The Memoires of Casanova

tering Reception F

n-Madame X. C. V. A

Rum

ad plenty of opportunities for seeing that the mental qualities

is true, but he was also full of dissimulation, suspicion, and hypocrisy-a fine trio of deceit in one who was still a boy. He not only concealed what he knew, but he pretended to know that which he did not. His idea of the one quality necessary to success in life was an impenetrable reserve, and to obtain this he

ore mystery I made of his birth the more extravagant would be her fancies about it, I told the lad that if I

whom I found in grand company amongst whom I recognize

n Paris?" said the minist

ust stepped ou

have been wonderfully successful, go and get your meed of praise and come and see me afterwards

aris are always talking in this style, as if Versailles were at the e

informed her that I should come to-day, and that sh

r the twenty millions yourself. The funds have risen, and a hundred millions at least will be in circulation in the course of the next week. You must no

all the doors, for I am too glad to see y

emble with joy when I told her that I had brought a lad of twelve with me, whom I in

his name? Where is he? I know well what this boy is, I long to

anted to, but I was very glad to let her expend her enthusiasm, and took good care not to interrupt her. On the first opportunity, I told her th

am arranging for his going to school you

question on the day

the day after to

nd everything in perfect order. I then went to the Italian p

"I know that you have achieved a wonderful

suggestive manner. "I will be with you at supper," I added, "and then we can talk at our ease." On leaving them I went to the amphitheatre, a

ut as his children could not inherit his forty thousand pounds invested in England, without conforming to the Church of England, the family returned to London, where the widow complied with all the obligatio

family circle. The insult which the mother put upon me was softened by the daughter, who wrote me a charming letter, which I love to read even now. I may as well confess that my grief was the easier to bear as my time was take

g nobles were among her suitors, her preference apparently being given to the heir of

imagined. Mdlle. X. C. V. saw me directly, and pointed me out to h

nd see them at the "Hotel de Bretagne," in the Rue St. Andre des Arts. I told them that I did not wish to recall any events which migh

onths at Paris before returning to Venice. In return I informed them that I intended making Paris my home, that I had just left Holland, that I was going to Versailles the next

e dear to France, that she had always lived in hopes of seeing me once more, that my famous

her fondness for me very much

the circumstances of your wonderful flight from a letter of sixteen pages you

now I have bee

niere told us ab

came into the box just as his name was spoken. After complimenting me he said that if

lf naturalized before it becomes generally kno

ion! I only

de that at the lo

if my claim for brokerage is not allowed, the

wants to make your acquaintance, for France is deeply indebted to

s I had got for them. The best was for the mother, who handed it on to her daughter. It was a pair of diamond ear-rings of great beauty, for which I had given fifteen thousand francs. Three days after I sent her a box containing fine linen from Holland, and choice Mechlin and Alencon lace. Mario, who liked smoking, got a gold pipe; the father a choice gold and enamelled snuff-bo

e a person of greater importance in his eyes. After a slight but grateful compliment, he told me that if I thought myself capable of negotiating a loan of a hundred millions to

you have made two hundred

fortune; but I can assure your excellence that there is not a word of truth in the report. I defy a

omptroller-general and s

d to give me a most friendly greeting, but when I said that

e bills of exchange to the amount of a hun

u by referring you to M. d'Afri. I have in my head an infallible project for incre

get you a pension of a hundred thousand francs, and lette

think

the Palace, where a ballet was going

e "gentlemen below" could not appreciate my merits. She had not forgotten what I had said to her eight years before in

e to me was to continue to serve the Government well, as its good fortune would come to be mine. On my telling

e, I went to bed without troubling myself any further. Early next morning my clerk brought me a letter. It came from the old attorney, uncle to Gaetan's wife, whom I had helped to escape from the jea

against her husband, with the aid of a barrister, who will be responsible for the costs. However, to win our c

nce: in due time and place, I shall have something more to say about him. As for his wife, who was young and pretty, she paid her

s, and went to the "Hotel de Bretagne" to pay my first call on Madame X. C. V. The lady, though she was not over fond of me, received me with great politeness. I possibly cut a better figu

most overwhelmed me with friendliness. The eldest son was only fourteen, and was a young fellow of charming manners, but evidently extremely independent, and sighed for the time when he would be able to devote himself to a career of profligacy for which he was well fitted. Mdlle. X. C. V. was both beautiful and charming in her manner, and had received an excelle

efore, but I freely confess that Esther yielded only because she was away. As to my attachment to Sylvia's daughter, it was of such a nature as not to hinder me falling in love with any other woman who chanced to take my fanc

