the back of this Report is written: "Ser Jean Carlo, Abbe Grimani, to be +gently reminded, by the Secretary, of the injunction to abstain from all +commerce with foreign ministers and their adherents" + +Venetian nobles were forbidden under penalty of death from holding any +communication with foreign ambassadors or their households. This was +intended as a precaution to preserve the secrets of the Senate. + +26th November 1781. A Report concerning a painting academy where nude +studies were made, from models of both sexes, while scholars only twelve +or thirteen years of age were admitted, and where dilettantes who were +neither painters nor designers, attended the sessions. + +22nd December 1781. By order, Casanova reported to the Tribunal a list +of the principal licentious or antireligious books to be found in the +libraries and private collections at Venice: la Pucelle; la Philosophie +de l'Histoire; L'Esprit d'Helvetius; la Sainte Chandelle d'Arras; les +Bijoux indiscrets; le Portier des Chartreux; les Posies de Baffo; Ode +a Priape; de Piron; etc., etc. + +In considering this Report, which has been the subject of violent +criticism, we should bear in mind three points: + +first--the Inquisitors required this information; second--no one in their +employ could have been in a better position to give it than Casanova; +third--Casanova was morally and economically bound, as an employee of the +Tribunal, to furnish the information ordered, whatever his personal +distaste for the undertaking may have been. We may even assume that he +permitted himself to express his feelings in some indiscreet way, and his +break with the Tribunal followed, for, at the end of 1781, his commission +was withdrawn. Certainly, Casanova's almost absolute dependence on his +salary, influenced the letter he wrote the Inquisitors at this time. + +"To the Illustrious and Most Excellent Lords, the Inquisitors of State: + +"Filled with confusion, overwhelmed with sorrow and repentance, +recognizing myself absolutely unworthy of addressing my vile letter to +Your Excellencies confessing that I have failed in my duty in the +opportunities which presented themselves, I, Jacques Casanova, invoke, on +my knees, the mercy of the Prince; I beg that, in compassion and grace, +there may be accorded me that which, in all justice and on reflection, +may be refused me. + +"I ask the Sovereign Munificence to come to my aid, so that, with the +means of subsistence, I may apply myself vigorously, in the future, to +the service to which I have been privileged. + +"After this respectful supplication, the wisdom of Your Excellencies may +judge the disposition of my spirit and of my intentions. + +The Inquisitors decided to award Casanova one month's pay, but specified +that thereafter he would receive salary only when he rendered important +services. + +In 1782 Casanova made a few more Reports to the Tribunal, for one of +which, regarding the failure of an insurance and commercial house at +Trieste, he received six sequins. But the part of a guardian of the +public morals, even through necessity, was undoubtedly unpleasant to him; +and, in spite of the financial loss, it may be that his release was a +relief. + + + + III + FRANCESCA BUSCHINI + +Intimately connected with Casanova's life at this period was a girl named +Francesca Buschini. This name does not appear in any of the literary, +artistic or theatrical records of the period, and, of the girl, nothing +is known other than that which she herself tells us in her letters to +Casanova. From these very human letters, however, we may obtain, not +only certain facts, but also, a very excellent idea of her character. +Thirty-two of her letters, dated between July 1779 and October 1787, +written in the Venetian dialect, were preserved in the library at Dux. + +She was a seamstress, although often without work, and had a brother, a +younger sister and also a mother living with her. The probabilities are +that she was a girl of the most usual sort, but greatly attached to +Casanova who, even in his poverty, must have dazzled her as a being from +another world. She was his last Venetian love, and remained a faithful +correspondent until 1787; and it is chiefly from her letters, in which +she comments on news contained in Casanova's letters to her, that light +is thrown on the Vienna-Paris period, particularly, of Casanova's life. +For this, Francesca has placed us greatly in her debt. + +With this girl, at least between 1779 and 1782, Casanova rented a small +house at Barbaria delle Tole, near S. Giustina, from the noble Pesaro at +S. Stae. Casanova, always in demand for his wit and learning, often took +dinner in the city. He knew that a place always awaited him at the house +of Memmo and at that of Zaguri and that, at the table of these +patricians, who were distinguished by their intellectual superiority, he +would meet men notable in science and letters. Being so long and so +closely connected with theatrical circles, he was often seen at the +theater, with Francesca. Thus, the 9th August 1786, the poor girl, in an +excess of chagrin writes: "Where are all the pleasures which formerly you +procured me? Where are the theatres, the comedies which we once saw +together?" + +On the 28th July 1779, Francesca wrote: + +"Dearest and best beloved, + +" . . . In the way of novelties, I find nothing except that S. E. +Pietro Zaguri has arrived at Venice; his servant has been twice to ask +for you, and I have said you were still at the Baths of Abano . . ." + +The Casanova-Buschini establishment kept up relations, more or less +frequent and intimate, with a few persons, most of whom are mentioned in +Francesca's letters; the Signora Anzoletta Rizzotti; the Signora +Elisabeth Catrolli, an ancient comedienne; the Signora Bepa Pezzana; the +Signora Zenobia de Monti, possibly the mother of that Carlo de Monti, +Venetian Consul at Trieste, who was a friend to Casanova and certainly +contributed toward obtaining his pardon from the Inquisitors; +a M. Lunel, master of languages, and his wife. + + + + + + IV + PUBLICATIONS + + +Casanova's principal writings during this period were: + +His translation of the Iliad, the first volume of which was issued in +1775, the second in 1777 and the third in 1778. + +During his stay at Abano in 1778, he wrote the Scrutinio del libro, +eulogies of M. de Voltaire "by various hands." In the dedication of this +book, to the Doge Renier, he wrote, "This little book has recently come +from my inexperienced pen, in the hours of leisure which are frequent at +Abano for those who do not come only for the baths." + +>From January until July 1780, he published, anonymously, a series of +miscellaneous small works, seven pamphlets of about one hundred pages +each, distributed at irregular intervals to subscribers. + +>From the 7th October to the end of December, 1780, on the occasions of +the representations given by a troupe of French comedians at the San +Angelo theater, Casanova wrote a little paper called The Messenger of +Thalia. In one of the numbers, he wrote: + +"French is not my tongue; I make no pretentions and, wrong or astray, I +place on the paper what heaven sends from my pen. I give birth to +phrases turned to Italian, either to see what they look like or to +produce a style, and often, also, to draw, into a purist's snare, some +critical doctor who does not know my humor or how my offense amuses me." + +The "little romance" referred to in the following letter to "Mlle. X---- +C---- V---- ," appeared in 1782, with the title; 'Di anecdoti vinizani +militari a amorosi del secolo decimo quarto sotto i dogati di Giovanni +Gradenigoe di Giovanni Dolfin'. Venezia, 1782. + + + + + + V + MLLE. X . . . C . . . V. . . + + +In 1782, a letter written by this lady, Giustina de Wynne, referring to a +visit to Venice of Paul I, Grand Duke, afterward Emperor of Russia, and +his wife, was published under the title of Du sejour des Comptes du Nord +a Venise en janvier mdcclxxxii. If he had not previously done so, +Casanova took this occasion to recall himself to the memory of this lady +to whom he had once been of such great service. And two very polite +letters were exchanged: + +"Madam, + +"The fine epistle which V. E. has allowed to be printed upon the sojourn +of C. and of the C. du Nord in this city, exposes you, in the position of +an author, to endure the compliments of all those who trouble themselves +to write. But I flatter myself, Madam, that V. E. will not disdain mine. + +"The little romance, Madam, a translation from my dull and rigid pen, is +not a gift but a very paltry offering which I dare make to the +superiority of your merit. + +"I have found, Madam, in your letter, the simple, flowing style of +gentility, the one which alone a woman of condition who writes to her +friend may use with dignity. Your digressions and your thoughts are +flowers which . . . (forgive an author who pilfers from you the delicious +nonchalance of an amiable writer) or . . . a will-o'-the-wisp which, from +time to time, issues from the work, in spite of the author, and burns the +paper. + +"I aspire, Madam, to render myself favorable to the deity to which reason +advises me to make homage. Accept then the offering and render happy he +who makes it with your indulgence. + +"I have the honor to sign myself, if you will kindly permit me, with very +profound respect. + +Giacomo Casanova." + + +"Monsieur + +"I am very sensible, Monsieur, of the distinction which comes to me from +your approbation of my little pamphlet. The interest of the moment, its +references and the exaltation of spirits have gained for it the tolerance +and favorable welcome of the good Venetians. It is to your politeness in +particular, Monsieur, that I believe is due the marked success which my +work has had with you. I thank you for the book which you sent me and I +will risk thanking you in advance for the pleasure it will give me. Be +persuaded of my esteem for yourself and for your talents. And I have the +honor to be, Monsieur. + +Your very humble servant de Wynne de Rosemberg." + + +Among Casanova's papers at Dux was a page headed "Souvenir," dated the +2nd September 1791, and beginning: "While descending the staircase, the +Prince de Rosemberg told me that Madame de Rosemberg was dead . . . . +This Prince de Rosemberg was the nephew of Giustina." + +Giustina died, after a long illness, at Padua, the 21st August 1791, at +the age of fifty-four years and seven months. + + + + VI + LAST DAYS AT VENICE + +Toward the end of 1782, doubtless convinced that he could expect nothing +more from the Tribunal, Casanova entered the service of the Marquis +Spinola as a secretary. Some years before, a certain Carletti, an +officer in the service of the court of Turin, had won from the Marquis a +wager of two hundred and fifty sequins. The existence of this debt +seemed to have completely disappeared from the memory of the loser. By +means of the firm promise of a pecuniary recompense, Casanova intervened +to obtain from his patron a written acknowledgment of the debt owing to +Carletti. His effort was successful; but instead of clinking cash, +Carletti contented himself with remitting to the negotiator an assignment +on the amount of the credit. Casanova's anger caused a violent dispute, +in the course of which Carlo Grimani, at whose house the scene took +place, placed him in the wrong and imposed silence. + +The irascible Giacomo conceived a quick resentment. To discharge his +bile, he found nothing less than to publish in the course of the month of +August, under the title of: 'Ne amori ne donne ovvero la Stalla d'Angia +repulita', a libel in which Jean Carlo Grimani, Carletti, and other +notable persons were outraged under transparent mythological pseudonyms. + +This writing embroiled the author with the entire body of the Venetian +nobility. + +To allow the indignation against him to quiet down, Casanova went to pass +some days at Trieste, then returned to Venice to put his affairs in +order. The idea of recommencing his wandering life alarmed him. "I have +lived fifty-eight years," he wrote, "I could not go on foot with winter +at hand, and when I think of starting on the road to resume my +adventurous life, I laugh at myself in the mirror." + + + + + PART THE SECOND + VIENNA-PARIS + I + 1783-1785 + TRAVELS IN 1783 + + +Casanova left Venice in January 1783, and went to Vienna. + +On the 16th April Elisabeth Catrolli wrote to him at Vienna: + +"Dearest of friends, + +"Your letter has given me great pleasure. Be assured, I infinitely +regret your departure. I have but two sincere friends, yourself and +Camerani. I do not hope for more. I could be happy if I could have at +least one of you near me to whom 1 could confide my cruel anxieties. + +"To-day, I received from Camerani a letter informing me that, in a former +one, he had sent me a bill of exchange: I did not receive it, and I fear +it has been lost. + +"Dear friend, when you reach Paris, clasp him to your heart for me. .In +regard to Chechina [Francesca Buschini] I would say that I have not seen +her since the day I took her your letter. Her mother is the ruin of that +poor girl; let that suffice; I will say no more. . . . " + +After leaving Venice, Casanova apparently took an opportunity to pay his +last disrespects to the Tribunal. At least, in May 1783, M. Schlick, +French Secretary at Venice, wrote to Count Vergennes: "Last week there +reached the State Inquisitors an anonymous letter stating that, on the +25th of this month, an earthquake, more terrible than that of Messina, +would raze Venice to the ground. This letter has caused a panic here. +Many patricians have left the capital and others will follow their +example. The author of the anonymous letter . . . is a certain +Casanova, who wrote from Vienna and found means to slip it into the +Ambassador's own mails." + +In about four months, Casanova was again on the way to Italy. He paused +for a week at Udine and arrived at Venice on the 16th June. Without +leaving his barge, he paused at his house just long enough to salute +Francesca. He left Mestre on Tuesday the 24th June and on the same day +dined at the house of F. Zanuzzi at Bassano. On the 25th he left Bassano +by post and arrived in the evening at Borgo di Valsugano. + +On the 29th, he wrote to Francesca from the Augsbourg. He had stopped at +Innsbruck to attend the theater and was in perfect health. He had +reached Frankfort in forty-eight hours, traveling eighteen posts without +stopping. + +>From Aix-la-Chapelle, on the 16th July, he wrote Francesca that he had +met, in that city, Cattina, the wife of Pocchini. Pocchini was sick and +in deep misery. Casanova, recalling all the abominable tricks this rogue +had played on him refused Cattina the assistance she begged for in tears, +laughed in her face, and said: "Farewell, I wish you a pleasant death." + +At Mayence, Casanova embarked on the Rhine in company with the Marquis +Durazzo, former Austrian Ambassador at Venice. The voyage was excellent +and in two days he arrived at Cologne, in rugged health, sleeping well +and eating like a wolf. + +On the 3oth July he wrote to Francesca from Spa and in this letter +enclosed a good coin. Everything was dear at Spa; his room cost eight +lires a day with everything else in proportion. + +On the 6th September he wrote from Antwerp to one of his good friends, +the Abbe Eusebio della Lena, telling him that at Spa an English woman who +had a passion for speaking Latin wished to submit him to trials which he +judged it unnecessary to state precisely. He refused all her proposals, +saying, however, that he would not reveal them to anyone; but that he did +not feel he should refuse also "an order on her banker for twenty-five +guineas." + +On the 9th he wrote to Francesca from Brussels, and on the 12th he sent +her a bill of exchange on the banker Corrado for one hundred and fifty +lires. He said he had been intoxicated "because his reputation had +required it." "This greatly astonishes me," Francesca responded, "for I +have never seen you intoxicated nor even illuminated . . . . I am +very happy that the wine drove away the inflammation in your teeth." + +Practically all information of Casanova's movements in 1783 and 1784 is +obtained from Francesca's letters which were in the library at Dux. + +In her letters of the 27th June and 11th July, Francesca wrote Casanova +that she had directed the Jew Abraham to sell Casanova's satin habit and +velvet breeches, but could not hope for more than fifty lires because +they were patched. Abraham had observed that at one time the habit had +been placed in pledge with him by Casanova for three sequins. + +On the 6th September, she wrote: + +"With great pleasure, I reply to the three dear letters which you wrote +me from Spa: the first of the 6th August, from which I learned that your +departure had been delayed for some days to wait for someone who was to +arrive in that city. I was happy that your appetite had returned, +because good cheer is your greatest pleasure . . . . + +"In your second letter which you wrote me from Spa on the 16th August, I +noted with sorrow that your affairs were not going as you wished. But +console yourself, dear friend, for happiness will come after trouble; at +least, I wish it so, also, for you yourself can imagine in what need I +find myself, I and all my family . . . . I have no work, because I +have not the courage to ask it of anyone. My mother has not earned even +enough to pay for the gold thread with the little cross which you know I +love. Necessity made me sell it. + +"I received your last letter of the 20th August from Spa with another +letter for S. E. the Procurator Morosini. You directed me to take it to +him myself, and on Sunday the last day of August, I did not fail to go +there exactly at three o'clock. At once on my arrival, I spoke to a +servant who admitted me without delay; but, my dear friend, I regret +having to send you an unpleasant message. As soon as I handed him the +letter, and before he even opened it, he said to me, 'I always know +Casanova's affairs which trouble me.' After having read hardly more than +a page, he said: 'I know not what to do!' I told him that, on the 6th of +this month, I was to write you at Paris and that, if he would do me the +honor of giving me his reply, I would put it in my letter. Imagine what +answer he gave me! I was much surprised! He told me that I should wish +you happiness but that he would not write to you again. He said no more. +I kissed his hands and left. He did not give me even a sou. That is all +he said to me . . . . + +"S. E. Pietro Zaguri sent to me to ask if I knew where you were, because +he had written two letters to Spa and had received no reply . . . ." + + + + + II + PARIS + +On the night of the 18th or 19th September 1783, Casanova arrived at +Paris. + +On the 30th he wrote Francesca that he had been well received by his +sister-in-law and by his brother, Francesco Casanova, the painter. +Nearly all his friends had departed for the other world, and he would now +have to make new ones, which would be difficult as he was no longer +pleasing to the women. + +On the 14th October he wrote again, saying that he was in good health and +that Paris was a paradise which made him feel twenty years old. Four +letters followed; in the first, dated from Paris on S. Martin's Day, he +told Francesco not to reply for he did not know whether he would prolong +his visit nor where he might go. Finding no fortune in Paris, he said he +would go and search elsewhere. On the 23rd, he sent one hundred and +fifty lires; "a true blessing," to the poor girl who was always short of +money. + +Between times, Casanova passed eight days at Fontainebleau, where he met +"a charming young man of twenty-five," the son of "the young and lovely +O'Morphi" who indirectly owed to him her position, in 1752, as the +mistress of Louis XV. "I wrote my name on his tablets and begged him to +present my compliments to his mother." + +He also met, in the same place, his own son by Mme. Dubois, his former +housekeeper at Soleure who had married the good M. Lebel. "We shall hear +of the young gentleman in twenty-one years at Fontainebleau." + +"When I paid my third visit to Paris, with the intention of ending my +days in that capital, I reckoned on the friendship of M. d'Alembert, but +he died, like, Fontenelle, a fortnight after my arrival, toward the end +of 1783." + +It is interesting to know that, at this time, Casanova met his famous +contemporary, Benjamin Franklin. "A few days after the death of the +illustrious d'Alembert," Casanova assisted, at the old Louvre, in a +session of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. "Seated +beside the learned Franklin, I was a little surprised to hear Condorcet +ask him if he believed that one could give various directions to an air +balloon. This was the response: 'The matter is still in its infancy, so +we must wait.' I was surprised. It is not believable that the great +philosopher could ignore the fact that it would be impossible to give the +machine any other direction than that governed by the air which fills it, +but these people 'nil tam verentur, quam ne dubitare aliqua de re +videantur." + +On the 13th November, Casanova left Paris in company with his brother, +Francesco, whose wife did not accompany him. "His new wife drove him +away from Paris." + +"Now [1797 or 1798] I feel that I have seen Paris and France for the last +time. That popular effervescence [the French Revolution] has disgusted +me and I am too old to hope to see the end of it." + + + + III + VIENNA + + +On the 29th November, Casanova wrote from Frankfort that a drunken +postillon had upset him and in the fall he had dislocated his left +shoulder, but that a good bone-setter had restored it to place. On the +1st December he wrote that he was healed, having taken medicine and +having been blooded. He promised to send Francesca eight sequins to pay +her rent. He reached Vienna about the 7th of December and on the 15th +sent Francescd a bill of exchange for eight sequins and two lires. + +On the last day of 1783, Francesca wrote to him at Vienna: + +"I see by your good letter that you will go to Dresden and then to Berlin +and that you will return to Vienna the 10th January . . . . +I am astonished, my dear friend, at the great journeys you make in this +cold weather, but, still, you are a great man, big-hearted, full of +spirit and courage; you travel in this terrible cold as though it were +nothing . . . ." + +On the 9th January, Casanova wrote from Dessau to his brother Giovanni, +proposing to make peace with him, but without results. On the 27th, he +was at Prague. By the 16th February, he was again in Vienna, after a +trip lasting sixty-two days. His health was perfect, and he had gained +flesh due, as he wrote Francesca, to his contented mind which was no +longer tormented. + +In February, he entered the service of M. Foscarini, Venetian Ambassador, +"to write dispatches." + +On the 10th March, Francesca wrote: + +"Dearest of Friends, I reply at once to your good letter of the 28th +February which I received Sunday . . . . I thank you for your +kindness which makes you say that you love me and that when you have +money you will send me some . . . but that at the moment you are dry +as a salamander. I do not know what sort of animal that is. But as for +me I am certainly dry of money and I am consumed with the hope of having +some . . . . I see that you were amused at the Carnival and that you +were four times at the masked ball, where there were two hundred women, +and that you danced minuets and quadrilles to the great astonishment of +the ambassador Foscarini who told everyone that you were sixty years old, +although in reality you have not yet reached your sixtieth year. You +might well laugh at that and say that he must be blind to have such an +idea. + +"I see that you assisted, with your brother, at a grand dinner at the +Ambassador's . . . . + +"You say that you have read my letters to your brother and that he +salutes me. Make him my best compliments and thank him. You ask me to +advise you whether, if he should happen to return to Venice with you, he +could lodge with you in your house. Tell him yes, because the chickens +are always in the loft and make no dirt; and, as for the dogs, one +watches to see that they do not make dirt. The furniture of the +apartment is already in place; it lacks only a wardrobe and the little +bed which you bought for your nephew and the mirror; as for the rest, +everything is as you left it. . . ." + +It is possible that, at the "grand