The Memoires of Casanova

r D'Auvergne and Ma

Count's Mistress-Th

e-The Count d

of the pavement; but I was chiefly interested in kept women, and those who consider themselves

es to Cupid or to Plutus, and more frequently to both together. As it is not very difficult to make t

exercise their talents in intriguing, and I had profited to

vers, and I often succeeded by pretending

uis de Gamache and of the Countess du Rumain, and was a fine young fellow of an excellent disposition. He was never so well pleased as when he saw his mistress surrounded by people-a taste which is rarely found, but which is very convenient, and the sign of a temperament not afflicted by jealousy. Camille had no other lovers-a

had given him a young girl, for whose keep she paid, who lived with Tour d'Auvergne in furnished apartments in the Rue de Taranne, and whom he said he loved as one loves a portrait, because she came from Camille. The count often took her with him t

I could to conceal my flame, but often I found myself looking quite sad at the thought of the impossibility of my love being crowned with success. If I had let my passion b

on leaving her house, one rainy evening, I

oor without giving myself the slightest inconvenience, though my carria

seated ourselves in the carriage, the count

ssed it softly. The pressure was returned. Joy! I carried the hand to my lips, and covered it with affectionate though noiseless kisses. Longing to

uvergne, "for a piece of politeness thoroughly Italian, of which, however, I do not f

Babet did her best to find out from the count why he laughed so much, but he could not tell her for laughing, for which I gave thanks with all my heart. At last the carriage stopped at my house, and as soon as my servant had opened the door of my carriage I got down as fast as I could, and wished them good night-a compliment which Tour d'Auvergne returned with fresh peals of laughter. I entered my house in a state of stupe

m to take breakfast with me, as Camille had sent to my house to enquire how I was. My advent

eted each other in the friendliest manner possible. "My dear count," said I, "let us forget t

. We like you all the better for it, and this h

y knows i

er. Come this evening; I will bring Babet, and she will

is ri

honour, and I don't believe

's said that you were not the person to whom my

n, and maintained that I was far from cured; but she was wrong, as the incident had disgusted me with her, and had attached me to the count, w

d'Auvergne came up to me and asked me to lend him a

said, "but my purse and all i

nd immediately, as I lost them at play yes

aven't g

ought always to be able to pu

my cash-box; I have to g

ndred louis from the box, and put in my word of honour

say to that, wait

fterwards, as I was at the Comedie Francaise, the Count de la Tour d'Auvergne came up to me and began to apologize. I replied by shewing my hand, and telling him that I had pawned my ring to save my hon

, so let's say nothing about that

grew as pa

o'clock to-morrow morning at a hundred paces from the cafe at the end of the Champs-Elysees. I will give you them in pers

rtainly do me a great honour, but I would rather beg your pardon, i

nd the blame can only be removed by

use you, although I am very

e. I would not have fought if I could have convinced myself that I was in the wrong, but after turning the matter well over, and looking at it from every point of view, I co

ards the Etoile. When we got to a sheltered place he drew a bundle of a hundred louis from his pocket, gave it

pping forward almost as soon as our blades crossed I thrust and hit him. I drew back my

into his breast he drew it out covered with blo

to find that the wound was of the slightest. I told him so offering to see him home. He thanked me and begged me to keep my own counsel, and to reckon him henceforth amongst my truest friends. After I had

and that if I liked we could pay him a visit the next day. I agreed, and we went. After breakfast was over I told him in a serious voice that if he would give me a free hand I could cure him, as he

I will go out a

send a s

ercury, flower of sulphur, and a small brush, and on my return said, "I must hav

e serious face suitable to my office. I handed him a mug and

they would look at one another, and after repressing themselves as long as they could would burst out afresh, till I began to think that I had bound them to an impossible condition. At last, after holding their sides for half an hour, they set themselves to be serious in real earnest, taking my imperturbable gravity for their

amille's face. At last I told her that she had rubbed enough, and dipping the brush into the mixture I drew on his thigh the five-pointed star called Solomon's seal. I

, their faces wore a bewildered look, and as for me . . . I could have sworn I had performed the most

on the spur of the moment, Camille and I went away in a coach, and I told her

heard a carriage stopping at my door, and looking out of my window

he, "as you did not come to see me th

I had not been too busy you wo

take

he till you fe

s I could not help telling the miracle to all my acquaintances. The

you know what Paris is like. Everybody w

all. I have come to

t's

ole mistress of her fortune; in short, knowing her will do you no harm. She longs to see you, for she pretends to know you, and says that you are n

century. The lady was the widow of his great-grandson, and on marrying into the family became a believer in the mystical doctrines of a science in which I was much intere

nner, and you will find yourself in th

; for I hate to be thought a magician, which must

wn, and you will find yourself in the society o

u sure

s d'Orleans; Madame de Bouffers, Madame de Blots, and Madame de Melfort have also talked to me about you. You are wrong not to keep up your old acquaintances. I know

e myself to public ridicule. I therefore told him that I did not wish to become a public character, and that he must tell Madame d'Urfe that I

ment at the Tuileries for the morrow; he was to meet me there, a

and went to see Madame d'Urfe, who lived on the Quai

grace of the Court of the Regency. We spent an hour and a half in indifferent conversation, o

of mind, and Madame d'Urfe unconsciously betrayed the desire of shewing her learning; this put me at my

ved for us three. Nothing worthy of note (so far as conversation went) was do

hing; but controlling herself, she replied graciously that she already possessed the philosopher's stone, and that she was acquainted with all the operations of the work. She then shewed me a collection of books which had belonged to the great d'Urfe, and Renee of Savoy, his wife; but she had added to it manuscripts which had cost her more than a hundred thousand francs. Paracelsus was her favourit