Latin versifier, came in at one o'clock. Dinner was just ready and Madame X. C. V. begged him to stay. She a

at Mdlle. X. C. V.'s praise of my courage. She noticed his expression, and as if to punish him for it went on to say that I had now the admiration of every Veneti

gh for me to pay my

ft of my reply, and M

ble visionary's arms. She hastened to apologize for carrying him o

be obliged to deprive myself of this privilege for

little fellow, in spite of his blushes

Madame d'Urfe, "to dinner. I know he amuses you

is all I need; nevertheless, I

e most incredible stories, which one had to pretend to believe, as he was always either the hero of the tale or an eye witness of the event. All the

no higher up than on the earth, but I restrained myself; and the great charlatan hastened to say that there could be no doubt about it, and that he, and he only, could increase the force of the magnet a thousand times. I said, dryly, that I

ls over those of any other country. St. Germain had got over the king by arranging a laboratory where he occasionally tried to amuse himself, though he knew little about chemistry, but the king was the victim of an almost universal

dour was under the impression that St. Germain had given her the water of perpetual youth, and therefore felt obliged to make the chemist a good return. This wondrous water, taken acc

d the Duc des Deux-Ponts a diamond of the first water, weighing twelve carats, which he fancied he had made himself. "I melted down," said Louis XV., "small diamonds weighing twenty-four carats, and obtained this one large one weighing twelve." Thus i

misbehavior, the reader will guess what made me say this. She sent him to board with Viar, gave him masters on everything, and disguised him under the name of the Comte d'Aranda, although he was born at Bayreuth, and though

he would not hear of it, though she offered to endow him with all her worldly goods. I told him that if he gave in he m

on a level with the first floor, three reception rooms, large stables, coach houses, baths, a good cellar, and a splendid kitchen. The master was called "The Butter King," and always wrote himself down so; the name had been given to him by Louis XV. on the monarch's stopping at the house and liking the butter. The "Butter King" let me his house for a hundred Louis per annum, and he gave me an excellent cook calle

the delusions which make them happy. I also let her retain the notion that young d'Aranda, the count of her own making, was a scion of the nobility, that he was born for a mysterious operation unknown to the rest of mankind, that I was only his caretaker (here I spoke the truth), and that he must die and yet not cease to live. All these whimsical ideas were the products of her brain,

y all the girls she knew and their lovers. After supper I was asked to go to the opera with them, but we had scarcely got there when I lost my party in the crowd. I had no mask on, and I soon found myself attacked by a black domino, whom I knew to be a woman, and as she told me a

my sisters, my elder brother, and M. Farsetti. I

t feel ve

not going to take pity on th

o say that I was more in love with her than ever. She listened to me kindly, did not oppose my embraces, and by the few obstacles she placed in my way I ju

mademoiselle, that you are going

nancier fancies he has got me in his talons already; but h

but he is

dowry of a million if I become a widow without children

ifficulty in complying wi

I should never make my life miserable by a marriage w

te mortal to whom you have g

s a Venetian, and my mother knows of it; but she says t

nge woman, always cros

e certainly loves me. She would rather that I should marry M.

a declarati

of contempt I have given

e; but the truth is yo

ly, jealous, and envious in his disposition. When he heard me expressing myself about you in the manner

s, but there are other ways in which he may be punishe

count on your friends

r favours. She replied that she was truly grateful to me, and as she threw her arms about my neck our lips met, but I saw that she was weeping, so I took care that the fire which her kisses raised should be kept with

could get to any part of Paris in a quarter of an hour. I had a clever coachman, and capital horses not used to being spared. I got them from the royal stables, and as soon as I lost on

was as white as a sheet from head to foot. She gave me a hearty welcome, laughing, and saying that her daughter had been telling her how she had puzzled me, and that she was delighted to see me come to dinner

tty woman looks better in bed than anywhere else. I found Mdlle. X. C

sweet lie-a-be

ly because I feel lazy, and pa

you were not

sh the institution of fasting were not polite enough to ask my opinion on the subject. It does not agree with my health,

er absence dinner would have n

rse which I had addressed to her when her mother had forbidden me the house. "This fatal letter,"

whose qualities would make him deserve the name of Phoenix. A hundred lines were taken up in the description of these imaginary mental and mor