dinner," Casanova was presented to +Count Waldstein, without whose kindness to Casanova the Memoirs probably +would never have been written. The Lord of Dux, Joseph Charles Emmanuel +Waldstein-Wartenberg, Chamberlain to Her Imperial Majesty, descendant of +the great Wallenstein, was the elder of the eleven children of Emmanuel +Philibert, Count Waldstein, and Maria Theresa, Princess Liechtenstein. +Very egotistic and willful in his youth, careless of his affairs, and an +imprudent gambler, at thirty years of age he had not yet settled down. +His mother was disconsolated that her son could not separate himself from +occupations "so little suited to his spirit and his birth:" + +On the 13th March 1784, Count Lamberg wrote Casanova: "I know M. le C. +de Waldstein through having heard him praised by judges worthy of +appreciating the transcendent qualities of more than one kind peculiar to +the Count. I congratulate you on having such a Maecenas, and I +congratulate him in his turn on having chosen such a man as yourself." +Which last remark certainly foreshadows the library at Dux. + +Later, on the lath March, 1785, Zaguri wrote: "In two months at the +latest, all will be settled. I am very happy." Referring further, it is +conjectured, to Casanova's hopes of placing himself with the Count. + + + + + IV + LETTERS FROM FRANCESCA + + +20th March 1784. "I see that you will print one of your books; you say +that you will send me two hundred copies which I can sell at thirty sous +each; that you will tell Zaguri and that he will advise those who wish +copies to apply to me . . ." + +This book was the Lettre historico-critique sur un fait connu dependant +d'une cause peu connue, adressee au duc de * * *, 1784. + +3rd April 1784. "I see with pleasure that you have gone to amuse +yourself in company with two ladies and that you have traveled five posts +to see the Emperor [Joseph II] . . . . You say that your fortune +consists of one sequin . . . . I hope that you obtained permission to +print your book, that you will send me the two hundred copies, and that I +may be able to sell them. . . ." + +14th April 1784. "You say that a man without money is the image of +death, that he is a very wretched animal. I learn with regret that I am +unlikely to see you at the approaching Festival of the Ascension . . . +that you hope to see me once more before dying . . . . You make me +laugh, telling me that at Vienna a balloon was made which arose in the +air with six persons and that it might be that you would go up also." + +28th April 1784. "I see, to my lively regret, that you have been in bed +with your usual ailment [hemorrhoids]. But I am pleased to know that you +are better. You certainly should go to the baths . . . . I have been +discouraged in seeing that you have not come to Venice because you have +no money .... P. S. Just at this moment I have received a good letter, +enclosing a bill of exchange, which I will go and have paid . . . ." + +5th May 1784. "I went to the house of M. Francesco Manenti, at +S. Polo di Campo, with my bill of exchange, and he gave me at once +eighteen pieces of ten lires each . . . . I figure that you made fun +of me saying seriously that you will go up in a balloon and that, if the +wind is favorable, you will go in the air to Trieste and then from +Trieste to Venice." + +19th May 1784. "I see, to my great regret, that you are in poor health +and still short of money .... You say that you need twenty sequins and +that you have only twenty trari . . . . I hope that your book is +printed. . . ." + +29th May 1784. "I note with pleasure that you are going to take the +baths; but I regret that this treatment enfeebles and depresses you. It +reassures me that you do not fail in your appetite nor your sleep.... +I hope I will not hear you say again that you are disgusted with +everything, and no longer in love with life . . . . I see that for +you, at this moment, fortune sleeps . . . . I am not surprised that +everything is so dear in the city where you are, for at Venice also one +pays dearly and everything is priced beyond reach." + +Zaguri wrote Casanova the 12th May, that he had met Francesca in the +Mongolfieri casino. And on the 2nd June Casanova, doubtless feeling his +helplessness in the matter of money, and the insufficiency of his +occasional remittances, and suspicious of Francesca's loyalty, wrote her +a letter of renunciation. Then came her news of the sale of his books; +and eighteen months passed before he wrote to her again. + +On the 12th June 1784, Francesca replied: "I could not expect to convey +to you, nor could you figure, the sorrow that tries me in seeing that you +will not occupy yourself any more with me . . . . I hid from you that +I had been with that woman who lived with us, with her companion, the +cashier of the Academie des Mongolfceristes. Although I went to this +Academy with prudence and dignity, I did not want to write you for fear +you would scold me. That is the only reason, and hereafter you may be +certain of my sincerity and frankness. . . . I beg you to forgive me +this time, if I write you something I have never written for fear that +you would be angry with me because I had not told you. Know then that +four months ago, your books which were on the mezzanine were sold to a +library for the sum of fifty lires, when we were in urgent need. It was +my mother who did it. . . ." + +26th June 1784. ". . . Mme. Zenobia [de Monti] has asked me if I +would enjoy her company. Certain that you would consent I have allowed +her to come and live with me. She has sympathy for me and has always +loved me." + +7th July 1784. "Your silence greatly disturbs me! To receive no more of +your letters! By good post I have sent you three letters, with this one, +and you have not replied to any of them. Certainly, you have reason for +being offended at me, because I hid from you something which you learned +from another . . . . But you might have seen, from my last letter, +that I have written you all the truth about my fault and that I have +asked your pardon for not writing it before.... Without you and your +help, God knows what will become of us.... For the rent of your chamber +Mme. Zenobia will give us eight lires a month and five lires for +preparing her meals. But what can one do with thirteen lires! . . . +I am afflicted and mortified . . . . Do not abandon me." + + + + V + LAST DAYS AT VIENNA + +In 1785, at Vienna, Casanova ran across Costa, his former secretary who, +in 1761, had fled from him taking "diamonds, watches, snuffbox, linen, +rich suits and a hundred louis." "In 1785, I found this runagate at +Vienna. He was then Count Erdich's man, and when we come to that period, +the reader shall hear what I did." + +Casanova did not reach this period, in writing his Memoirs, but an +account of this meeting is given by Da Ponte, who was present at it, in +his Memoirs. Costa had met with many misfortunes, as he told Casanova, +and had himself been defrauded. Casanova threatened to have him hanged, +but according to Da Ponte, was dissuaded from this by counter accusations +made by Costa. + +Da Ponte's narration of the incident is brilliant and amusing, in spite +of our feeling that it is maliciously exaggerated: "Strolling one morning +in the Graben with Casanova, I suddenly saw him knit his brows, squawk, +grind his teeth, twist himself, raise his hands skyward, and, snatching +himself away from me, throw himself on a man whom I seemed to know, +shouting with a very loud voice: 'Murderer, I have caught thee.' +A crowd having gathered as a result of this strange act and yell, I +approached them with some disgust; nevertheless, I caught Casanova's hand +and almost by force I separated him from the fray. He then told me the +story, with desperate motions and gestures, and said that his antagonist +was Gioachino Costa, by whom he had been betrayed. This Gioachino Costa, +although he had been forced to become a servant by his vices and bad +practices, and was at that very time servant to a Viennese gentleman, was +more or less of a poet. He was, in fact, one of those who had honored me +with their satire, when the Emperor Joseph selected me as poet of his +theater. Costa entered a cafe, and while I continued to walk with +Casanova, wrote and send him by a messenger, the following verses: + + 'Casanova, make no outcry; + You stole, indeed, as well as I; + You were the one who first taught me; + Your art I mastered thoroughly. + Silence your wisest course will be.' + +"These verses had the desired effect. After a brief silence, Casanova +laughed and then said softly in my ear : 'The rogue is right.' He went +into the cafe and motioned to Costa to come out; they began to walk +together calmly, as if nothing had happened, and they parted shaking +hands repeatedly and seemingly calm and friendly. Casanova returned to +me with a cameo on his little finger, which by a strange coincidence, +represented Mercury, the god-protector of thieves. This was his greatest +valuable, and it was all that was left of the immense booty, but +represented the character of the two restored friends, perfectly." + +Da Ponte precedes this account with a libellous narrative of Casanova's +relations with the Marquise d'Urfe, even stating that Casanova stole from +her the jewels stolen in turn by Costa, but, as M. Maynial remarks, we +may attribute this perverted account "solely to the rancour and antipathy +of the narrator." It is more likely that Casanova frightened Costa +almost out of his wits, was grimly amused at his misfortunes, and let him +go, since there was no remedy to Casanova's benefit, for his former +rascality. Casanova's own brief, anticipatory account is given in his +Memoirs. + +In 1797, correcting and revising his Memoirs, Casanova wrote: "Twelve +years ago, if it had not been for my guardian angel, I would have +foolishly married, at Vienna, a young, thoughtless girl, with whom I had +fallen in love." In which connection, his remark is interesting: "I have +loved women even to madness, but I have always loved liberty better; and +whenever I have been in danger of losing it, fate has come to my rescue." + +While an identification of the "young, thoughtless girl" has been +impossible, M. Rava believes her to be "C. M.," the subject of a poem +found at Dux, written in duplicate, in Italian and French, and headed +"Giacomo Casanova, in love, to C. M." + +"When, Catton, to your sight is shown the love +Which all my tenderest caresses prove, +Feeling all pleasure's sharpest joys and fears, +Burning one moment, shivering the next, +Caressing you while showering you with tears, +Giving each charm a thousand eager kisses, +Wishing to touch at once a thousand blisses +And, at the ones beyond my power, vexed, +Abandoned in a furious desire, +Leaving these charms for other charms that fire, +Possessing all and yet desiring +Until, destroyed by excesses of pleasure, +Finding no words of love nor anything +To express my fires overflowing measure +Than deepening sighs and obscure murmuring: +Ah! Then you think to read my inmost heart +To find the love that can these signs impart +....Be not deceived. These transports, amorous cries, +These kisses, tears, desires and heavy sighs, +Of all the fire which devours me +Could less than even the lightest tokens be." + +Evidently this same girl is the authoress of the two following letters +written by "Caton M . . . ." to Casanova in 1786. + +12th April 1786. "You will infinitely oblige me if you will tell me to +whom you wrote such pretty things about me; apparently it is the Abbe Da +Ponte; but I would go to his house and, either he would prove that you +had written it or I would have the honor of telling him that he is the +most infamous traducer in the world. I think that the lovely picture +which you make of my future has not as much excuse as you may think, and, +in spite of your science, you deceive yourself.... But just now I will +inform you of all my wooers and you can judge for yourself by this +whether I deserve all the reproaches you made me in your last letter. It +is two years since I came to know the Count de K . . . .; I could have +loved him but I was too honest to be willing to satisfy his desires . . +. . Some months afterward, I came to know the Count de M . . .; he was +not so handsome as K . . . . but he possessed every possible art for +seducing a girl; I did everything for him, but I never loved him as much +as his friend. In fine, to tell you all my giddinesses in a few words, I +set everything right again with K . . . . and got myself into a +quarrel with M . . . ., then I left K. . . . and returned to M . +. . ., but at the house of the latter there was always an officer who +pleased me more than both the two others and who sometimes conducted me +to the house; then we found ourselves at the house of a friend, and it is +of this same officer that I am ill. So, my dear friend, that is all. I +do not seek to justify my past conduct; on the contrary, I know well that +I have acted badly.... I am much afflicted at being the cause of your +remaining away from Venice during the Carnival . . . . I hope to see +you soon again and am, with much love, + +Monsieur, your sincere +Caton M. . . ." + +16th July 1786. "I have spoken with the Abbe Da Ponte. He invited me to +come to his house because, he said, he had something to tell me for you. +I went there, but was received so coldly that I am resolved not to go +there again. Also, Mlle. Nanette affected an air of reserve and took at +on herself to read me lessons on what she was pleased to call my +libertinism . . . . I beg that you will write nothing more about me +to these two very dangerous personages.... Just now I will tell you of a +little trick which I played on you, which without doubt deserves some +punishment. The young, little Kasper, whom you formerly loved, came to +ask me for the address of her dear Monsieur de Casanova, so that she +could write a very tender letter full of recollections. I had too much +politeness to wish to refuse a pretty girl, who was once the favorite of +my lover, so just a request, so I gave her the address she wished; but I +addressed the letter to a city far from you. Is it not, my dear friend, +that you would like well to know the name of the city, so that you could +secure the letter by posts. But you can depend on my word that you will +not know it until you have written me a very long letter begging me very +humbly to indicate the place where the divine letter of the adorable +object of your vows has gone. You might well make this sacrifice for a +girl in whom the Emperor [Joseph II] interests himself, for it is known +that, since your departure from Vienna, it is he who is teaching her +French and music; and apparently he takes the trouble of instructing her +himself, for she often goes to his house to thank him for his kindnesses +to her, but I know not in what way she expresses herself. + +"Farewell, my dear friend. Think sometimes of me and believe that I am +your sincere friend. + +On the 23rd April 1785, the ambassador Foscarini died, depriving Casanova +of a protector, probably leaving him without much money, and not in the +best of health. He applied for the position of secretary to Count +Fabris, his former friend, whose name had been changed from Tognolo, but +without success. Casanova then determined to go to Berlin in the hope of +a place in the Academy. On the 30th July he arrived at Bruen in Moravia, +where his friend Maximilian-Joseph, Count Lamberg gave him, among other +letters of recommendation, a letter addressed to Jean-Ferdinand Opiz, +Inspector of Finances and Banks at Czaslau, in which he wrote: + +"A celebrated man, M. Casanova, will deliver to you, my dear friend, the +visiting card with which he is charged for Mme. Opiz and yourself. +Knowing this amiable and remarkable man, will mark an epoch in your life, +be polite and friendly to him, 'quod ipsi facies in mei memoriam +faciatis'. Keep yourself well, write to me, and if you can direct him +to some honest man at Carlsbad, fail not to do so. . . .' + +On the 15th August 1785, M. Opiz wrote Count Lamberg about Casanova's +visit: + +"Your letter of the 30th, including your cards for my wife and myself, +was delivered the first of this month by M. Casanova. He was very +anxious to meet the Princess Lubomirski again at Carlsbad. But as +something about his carriage was broken, he was obliged to stop in +Czaslau for two hours which he passed in my company. He has left Czaslau +with the promise of giving me a day on his return. I am already +delighted. Even in the short space of time in which I enjoyed his +company, I found in him a man worthy of our highest consideration and of +our love, a benevolent philosopher whose homeland is the great expanse of +our planet (and not Venice alone) and who values only the men in the +kings . . . . I know absolutely no one at Carlsbad, so I sincerely +regret being unable to recommend him to anyone there, according to your +desire. He did not wish, on account of his haste, to pause even at +Prague and, consequently, to deliver, at this time, your letter to Prince +Furstemberg." + + + + + + PART THE THIRD + DUX + 1786-1798 + I + THE CASTLE AT DUX + + +It is uncertain how long Casanova remained at Carlsbad. While there, +however, he met again the Polish nobleman Zawoiski, with whom he had +gambled in Venice in 1746. "As to Zawoiski, I did not tell him the story +until I met him in Carlsbad old and deaf, forty years later." He did not +return to Czaslau, but in September 1785 he was at Teplitz where he found +Count Waldstein whom he accompanied to his castle at Dux. + +>From this time onward he remained almost constantly at the castle where +he was placed in charge of the Count's library and given a pension of one +thousand florins annually. + +Describing his visit to the castle in 1899, Arthur Symons writes: "I had +the sensation of an enormous building: all Bohemian castles are big, but +this one was like a royal palace. Set there in the midst of the town, +after the Bohemian fashion, it opens at the back upon great gardens, as +if it were in the midst of the country. I walked through room after +room, corridor after corridor; everywhere there were pictures, everywhere +portraits of Wallenstein, and battle scenes in which he led on his +troops. The library, which was formed, or at least arranged, by +Casanova, and which remains as he left it, contains some twenty-five +thousand volumes, some of them of considerable value . . . . The +library forms part of the Museum, which occupies a ground-floor wing of +the castle. The first room is an armoury, in which all kinds of arms are +arranged, in a decorative way, covering the ceiling and the walls with +strange patterns. The second room contains pottery, collected by +Casanova's Waldstein on his Eastern travels. The third room is full of +curious mechanical toys, and cabinets, and carvings in ivory. Finally, +we come to the library, contained in the two innermost rooms. The book +shelves are painted white and reach to the low vaulted ceilings, which +are whitewashed. At the end of a bookcase, in the corner of one of the +windows, hangs a fine engraved portrait of Casanova." + +In this elaborate setting, Casanova found the refuge he so sadly needed +for his last years. The evil days of Venice and Vienna, and the problems +and makeshifts of mere existence, were left behind. And for this refuge +he paid the world with his Memoirs. + + + + + II + LETTERS FROM FRANCESCA + +In 1786, Casanova renewed his correspondence with Francesca, who wrote: + +1st July 1786. "After a silence of a year and a half, I received from +you yesterday a good letter which has consoled me in informing me that +you are in perfect health. But, on the other hand, I was much pained to +see that in your letter you did not call me Friend, but Madame . . . . +You have reason to chide me and to reproach me for having rented a house +without surety or means of paying the rent. As to the advice you give me +that if some honest person would pay me my rent, or at least a part of +it, I should have no scruples about taking it because a little more, or a +little less, would be of little importance . . . . I declare to you +that I have been disconsolated at receiving from you such a reproach +which is absolutely unjustified . . . . You tell me that you have +near you a young girl who merits all your solicitations and your love, +she and her family of six persons who adore you and give you every +attention; that she costs you all you have, so that you cannot send me +even a sou . . . . I am pained to hear you say that you will never +return to Venice, and yet I hope to see you again. . . ." + +The "young girl" referred to in Francesca's letter was Anna-Dorothea +Kleer, daughter of the porter of the castle. This young girl became +pregnant in 1786 and Casanova was accused of seducing her. The guilty +one, however, was a painter named Schottner who married the unfortunate +girl in January 1787. + + 9th August 1786. + +"My only true friend, + +"It is two days since I received your dear letter; I was very happy to +see your writing .... You have reason to mortify me and reproach me in +recalling all the troubles I caused you, and especially that which you +call treachery, the sale of your books, of which in part I was not guilty +. . . . Forgive me, my dear friend, me and my foolish mother who, +despite all my objections, absolutely insisted on selling them. +Regarding that which you write me that you know that my mother, last +year, told about that you had been my ruin, this may unhappily be true, +since you already know the evil thoughts of my mother, who even says that +you are still at Venice . . . . When have I not been always sincere +with you, and when have I not at least listened to your good advices and +offers? I am in a desperate situation, abandoned by all, almost in the +streets, almost about to be homeless . . . . Where are all the +pleasures which formerly you procured me? Where are the theatres, the +comedies which we once saw together? . . ." + + + 5th January 1787. + +"The first of the year I received your dear letter with the bill of +exchange for one hundred and twenty-five lires which you sent me so +generously . . . . You say you have forgiven me for all the troubles +I have caused you. Forget all, then, and do not accuse me any more of +things which are but too true and of which the remembrance alone cuts me +to the heart . . . . You write me that you have been forgotten by a +person of whom you were very fond, that she is married and that you have +not seen her for more than a month." + +The "person" referred to was Anna Kleer. + + + 5th October 1787. + +. . "Until the other day, I had been waiting for your arrival, hoping +that you would come to assist at the entry of the Procurator Memmo.... +I see by your good letter that you were not able to get away, since your +presence is nearly always necessary in the great castle . . . . +I learn of the visit you have received from the Emperor who wished to see +your library of forty-thousand volumes! . . . You say that you detest +the chase and that you are unhappy when politeness obliges you to go . . +. . I am pleased to know that you are in good health, that you are +stout and that you have a good appetite and sleep well . . . . I hope +that the printing of your book [Histoire de ma fuite] is going according +to your wishes. If you go to Dresden for the marriage of your niece, +enjoy yourself for me . . . . Forget not to write to me; this gives +me such pleasure! Remember me. Full of confidence in your friendship, I +am, and always will be, your true and sincere friend, + +Francesca Buschina." + + + + + III + CORRESPONDENCE AND ACTIVITIES + +In 1787, a book was published under the title of 'Dreissig Brief uber +Galizien by Traunpaur', which included this passage: "The most famous +adventurers of two sorts (there are two, in fact: honest adventurers and +adventurers of doubtful reputation) have appeared on the scene of the +kingdom of Poland. The best known on the shores of the Vistula are: the +miraculous Cagliostro: Boisson de Quency, grand charlatan, soldier of +fortune, decorated with many orders, member of numerous Academies: the +Venetian Casanova of Saint-Gall, a true savant, who fought a duel with +Count Branicki: the Baron de Poellnitz . . . the lucky Count Tomatis, +who knew so well how to correct fortune, and many others." + +In June 1789, Casanova received a letter from Teresa Boisson de Quency, +the wife of the adventurer above referred to: + +"Much honored Monsieur Giacomo: + +"For a long