ieve, then, in

it, I will give you this which h

all the more gratitude i

sform instantaneously all metals into the finest gold. She shewed me a pipe by which the coal descended to the furnace, keeping it always at the same heat. The lumps of coal were impelled by their own weight at proper intervals and in equal qua

ana of the famous Taliamed, whose pupil she was. His real name was Maillot, and according to Madame d'Urfe he had not, as was supposed, died at Marseilles, but was still alive; "and," added she, with a slig

oom to all but myself. I saw a small cask full of 'platina del Pinto', which she told me she could transmute into gold when she pleased. It had been given her by M. Vood himself in 1743. She shewed me the same metal in four phials. In the first three the platinum remained intact in sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acid, but i

dignified manner, that she had made it to divert herself with the crystallization of the silver, spirit of nitre, and mercury, and that she looked upon it as a piece of metallic vegetation, representing in little what nature performed on a larger scale; but she added, very seriously, that she could make a Tree of Diana

containing nitre, mercury, and su

gredients, I sup

ed salt is a s

are r

re with which I traced the pentacle on your nephew's thigh, but in wha

ich I will shew you, and where you

eply, and we left th

nd it to be full of pentacles, and by good luck found the pentacle I had traced on the count's thigh. It was surrounded by the names of the spirits of the planets, with the exception of those of Saturn and Mars. I shut up the book quickly. The sp

g me to do the like she asked me if I was acqua

them, madam, but I kn

d they are

t belie

ew the pentacle on my nephew's thigh, and if I find the same tali

. I will write the

e and read out the names, while I pretending astonishment, gave her t

oliphilus and the Count de T

ontains the manner of pronouncing the ineffable nam

hey are not needed

Solomon's pentacle on the thigh of Count de la Tour d'Auvergne in the hour of Venus, and i

ow that. And

and then the Sun. It is, you see, the magic cycle

ceeded if you had gone to w

ed to the Sun, then to Arael or Venus,

most apt in the calculati

. The practical use, however, is much more difficult than the theory; this, indeed, is a complicated affair. I never leave my house without ascertaining the

goodness to explai

Artephius and more cl

orks, but they

you a transla

I shall be extreme

hat I could not refuse, for reasons whi

not t

the name of your familiar

? You should have one, if it is true th

ave

he oath of

t, and you

able to remove you

'Urfe was quite right in her caution, and as for me I had to pretend to be afraid myself. The fact is I wanted to gain time, for I knew perfectly well the nature of t

iptures," she said, "it is indicated by the words

nsequently we never find any notice of a man takin

g me still with his aunt. He told us that his cousin's fever had increased, and that small-pox had declared itself; "an

him a little bag on his promising to retu

eruption will come out well, a

and having wished us g

ve aught to do with magic, I have no confidence in its effi

and the observance of the ho

your

praiseworthy, but she was sure I should not be ill pl

she, "by asking them one at a time, and you wil

d her pro

chool, who bored me terribly. The next day the guest was a monk who talked literature, and spoke a thousand follies against Voltaire, whom I then much admired, and against the "Esprit des Lois," a fav

ntly ridiculous, known as "The Last of the Beaus." However, as he had moved in the court of Louis XIV., he was interesting enough, spe

sed himself still the devoted lover of his mistress, with whom he supped every night in the company of his lady friends, who were all youn

with amber-scented pomade, his teeth were made of ivory, and his eyebrows dyed and perfumed, and his whole person exhaled an odour to which Madame d'Urfe did not object, but which I could scarcely bear. If it had not been for this drawback I should probably have cultivated his society. He was a professed Epicurean, and carri

f the marchioness forty years before, and he thought himself bound by the remembrance of their love-passages to support the cause of his old sweetheart. In those days French magistrates thought they had a right to tak

ers, as was natural, considerin

the author of the "Remonstrances to the King," a work which got him a great reputation, and had been read eagerly by the whole town. He told me that the business of a counsellor

rmain. This individual, instead of eating, talked from the beginning of the meal to the end, and I followed his example in one respect

st, good-looking, and a perfect ladies' man. For awhile he gave them paints and cosmetics; he flattered them, not that he would make them young again (which he mo

om-tried to find a little pleasure or distraction, at all events, by making dyes. The king had given him a suite of rooms at Chambord, and a hundred thousand francs for th

melt diamonds, professing himself capable of forming, out of ten or twelve small diamonds, one large one of the finest water without any loss of weight. All this, he said, was a mere trifle to him. Notwithstanding his boastings, his bare-faced lies, and his man

ose wild talk amused me, I should prefer her to invite no company. St. Germain often dined with the best society in the capital, but he never ate anything, saying that he was kept

the first order, making use of another name for purposes of my own; and five or six weeks later she was confirme

I now beg to return it you with my word of honour that I have not ma

n, but of course you cou

tell you

y do

o no language that I know of, and the

sor of that mysterious word-for I had never written it down, layin

ted my mastery over this truly learned and sensible woman on everything but her hobby. This false confidence gave me an immense ascendancy over Madame d'Urfe, and I often abused my power over her. Now that I am no lon

between mortals and elementary spirits. She would have given all her goods to attain to such communicat

that your spirit would have been able

ur spirit, madam, as mine know

he inmost secre

ask him he is forced

sk him whe

ink. I can even ask him questions

l you te

question in writing, as you would ask a common mortal. Ask him, for instance, ho

ters. At first she only obtained consonants, but by a second process which supplied the vowels she received a clear and sufficient answer. Her every feature expressed astonishment, f