I thought I had found him. I gave him my heart, I received his, we loved each other fondly. But for the last four months we have been separated, and during the whole

far all human perfections, but a woman's heart travels so quickly and so far! Mdlle. X. C. V. took the thing literally, and fell in love with a chimera of goodness, and then was fain to turn this into a real lover, not thinking of the vast difference between the ideal and the real. For all that, when she thought th

ost opposite of beings, God and the Devil, seems quite natural. A priest had told her that, since she had converted her husband, her salvation was secure, for the Scriptures solemnly promised a soul for a soul to every one who would lead a heretic or a heathen with

to think that her feelings were as lively as mine, and I did not care to shew myself less self-restrained than she, though I knew then, as I know now, that this w

rs ago at the age of seventy. He thought to prove by the success of his precautions that a man's destiny depends on his discretion, and on the precautions he takes to avoid the misfortunes of which he has had warning. The line of argument holds good in all cases except when the misfortunes are predicted in a horoscope; for either the ills predicted are avoidable, in which case the horoscope is a useless piece of folly, or else the horoscope is the interpreter of destiny, in which case all the p

iends with her husband and her two daughters, the elder of whom, nicknamed "Cotenfau," married M. de Polignac later on. Madame du Rumain was handsome rather than pretty, but she won the love of al

iety of Paris. Although Madame du Rumain was not a proficient in the occult sciences, she had nevertheless consulted my oracle more frequ

ed to give me a letter with his own hands. I had him in, and on my asking him from whom the letter came, he replied tha

I am about to tell you will no longer be so grievous when I have confided in you; I shall feel eased by placing it in your breast. I am w

I was petrified with astonishment and could onl

o do my best for her did it cost me my life. These were the thoughts of a lover, but for all that I could not conceal from myself the imprudence of the step she had taken. In such cases as these there is always the choice between speaking or writing, and the

can count on me. Her mishap ma

n saving her my reward was sure. I am well aware that more than one grave moralist will fli

nt, and found the fair unfortu

ut, are you? Whe

s at the Church of

a saint

ther makes me

come w

m; we will go into the c

knew better than to be in the way, so we left her in

u read m

; here it is, b

nd do so with y

and I assure you I wil

onths with child; I can doubt it no

we will find some w

to you. You must p

rest! that

witness of my shame, or to poison myself. For the latter alternative I have everything ready. You are my only friend, and it

, and tried to wipe away the tears which e

think that the peril is mine, not yours. Make up your mind that I shall find some way of escape, and that there will be no need to cut short that life, to preserve which I would gladly die. And allow me to say that when I read your note I felt glad, I could not help it, that at such an emergency you chose me before all others to be your helper. You

remble when I think what my mother would do and say if she found out m

rved in that direction, the beauty

e must be quick in what we do. You must find a surgeon w

the discovery of the whole affair. I will b

to life. What I should like you to do would be to take me to a midwife's. We

tep is not necessary, and it

we should never be known; we might keep our masks on all the time.

ce of going out free from observation. I promised to be there in a black domino with a white mask in the Venetian fashion, and a rose pain

i, who was also at the table, and had seen me come back from mass with her. W

ake of which I was guilty, and whi

tering her house with a pretty girl whom I did not know, and so out of curiosity I went in after them. After amusing myself there, with Mdlle. X. C. V. running in my head all the time, I asked the woman to give me the address of a midwife, as I wanted to consult one. She told me of a house in the

s she did not experience any benefit, she was impatient to consult a midwife. On the night of the last ball she recognized me as we

ved us with great politeness

her plainly that it would be easy to procure abortion. "I will do your business," said she, "for fifty Louis, half to be paid in advance on account of drugs, and the rest when it's all

t Mdlle. X. C. V.'s request, looked away, she felt her and pronounced

o any good, we will try some other ways, and, in any case, if

," said I, "but would you tell

e lady how to des

ng a mortal wound to the mother, but I did not feel inc

advice," said I, "I will bring y

and over again that she should not find her trust in me misplaced. All at once she complained of feeling cold, and asked if we had not time to warm ourselves in Little Poland, saying that she longed to see my pretty house. I was surprised and delighted with the idea. The night was too dark for her to see the exterior charms of my abode, she

d the door, and told me that there was nobody within

fire, and bring some glasse

u like an

y we

ich she gave me back as lovingly. I had almost won what I wanted when she asked me in a sweet voice to stop. I obeyed, thinking it would please her, feeling sure that she only delayed my victory to make it more complete, and that she

pleasure in the amorous embrace springs from perfect union and agreement. I pleaded my cause in every way, I painted myself as the lover flattered, deceived, despised! At last I told her that I had had a cruel awakening, and I saw that the shaft went home. I fell on my knees and begged her to forgive me. "Alas!" said she, in a voice full of sadness, "I am no longer mistress of my heart, and have far greater cause for grief than you." The tears flowed fast down her chee

us to continue friends. What I would have done for love I will now do for devoted friendship, and for the fut

instant. Next day she told me that she had danced all night. She possibly hope

y good sense shewed me, in spite of all sophisms, that I had been grievously insulted. I recollected the witty saying of Popu

be unworthy of me to love one whom I could no longer hope to possess. I resolved to avenge mys

enerously by the unfortunate girl. Without my aid she would be ruined; my course, then, would be to continue my services and to s