time I have felt a very particular desire to evidence to you +the estimation due your spirit and your eminent qualities: the superb +sonnet augmented my wish. But the inconveniences of childbirth and the +cares required by a little girl whom I adore, made me defer this +pleasure. During my husband's absence, your last and much honored letter +came to my hands. Your amiable compliments to me, engage me to take the +pen to give you renewed assurance that you have in me a sincere admirer +of your great talent . . . . When I wish to point out a person who +writes and thinks with excellence, I name Monsieur Casanova . . . ." + +In 1793, Teresa de Quency wished to return to Venice at which time Zaguri +wrote Casanova: "The Bassani has received letters from her husband which +tell her nothing more than that he is alive." + +Casanova passed the months of May, June and July 1788 at Prague, +supervising the printing of the Histoire de ma fuite. + +"I remember laughing very heartily at Prague, six years ago, on learning +that some thin-skinned ladies, on reading my flight from The Leads, which +was published at that date, took great offense at the above account, +which they thought I should have done well to leave out." + +In May he was troubled with an attack of the grippe. In October, he was +in Dresden, apparently with his brother. Around this time "The +Magdalene," a painting by Correggio, was stolen from the Museum of the +Elector. + +On the 30th October 1788, Casanova wrote to the Prince Belozelski, +Russian Minister to the Court of Dresden: "Tuesday morning, after having +embraced my dear brother, I got into a carriage to return here. At the +barrier on the outskirts of Dresden, I was obliged to descend, and six +men carried the two chests of my carriage, my two night-bags and my +capelire into a little chamber on the ground level, demanded my keys, and +examined everything . . . . The youngest of these infamous executors +of such an order told me they were searching for 'The Magdalene! . . . +The oldest had the impudence to put his hands on my waistcoat . . . . +At last they let me go. + +"This, my prince, delayed me so that I could not reach Petervalden by +daylight. I stopped at an evil tavern where, dying of famine and rage, I +ate everything I saw; and, wishing to drink and not liking beer, I gulped +down some beverage which my host told me was good and which did not seem +unpleasant. He told me that it was Pilnitz Moste. This beverage aroused +a rebellion in my guts. I passed the night tormented by a continual +diarrhoea. I arrived here the day before yesterday (the 28th), where I +found an unpleasant duty awaiting me. Two months ago, I brought a woman +here to cook, needing her while the Count is away; as soon as she +arrived, I gave her a room and I went to Leipzig. On returning here, I +found three servants in the hands of surgeons and all three blame my cook +for putting them in such a state. The Count's courier had already told +me, at Leipzig, that she had crippled him. Yesterday the Count arrived +and would do nothing but laugh, but I have sent her back and exhorted her +to imitate the Magdalene. The amusing part is that she is old, ugly and +ill-smelling." + +In 1789, 1791 and 1792, Casanova received three letters from Maddalena +Allegranti, the niece of J. B. Allegranti the innkeeper with whom +Casanova lodged at Florence in 1771. "This young person, still a child, +was so pretty, so gracious, with such spirit and such charms, that she +incessantly distracted me. Sometimes she would come into my chamber to +wish me good-morning . . . . Her appearance, her grace, the sound of +her voice . . . were more than I could resist; and, fearing the +seduction would excuse mine, I could find no other expedient than to take +flight . . . . Some years later, Maddalena became a celebrated +musician. + +At this period of Casanova's life, we hear again of the hussy who so +upset Casanova during his visit to London that he was actually on the +point of committing suicide through sheer desperation. On the 20th +September 1789, he wrote to the Princess Clari, sister of the Prince de +Ligne: "I am struck by a woman at first sight, she completely ravishes +me, and I am perhaps lost, for she may be a Charpillon." + +There were, among the papers at Dux, two letters from Marianne +Charpillon, and a manuscript outlining the story of Casanova's relations +with her and her family, as detailed in the Memoirs: With the story in +mind, the letters from this girl, "the mistress, now of one, now of +another," are of interest: + +"I know not, Monsieur, whether you forgot the engagement Saturday last; +as for me, I remember that you consented to give us the pleasure of +having you at dinner to-day, Monday, the 12th of the month. I would +greatly like to know whether your ill-humor has left you; this would +please me. Farewell, in awaiting the honor of seeing you. + +Marianne de Charpillon." + + +"Monsieur, + +"As I have a part in all which concerns you, I am greatly put out to know +of the new illness which incommodes you; I hope that this will be so +trifling that we will have the pleasure of seeing you well and at our +house, to-day or to-morrow. + +"And, in truth, the gift which you sent me is so pretty that I know not +how to express to you the pleasure it has given me and how much I value +it; and I cannot see why you must always provoke me by telling me that it +is my fault that you are filled with bile, while I am as innocent as a +new-born babe and would wish you so gentle and patient that your blood +would become a true clarified syrup; this will come to you if you follow +my advice. I am, Monsieur, + +Your very humble servant, +[Marianne Charpillon] +Wednesday at six o'clock" + + +On the 8th April, 1790, Zaguri wrote in reference to vertigo of which +Casanova complained: "Have you tried riding horseback? Do you not think +that is an excellent preservative? I tried it this last summer and I +find myself very well" + +In 1790, Casanova had a conversation with the Emperor Joseph II at +Luxemburg, on the subject of purchased nobility, which he reports in the +Memoirs. + +This same year, attending the coronation of Leopold at Prague, Casanova +met his grandson (and, probably, as he himself believed, his own son), +the son of Leonilda, who was the daughter of Casanova and Donna Lucrezia, +and who was married to the Marquis C . . . . In 1792, Leonilda wrote, +inviting Casanova to "spend the remainder of my days with her." + +In February 1791, Casanova wrote to Countess Lamberg: "I have in my +capitularies more than four hundred sentences which pass for aphorisms +and which include all the tricks which place one word for another. One +can read in Livy that Hannibal overcame the Alps by means of vinegar. No +elephant ever uttered such a stupidity. Livy? Not at all. Livy was not +a beast; it is you who are, foolish instructor of credulous youth! Livy +did not say aceto which means vinegar, but aceta which means axe" + +In April 1791, Casanova wrote to Carlo Grimani at Venice, stating that he +felt he had committed a great fault in publishing his libel, 'Ne amori ne +donne', and very humbly begging his pardon. Also that his Memoirs would +be composed of six volumes in octavo with a seventh supplementary volume +containing codicils. + +In June, Casanova composed for the theater of Princess Clari, at Teplitz, +a piece entitled: 'Le Polemoscope ou la Calomnie demasquee par la +presence d'esprit, tragicomedie en trois actes'. The manuscript was +preserved at Dux, together with another form of the same, having the sub- +title of 'La Lorgnette Menteuse ou la Calomnie demasquee'. It may be +assumed that the staging of this piece was an occasion of pleasant +activity for Casanova. + +In January 1792, during Count Waldstein's absence in London or Paris, +Casanova was embroiled with M. Faulkircher, maitre d'hotel, over the +unpleasant matter indicated in two of Casanova's letters to this +functionary: + +"Your rascally Vidierol . . . tore my portrait out of one of my books, +scrawled my name on it, with the epithet which you taught him and then +stuck it on the door of the privy .... + +"Determined to make sure of the punishment of your infamous valet, and +wishing at the same time to give proof of my respect for Count Waldstein, +not forgetting that, as a last resort, I have the right to invade his +jurisdiction, I took an advocate, wrote my complaint and had it +translated into German . . . . Having heard of this at Teplitz, and +having known that I would not save your name, you came to my chamber to +beg me to write whatever I wished but not to name you because it would +place you wrong before the War Council and expose you to the loss of your +pension . . . . I have torn up my first complaint and have written a +second in Latin, which an advocate of Bilin has translated for me and +which I have deposited at the office of the judiciary at Dux...." + +Following this matter, Casanova attended the Carnival at Oberleutensdorf, +and left at Dux a manuscript headed 'Passe temps de Jacques Casanova de +Seingalt pour le carnaval de l'an 1792 dans le bourg d'Oberleutensdorf'. +While in that city, meditating on the Faulkircher incident, he wrote also +'Les quinze pardons, monologue nocturne du bibliothecaire', also +preserved in manuscript at Dux, in which we read: + +"Gerron, having served twenty years as a simple soldier, acquired a great +knowledge of military discipline. This man was not yet seventy years +old. He had come to believe, partly from practice, partly from theory, +that twenty blows with a baton on the rump are not dishonoring. When the +honest soldier was unfortunate enough to deserve them, he accepted them +with resignation. The pain was sharp, but not lasting; it did not +deprive him of either appetite nor honor . . . . Gerron, becoming a +corporal, had obtained no idea of any kind of sorrow other than that +coming from the blows of a baton on the rump . . . . On this idea, he +thought that the soul of an honest man was no different than a soldier's +breech. If Gerron caused trouble to the spirit of a man of honor, he +thought that this spirit, like his own, had only a rump, and that any +trouble he caused would pass likewise. He deceived himself. The breech +of the spirit of an honest man is different than the breech of the spirit +of a Gerron who rendered compatible the rank of a military officer with +the vile employments of a domestic and the stable-master of some +particular lord. Since Gerron deceived himself, we must pardon him +all his faults . . ." etc. + +Casanova complained of the Faulkircher incident to the mother of Count +Waldstein, who wrote: "I pity you, Monsieur, for being obliged to live +among such people and in such evil company, but my son will not forget +that which he owes to himself and I am sure he will give you all the +satisfaction you wish." Also to his friend Zaguri, who wrote, the 16th +March: "I hope that the gout in your hand will not torment you any more . +. . . You have told me the story I asked about and which begins: 'Two +months have passed since an officer, who is at Vienna, insulted me!' I +cannot understand whether he who wrote you an insulting letter is at +Vienna or whether he is at Dux. When will the Count return?.... You +should await his return because you would have, among other reasons to +present to him, that of not wishing to have recourse to other +jurisdiction than his.... You say your letters have been intercepted? +Someone has put your portrait in the privy? The devil! It is a miracle +that you have not killed someone. Positively, I am curious to know the +results and I hope that you make no mistakes in this affair which appears +to me very delicate." + +In August 1792, or thereabouts, Da Ponte on his way to Dresden, visited +Casanova at Dux, in the hope of collecting an old debt, but gave up this +hope on realizing Casanova's limited resources. In the winter of 1792-3 +Da Ponte found himself in great distress in Holland. "Casanova was the +only man to whom I could apply," he writes in his Memoirs. "To better +dispose him, I thought to write him in verse, depicting my troubles and +begging him to send me some money on account of that which he still owed +me. Far from considering my request, he contented himself with replying, +in vulgar prose, by a laconic billet which I transcribe: 'When Cicero +wrote to his friends, he avoided telling them of his affairs.'" + +In May 1793, Da Ponte wrote from London: "Count Waldstein has lived a +very obscure life in London, badly lodged, badly dressed, badly served, +always in cabarets, cafes, with porters, with rascals, with . . . we +will leave out the rest. He has the heart of an angel and an excellent +character, but not so good a head as ours. + +Toward the end of 1792, Cssanova wrote a letter to Robespierre, which, as +he advises M. Opiz, the 13th January 1793, occupied one hundred and +twenty folio pages. This letter was not to be found at Dux and it may +possibly have been sent, or may have been destroyed by Casanova on the +advice of Abbe O'Kelly. Casanova's feelings were very bitter over the +trial of Louis XVI., and in his letters to M. Opiz he complained bitterly +of the Jacobins and predicted the ruin of France. Certainly, to +Casanova, the French Revolution represented the complete overthrow of +many of his cherished illusions. + +On the 1st August 1793, Wilhelmina Rietz, Countess Lichtenau (called the +Pompadour of Frederic-William II., King of Prussia) wrote to the +librarian at Dux: + +"Monsieur + +"It seems impossible to know where Count Valstaine [Waldstein] is +staying, whether he is in Europe, Africa, America, or possibly the +Megamiques. If he is there, you are the only one who could insure his +receiving the enclosed letter. + +"For my part, I have not yet had time to read their history, but the +first reading I do will assuredly be that. + +"Mademoiselle Chappuis has the honor of recalling herself to your memory, +and I have that of being your very humble servant, + +Wilhelmina Rietz." + + +The allusions to a "history" and to the 'Megamiques' in this letter refer +to Casanova's romance, 'Icosameron'. + +About this time, Count Waldstein returned to Dux after having been, at +Paris, according to Da Ponte, concerned in planning the flight of Louis +XVI., and in attempting to save the Princess Lamballe. On the 17th +August, Casanova replied to the above letter: + +"Madame, + +"I handed the Count your letter two minutes after having received it, +finding him easily. I told him that he should respond at once, for the +post was ready to go; but, as he begged to wait for the following +ordinary, I did not insist. The day before yesterday, he begged me to +wait again, but he did not find me so complaisant. I respond to you, +Madame, for his carelessness in replying to letters is extreme; he is so +shameful that he is in despair when he is obliged to it. Although he may +not respond, be sure of seeing him at your house at Berlin after the +Leipzig Fair, with a hundred bad excuses which you will laugh at and +pretend to believe good ones . . . . This last month, my wish to see +Berlin again has become immeasurable, and I will do my best to have Count +Waldstein take me there in the month of October or at least to permit me +to go . . . . You have given me an idea of Berlin far different than +that the city left with me when I passed four months there twenty-nine +years ago . . . . If my 'Icosameron' interests you, I offer you its +Spirit. I wrote it here two years ago and I would not have published it +if I had not dared hope that the Theological Censor would permit it. At +Berlin no one raised the least difficulty . . . . If circumstances do +not permit me to pay you my respects at Berlin, I hope for the happiness +of seeing you here next year . . . ." + +Sometime after this and following his quarrel with M. Opiz, Casanova +evidently passed through a period of depression, as indicated by a +manuscript at Dux, headed "Short reflection of a philosopher who finds +himself thinking of procuring his own death," and dated "the 13th +December 1793, the day dedicated to S. Lucie, remarkable in my too long +life." + +"Life is a burden to me. What is the metaphysical being who prevents me +from slaying myself? It is Nature. What is the other being who enjoins +me to lighten the burdens of that life which brings me only feeble +pleasures and heavy pains? It is Reason. Nature is a coward which, +demanding only conservation, orders me to sacrifice all to its existence. +Reason is a being which gives me resemblance to God, which treads +instinct under foot and which teaches me to choose the best way after +having well considered the reasons. It demonstrates to me that I am a +man in imposing silence on the Nature which opposes that action which +alone could remedy all my ills. + +"Reason convinces me that the power I have of slaying myself is a +privilege given me by God, by which I perceive that I am superior to all +animals created in the world; for there is no animal who can slay itself +nor think of slaying itself, except the scorpion, which poisons itself, +but only when the fire which surrounds it convinces it that it cannot +save itself from being burned. This animal slays itself because it fears +fire more than death. Reason tells me imperiously that I have the right +to slay myself, with the divine oracle of Cen: 'Qui non potest vivere +bene non vivat male.' These eight words have such power that it is +impossible that a man to whom life is a burden could do other than slay +himself on first hearing them." + +Certainly, however, Casanova did not deceive himself with these sophisms, +and Nature, who for many years had unquestionably lavished her gifts on +him, had her way. + +Over the end of the year, the two mathematicians, Casanova and Opiz, at +the request of Count Waldstein, made a scientific examination of the +reform of the calendar as decreed the 5th October 1793 by the National +Convention. + +In January 1795, Casanova wrote to the Princess Lobkowitz to thank her +for her gift of a little dog. On the 16th the Princess wrote from +Vienna: + +"Monsieur, + +"I am enchanted at the charming reception you accorded the dog which I +sent you when I learned of the death of your well-loved greyhound, +knowing that she would nowhere be better cared for than with you, +Monsieur. I hope with all my heart that she has all the qualities which +may, in some fashion, help you to forget the deceased . . . ." + + +In the autumn of 1795, Casanova left Dux. The Prince de Ligne writes in +his Memoirs: "God directed him to leave Dux. Scarcely believing in more +than his death, which he no longer doubted, he pretended that each thing +he had done was by the direction of God and this was his guide. God +directed him to ask me for letters of recommendation to the Duke of +Weimar, who was my good friend, to the Duchess of Gotha, who did not know +me, and to the Jews of Berlin. And he departed secretly, leaving for +Count Waldstein a letter at once tender, proud, honest and irritating. +Waldstein laughed and said he would return. Casanova waited in ante- +chambers; no one would place him either as governor, librarian or +chamberlain. He said everywhere that the Germans were thorough beasts. +The excellent and very amiable Duke of Weimer welcomed him wonderfully; +but in an instant he became jealous of Goethe and Wieland, who were under +the Duke's protection. He declaimed against them and against the +literature of the country which he did not, and could not, know. At +Berlin, he declaimed against the ignorance, the superstition and the +knavery of the Hebrews to whom I had addressed him, drawing meanwhile, +for the money they claimed of him, bills of exchange on the Count who +laughed, paid, and embraced him when he returned. Casanova laughed, +wept, and told him that God had ordered him to make this trip of six +weeks, to leave without speaking of it, and to return to his chamber at +Dux. Enchanted at seeing us again, he agreeably related to us all the +misfortunes which had tried him and to which his susceptibility gave the +name of humiliations. 'I am proud,' he said, 'because I am nothing'. . +. . Eight days after his return, what new troubles! Everyone had been +served strawberries before him, and none remained for him." + +The Prince de Ligne, although he was Casanova's sincere friend and +admirer, gives a rather somber picture of Casanova's life at Dux: "It +must not be imagined that he was satisfied to live quietly in the refuge +provided him through the kindness of Waldstein. That was not within his +nature. Not a day passed without trouble; something was certain to be +wrong with the coffee, the milk, the dish of macaroni, which he required +each day. There were always quarrels in the house. The cook had ruined +his polenta; the coachman had given him a bad driver to bring him to see +me; the dogs had barked all night; there had been more guests than usual +and he had found it necessary to eat at a side table. Some hunting-horn +had tormented his ear with its blasts; the priest had been trying to +convert him; Count Waldstein had not anticipated his morning greeting; +the servant had delayed with his wine; he had not been introduced to some +distinguished personage who had come to see the lance which had pierced +the side of the great Wallenstein; the Count had lent a book without +telling him; a groom had not touched his hat to him; his German speech +had been misunderstood; he had become angry and people had laughed at +him." + +Like Count Waldstein, however, the Prince de Ligne made the widest +allowances, understanding the chafing of Casanova's restless spirit. +"Casanova has a mind without an equal, from which each word is +extraordinary and each thought a book." + +On the 16th December, he wrote Casanova: "One is never old with your +heart, your genius and your stomach." + +Casanova's own comment on his trip away from Dux will be found in the +Memoirs. "Two years ago, I set out for Hamburg, but my good genius made +me return to Dux. What had I to do at Hamburg?" + +On the 10th December, Casanova's brother Giovanni [Jean] died. He was +the Director of the Academy of Painting at Dresden. Apparently the two +brothers could not remain friends. + +Giovanni left two daughters, Teresa and Augusta, and two sons, Carlo and +Lorenzo. While he was unable to remain friendly with his brother, +Casanova apparently wished to be of assistance to his nieces, who were +not in the best of circumstances, and he exchanged a number of letters +with Teresa after her father's death. + +On the occasion of Teresa Casanova's visit to Vienna in 1792, Princess +Clari, oldest sister of the Prince de Ligne, wrote of her: "She is +charming in every way, pretty as love, always amiable; she has had great +success. Prince Kaunitz loves her to the point of madness." + +In a letter of the 25th April 1796, Teresa assured her "very amiable and +very dear uncle" that the cautions, which occupied three-fourths of his +letter, were unnecessary; and compared him with his brother Francois, to +the injury of the latter. On the 5th May, Teresa wrote: + +"Before thanking you for your charming letter, my very kind uncle, I +should announce the issue of our pension of one hundred and sixty crowns +a year, which is to say, eighty crowns apiece; I am well satisfied for +I did not hope to receive so much." In the same letter, Teresa spoke of +seeing much of a "charming man," Don Antonio, who was no other than the +rascally adventurer Don Antonio della Croce with whom Casanova had been +acquainted since 1753, who assisted Casanova in losing a thousand sequins +at Milan in 1763; who in 1767, at Spa, following financial reverses, +abandoned his pregnant mistress to the charge of Casanova; and who in +August 1795, wrote to Casanova: "Your letter gave me great pleasure as +the sweet souvenir of our old friendship, unique and faithful over a +period of fifty years." + +It is probable that, at this time, Casanova visited Dresden and Berlin +also. In his letter "To Leonard Snetlage," he writes: "'That which +proves that revolution should arrive,' a profound thinker said to me in +Berlin, last year, 'is that it has arrived.'" + +On the 1st March, 1798, Carlo Angiolini, the son of Maria Maddalena, +Casanova's sister, wrote to Casanova: "This evening, Teresa will marry M. +le Chambellan de Veisnicht [Von Wessenig] whom you know well." This +desirable marriage received the approval of Francesco also. Teresa, as +the Baroness Wessenig, occupied a prominent social position at Dresden. +She died in 1842. + +Between the 13th February and the 6th December 1796, Casanova engaged in +a correspondence with Mlle. Henriette de Schuckmann who was visiting at +Bayreuth. This Henriette (unfortunately not the Henriette of the Memoirs +whose "forty letters" to Casanova apparently have not been located), had +visited the library at Dux in the summer of 1786. "I was with the +Chamberlain Freiberg, and I was greatly moved, as much by your +conversation as by your kindness which provided me with a beautiful +edition of Metastasio, elegantly bound in red morocco." Finding herself +at Bayreuth in an enforced idleness and wishing a stimulant, wishing also +to borrow some books, she wrote Casanova, under the auspices of Count +Koenig, a mutual friend, the 13th February 1796, recalling herself to his +memory. Casanova responded to her overtures and five of her letters were +preserved at Dux. On the 28th May Henriette wrote: + +"But certainly, my good friend, your letters have given me the greatest +pleasure, and it is with a rising satisfaction that I pore over all you +say to me. I love, I esteem, I cherish, your frankness . . . . +I understand you perfectly and I love to distraction the lively and +energetic manner with which you express yourself." + +On the 30th September, she wrote: "You will read to-day, if you please, a +weary letter; for your silence, Monsieur, has given me humors. A promise +is a debt, and in your last letter you promised to write me at least a +dozen pages. I have every right to call you a bad debtor; I could summon +you before a court of justice; but all these acts of vengeance would not +repair the loss which I have endured through my hope and my fruitless +waiting . . . . It is your punishment to read this trivial page; +but although my head is empty, my heart is not so, and it holds for you +a very living friendship." + +In March 1797, this Henriette went to Lausanne and in May from there to +her father's home at Mecklenburg. + + + + + IV + CORRESPONDENCE WITH JEAN-FERDINAND OPIZ + + +On the 27th July 1792, Casanova wrote M. Opiz that he had finished the +twelfth volume of his Memoirs, with his age at forty-seven years [1772]. +"Our late friend, the worthy Count Max Josef Lamberg," he added, "could +not bear the idea of my burning my Memoirs, and expecting to survive me, +had persuaded me to send him the first four volumes. But now there is no +longer any questions that his good soul has left his organs. Three weeks +ago I wept for his death, all the more so as he would still be living if +he had listened to me. I am, perhaps, the only one who knows the truth. +He who slew him was the surgeon Feuchter at Cremsir, who applied thirty- +six mercurial plasters on a gland in his left groin which was swollen but +not by the pox, as I am sure by the description he gave me of the cause +of the swelling. The mercury mounted to his esophagus and, being able to +swallow neither solids nor fluids, he died the 23rd June of positive +famine . . . . The interest of the bungling surgeon is to say that he +died of the pox. This is not true, I beg, you to give the lie to anyone +you hear saying it. I have before my eyes four hundred and sixty of his +letters over which I weep and which I will burn. I have asked Count +Leopold to burn mine, which he had saved, and I hope that he will please +me by doing it. I have survived all my true friends. 'Tempus abire mihi +est' Horace says to me. + +"Returning to my Memoirs . . . I am a detestable man; but I do not +care about having it known, and I do not aspire to the honor of the +detestation of posterity. My work is full of excellent moral +instructions. But to what good, if the charming descriptions of my +offences excite the readers more to action than to repentance? +Furthermore, knowing readers would divine the names of all the women and +of the men which I have masked, whose transgressions are unknown to the +world, my indiscretion would injure them, they would cry out against my +perfidy, even though every word of my history were true . . . . Tell +me yourself whether or not I should burn my work? I am curious to have +your advice." + +On the 6th May 1793, Casanova wrote Opiz: "The letter of recommendation +you ask of me to the professor my brother for your younger son, honors +me; and there is no doubt that, having for you all the estimation your +qualities merit, I should send it to you immediately. But this cannot +be. And here is the reason. My brother is my enemy; he has given me +sure indications of it and it appears that his hate will not cease until +I no longer exist. I hope that he may long survive me and be happy. +This desire is my only apology." + +"The epigraph of the little work which I would give to the public," +Casanova wrote the 23rd August 1793, "is 'In pondere et mensura'. It is +concerned with gravity and measure. I would demonstrate not only that +the course of the stars is irregular but also that it is susceptible only +to approximate measures and that consequently we must join physical and +moral calculations in establishing celestial movements. For I prove that +all fixed axes must have a necessarily irregular movement of oscillation, +from which comes a variation in all the necessary curves of the planets +which compose their eccentricities and their orbits. I demonstrate that +light has neither body nor spirit; I demonstrate that it comes in an +instant from its respective star; I demonstrate the impossibility of many +parallaxes and the uselessness of many others. I criticize not only +Tiko-Brahi, but also Kepler and Newton . . . . + +"I wish to send you my manuscript and give you the trouble of publishing +it with my name at Prague or elsewhere . . . . I will sell it to the +printer or to yourself for fifty florins and twenty-five copies on fine +paper when it is printed." + +But Opiz replied: + +"As the father of a family, I do not feel myself authorized to dispose of +my revenues on the impulse of my fancy or as my heart suggests.... and +no offer of yours could make me a book-seller." + +This shows plainly enough that Opiz, for all his interest in Casanova, +had not the qualities of true friendship. + +On the 6th September 1793, Casanova wrote: + +"I will have my Reveries printed at Dresden, and I will be pleased to +send you a copy. I laughed a little at your fear that I would take +offense because you did not want my manuscript by sending me the +ridiculous sum I named to you. This refusal, my dear friend, did not +offend me. On the contrary it was useful as an aid in knowing character. +Add to this that in making the offer I thought to make you a gift. Fear +nothing from the event. Your system of economy will never interfere with +either my proceedings or my doctrines; and I am in no need of begging +you, for I think that your action followed only your inclination and +consequently your greatest pleasure." + +On the insistence of Opiz, Casanova continued his correspondence, but he +passed over nothing more, neither in exact quotations from Latin authors, +nor solecisms, nor lame reasonings. He even reproached him for his poor +writing and did not cease joking at the philanthropic and amiable +sentiments Opiz loved to parade while at the same time keeping his purse- +strings tight. A number of quarreling letters followed, after which the +correspondence came to an end. One of Casanova's last letters, that of +the 2nd February 1794, concludes: "One day M. de Bragadin said to me: +'Jacques, be careful never to convince a quibbler, for he will become +your enemy.' After this wise advice I avoided syllogism, which tended +toward conviction. But in spite of this you have become my enemy. . . ." + +Among the Casanova manuscripts at Dux was one giving his final comment on +his relations with Opiz. Accusing Opiz of bringing about a quarrel, +Casanova nevertheless admits that he himself may not be blameless, but +lays this to his carelessness. "I have a bad habit," he writes, "of not +reading over my letters. If, in re-reading those I wrote to M. Opiz, +I had found them bitter, I would have burned them." Probably Casanova +struck the root of the matter in his remark, "Perfect accord is the first +charm of a reciprocal friendship." The two men were primarily of +so different a temperament, that they apparently could not long agree +even on subjects on which they were most in accord. + +The complete correspondence is of very considerable interest. + + + + + V + PUBLICATIONS + + +In 1786, Casanova published 'Le soliloque d'un penseur', in which he +speaks of Saint-Germain and of Cagliostro. On the 23rd December 1792, +Zaguri wrote Casanova that Cagliostro was in prison at San Leo. "Twenty +years ago, I told Cagliostro not to set his foot in Rome, and if he had +followed this advice he would not have died miserably in a Roman prison." + +In January 1788, appeared 'Icosameron' a romance in five volumes, +dedicated to Count Waldstein, which he describes as "translated from the +English." This fanciful romance, which included philosophic and +theological discussions, was the original work of Casanova and not a +translation. It was criticized in 1789 by a literary journal at Jena. +Preserved at Dux were several manuscripts with variants of 'Icosameron' +and also an unpublished reply to the criticism. + +In 1788 Casanova published the history of his famous flight from The +Leads. An article on this book appeared in the German 'Litteratur- +Zeitung', 29th June 1789: "As soon as the history was published and while +it was exciting much interest among us and among our neighbors, it was +seen that other attempts at flight from prisons would make their +appearance. The subject in itself is captivating; all prisoners awake +our compassion, particularly when they are enclosed in a severe prison +and are possibly innocent . . . . The history with which we are +concerned has all the appearances of truth; many Venetians have testified +to it, and the principal character, M. Casanova, brother of the +celebrated painter, actually lives at Dux in Bohemia where the Count +Waldstein has established him as guardian of his important library." + +In July 1789 there was discovered, among the papers of the Bastille, the +letter which Casanova wrote from Augsburg in May 1767 to Prince Charles +of Courlande on the subject of fabricating gold. Carrel published this +letter at once in the third volume of his 'Memoirs authentiques et +historiques sur la Bastille'. Casanova kept a copy of this letter and +includes it in the Memoirs. + +In October 1789, Casanova wrote M. Opiz that he was writing to a +professor of mathematics [M. Lagrange] at Paris, a long letter in +Italian, on the duplication of the cube, which he wished to publish. +In August 1790, Casanova published his 'Solution du Probleme Deliaque +demontree and Deux corollaires a la duplication de hexadre'. On the +subject of his pretended solution of this problem in speculative +mathematics, Casanova engaged with M. Opiz in a heated technical +discussion between the 16th September and 1st November 1790. Casanova +sought vainly to convince Opiz of the correctness of his solution. +Finally, M. Opiz, tired of the polemics, announced that he was leaving on +a six-weeks tour of inspection and that he would not be able to occupy +himself with the duplication of the cube for some time to come. On the +1st November, Casanova wished him a pleasant journey and advised him to +guard against the cold because "health is the soul of life." + +In 1797, appeared the last book published during Casanova's lifetime, a +small work entitled: 'A Leonard Snetlage, docteur en droit de +l'Universite de Goettingue, Jacques Casanova, docteur en droit de +l'Universite de Padoue'. This was a careful criticism of the neologisms +introduced into French by the Revolution. In reference to Casanova's +title of "Doctor," researches by M. Favoro at the University of Padua +had failed to establish this claim, although, in the Memoirs Casanova had +written: + +"I remained at Padua long enough to prepare myself for the Doctor's +degree, which I intended to take the following year." With this devil of +a man, it is always prudent to look twice before peremptorily questioning +the truth of his statement. And in fact, the record of Casanova's +matriculation was discovered by Signor Bruno Brunelli. + + + + + VI + SUMMARY of MY LIFE + +The 2nd November, 1797, Cecilia Roggendorff wrote to Casanova: "By the +way, how do you call yourself, by your baptismal name? On what day and +in what year were you born? You may laugh, if you wish, at my questions, +but I command you to satisfy me . . ." To this request, Casanova +responded with: + +"Summary of My Life:--my mother brought me into the world at Venice on +the 2nd April, Easter day of the year 1725. She had, the night before, +a strong desire for crawfish. I am very fond of them. + +"At baptism, I was named Jacques-Jerome. I was an idiot until I was +eight-and-a-half years old. After having had a hemorrhage for three +months, I was taken to Padua, where, cured of my imbecility, I applied +myself to study and, at the age of sixteen years I was made a doctor and +given the habit of a priest so that I might go seek my fortune at Rome. + +"At Rome, the daughter of my French instructor was the cause of my being +dismissed by my patron, Cardinal Aquaviva. + +"At the age of eighteen years, I entered the military service of my +country, and I went to Constantinople. Two years afterward, having +returned to Venice, I left the profession of honor and, taking the bit in +my teeth, embraced the wretched profession of a violinist. I horrified +my friends, but this did not last for very long. + +"At the age of twenty-one years, one of the highest nobles of Venice +adopted me as his son, and, having become rich, I went to see Italy, +France, Germany and Vienna where I knew Count Roggendorff. I returned +to Venice, where, two years later, the State Inquisitors of Venice, for +just and wise reasons, imprisoned me under The Leads. + +"This was the state prison, from which no one had ever escaped, but, with +the aid of God, I took flight at the end of fifteen months and went to +Paris. In two years, my affairs prospered so well that I became worth a +million, but, all the same, I went bankrupt. I made money in Holland; +suffered misfortune in Stuttgart; was received with honors in +Switzerland; visited M. de Voltaire; adventured in Genoa, Marseilles, +Florence and in Rome where the Pope Rezzonico, a Venetian, made me a +Chevalier of Saint-Jean-Latran and an apostolic protonotary. This was in +the year 1760. + +"In the same year I found good fortune at Naples; at Florence I carried +off a girl; and, the following year, I was to attend the Congress at +Augsburg, charged with a commission from the King of Portugal. The +Congress did not meet there and, after the publication of peace, I passed +on into England, which great misfortunes caused me to leave in the +following year, 1764. I avoided the gibbet which, however, should not +have dishonored me as I should only have been hung. In the same year I +searched in vain for fortune at Berlin and at Petersburg, but I found it +at Warsaw in the following year. Nine months afterwards, I lost it +through being embroiled in a pistol duel with General Branicki; I pierced +his abdomen but in eight months he was well again and I was very much +pleased. He was a brave man. Obliged to leave Poland, I returned to +Paris in 1767, but a 'lettre de cachet' obliged me to leave and I went to +Spain where I met with great misfortunes. I committed the crime of +making nocturnal visits to the mistress of the 'vice-roi', who was a +great scoundrel. + +"At the frontiers of Spain, I escaped from assassins only to suffer, at +Aix, in Provence, an illness which took me to the edge of the grave, +after spitting blood for eighteen months. + +"In the year 1769, I published my Defense of the Government of Venice, in +three large volumes, written against Amelot de la Houssaie. + +"In the following year the English Minister at the Court of Turin sent +me, well recommended, to Leghorn. I wished to go to Constantinople with +the Russian fleet, but as Admiral Orlof, would not meet my conditions, I +retraced my steps and went to Rome under the pontificate of Ganganelli. + +"A happy love affair made me leave Rome and go to Naples and, three +months later, an unhappy love made me return to Rome. I had measured +swords for the third time with Count Medini who died four years ago at +London, in prison for his debts. + +"Having considerable money, I went to Florence, where, during the +Christmas Festival, the Archduke Leopold, the Emperor who died four or +five years ago, ordered me to leave his dominions within three days. I +had a mistress who, by my advice, became Marquise de * * * at Bologna. + +"Weary of running about Europe, I determined to solicit mercy from the +Venetian State Inquisitors. For this purpose, I established myself at +Trieste where, two years later, I obtained it. This was the 14th +September 1774. My return to Venice after nineteen years was the most +pleasant moment of my life. + +"In 1782, I became embroiled with the entire body of the Venetian +nobility. At the beginning of 1783, I voluntarily left the ungrateful +country and went to Vienna. Six months later I went to Paris with the +intention of establishing myself there, but my brother, who had lived +there for twenty-six years, made me forget my interests in favor of his. +I rescued him from the hands of his wife and took him to Vienna where +Prince Kaunitz engaged him to establish himself. He is still there, +older than I am by two years. + +"I placed myself in the service of M. Foscarini, Venetian Ambassador, to +write dispatches. Two years later, he died in my arms, killed by the +gout which mounted into his chest. I then set out for Berlin in the hope +of securing a position with the Academy, but, half way there, Count +Waldstein stopped me at Teplitz and led me to Dux where I still am and +where, according to all appearances, I shall die. + +"This is the only summary of my life that I have written, and I permit +any use of it which may be desired. + +"'Non erubesco evangelium'. + +"This 17th November 1797. + +Jacques Casanova." + + +In reference to Casanova's ironic remark about his escape from England, +see his conversation, on the subject of "dishonor," with Sir Augustus +Hervey at London in 1763, which is given in the Memoirs. + + + + + VII + LAST DAYS AT DUX + +Scattered through the Memoirs are many of Casanova's thoughts about his +old age. Some were possibly incorporated in the original text, others +possibly added when he revised the text in 1797. These vary from +resignation to bitterness, doubtless depending on Casanova's state of +mind at the moment he wrote them: + +"Now that I am seventy-two years old, I believe myself no longer +susceptible of such follies. But alas! that is the very thing which +causes me to be miserable." + +"I hate old age which offers only what I already know, unless I should +take up a gazette." + +"Age has calmed my passions by rendering them powerless, but my heart has +not grown old and my memory has kept all the freshness of youth." + +"No, I have not forgotten her [Henriette]; for even now, when my head is +covered with white hair, the recollection of her is still a source of +happiness for my heart." + +"A scene which, even now, excites my mirth." + +"Age, that cruel and unavoidable disease, compels me to be in good +health, in spite of myself." + +"Now that I am but the shadow of the once brilliant Casanova, I love to +chatter." + +"Now that age has whitened my hair and deadened the ardor of my senses, +my imagination does not take such a high flight and I think differently." + +"What embitters my old age is that, having a heart as warm as ever, I +have no longer the strength necessary to secure a single day as blissful +as those which I owed to this charming girl." + +"When I recall these events, I grow young again and feel once more the +delights of youth, despite the long years which separate me from that +happy time." + +"Now that I am getting into my dotage, 1 look on the dark side of +everything. I am invited to a wedding and see naught but gloom; and, +witnessing the coronation of Leopold II, at Prague, I say to myself, +'Nolo coronari'. Cursed old age, thou art only worthy of dwelling in +hell." + +"The longer I live, the more interest I take in my papers. They are the +treasure which attaches me to life and makes death more hateful still." + +And so on, through the Memoirs, Casanova supplies his own picture, +knowing very well that the end, even of his cherished memories, is not +far distant. + +In 1797, Casanova relates an amusing, but irritating incident, which +resulted in the loss of the first three chapters of the second volume of +the Memoirs through the carelessness of a servant girl at Dux who took +the papers "old, written upon, covered with scribbling and erasures," for +"her own purposes," thus necessitating a re-writing, "which I must now +abridge," of these chapters. Thirty years before, Casanova would +doubtless have made love to the girl and all would have been forgiven. +But, alas for the "hateful old age" permitting no relief except +irritation and impotent anger. + +On the 1st August, 1797, Cecilia Roggendorff, the daughter of the Count +Roggendorff [printed Roquendorf] whom Casanova had met at Vienna in 1753, +wrote: "You tell me in one of your letters that, at your death, +you will leave me, by your will, your Memoirs which occupy twelve +volumes." + +At this time, Casanova was revising, or had completed his revision of, +the twelve volumes. In July 1792, as mentioned above, Casanova wrote +Opiz that he had arrived at the twelfth volume. In the Memoirs +themselves we read, ". . . the various adventures which, at the age of +seventy-two years, impel me to write these Memoirs . . .," written +probably during a revision in 1797. + +At the beginning of one of the two chapters of the last volume, which +were missing until discovered by Arthur Symons at Dux in 1899, we read: +"When I left Venice in the year 1783, God ought to have sent me to Rome, +or to Naples, or to Sicily, or to Parma, where my old age, according to +all appearances, might have been happy. My genius, who is always right, +led me to Paris, so that I might see my brother Francois, who had run +into debt and who was just then going to the Temple. I do not care +whether or not he owes me his regeneration, but I am glad to have +effected it. If he had been grateful to me, I should have felt myself +paid; it seems to me much better that he should carry the burden of his +debt on his shoulders, which from time to time he ought to find heavy. He +does not deserve a worse punishment. To-day, in the seventy-third year +of my life, my only desire is to live in peace and to be far from any +person who might imagine that he has rights over my moral liberty, for it +is impossible that any kind of tyranny should not coincide with this +imagination." + +Early in February, 1798, Casanova was taken sick with a very grave +bladder trouble of which he died after suffering for three-and-a-half +months. On the 16th February Zaguri wrote: "I note with the greatest +sorrow the blow which has afflicted you." On the 31st March, after +having consulted with a Prussian doctor, Zaguri sent a box of medicines +and he wrote frequently until the end. + +On the 20th April Elisa von der Recke, whom Casanova had met, some years +before, at the chateau of the Prince de Ligne at Teplitz, having returned +to Teplitz, wrote: "Your letter, my friend, has deeply affected me. +Although myself ill, the first fair day which permits me to go out will +find me at your side." On the 27th, Elisa, still bedridden, wrote that +the Count de Montboisier and his wife were looking forward to visiting +Casanova. On the 6th May she wrote, regretting that she was unable to +send some crawfish soup, but that the rivers were too high for the +peasants to secure the crawfish. "The Montboisier family, Milady Clark, +my children and myself have all made vows for your recovery." On the +8th, she sent bouillon and madeira. + +On the 4th June, 1798, Casanova died. His nephew, Carlo Angiolini was +with him at the time. He was buried in the churchyard of Santa Barbara +at Dux. The exact location of his grave is uncertain, but a tablet, +placed against the outside wall of the church reads: + + + JAKOB + CASANOVA + Venedig 1725 Dux 1798 + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of MEMOIRES OF JACQUES CASANOVA +SPANISH PASSIONS, Vol. 6e, OLD AGE AND DEATH +by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt + |