The Memoires of Casanova, Complete

J >> Jacques Casanova de Seingalt >> The Memoires of Casanova, Complete


Strasoldo had just been summoned to Vienna by Count Auersperg who liked
him, and had promised to do what he could for him. He had got an
employment in Poland, his furniture had been sold, he had taken leave of
everyone, and nobody doubted that he would take his pretty maid with him.
I thought so too, for I had been to wish him a pleasant journey that
morning, and my astonishment at finding the girl in my room may be
imagined.

"What do you want, my dear?" I asked.

"Forgive me, sir, but I don't want to go with Strasoldo, and I thought
you would protect me. Nobody will be able to guess where I am, and
Strasoldo will be obliged to go by himself. You will not be so cruel as
to drive me away?"

"No, dearest."

"I promise you I will go away to-morrow, for Strasoldo is going to leave
at day-break."

"My lovely Leuzica (this was her name), no one would refuse you an
asylum, I least of all. You are safe here, and nobody shall come in
without your leave. I am only too happy that you came to me, but if it is
true that the count is your lover you may be sure he will not go so
easily. He will stay the whole of to-morrow at least, in the hope of
finding you again."

"No doubt he will look for me everywhere but here. Will you promise not
to make me go with him even if he guesses that I am with you?"

"I swear I will not."

"Then I am satisfied."

"But you will have to share my bed."

"If I shall not inconvenience you, I agree with all my heart."

"You shall see whether you inconvenience me or not. Undress, quick! But
where are your things?"

"All that I have is in a small trunk behind the count's carriage, but I
don't trouble myself about it."

"The poor count must be raging at this very moment."

"No, for he will not come home till midnight. He is supping with Madame
Bissolotti, who is in love with him."

In the meantime Leuzica had undressed and got into bed. In a moment I was
beside her, and after the severe regimen of the last eight months I spent
a delicious night in her arms, for of late my pleasures had been few.

Leuzica was a perfect beauty, and worthy to be a king's mistress; and if
I had been rich I would have set up a household that I might retain her
in my service.

We did not awake till seven o'clock. She got up, and on looking out of
the window saw Strasoldo's carriage waiting at the door.

I confronted her by saying that as long as she liked to stay with me no
one could force her away.

I was vexed that I had no closet in my room, as I could not hide her from
the waiter who would bring us coffee. We accordingly dispensed with
breakfast, but I had to find out some way of feeding her. I thought I had
plenty of time before me, but I was wrong.

At ten o'clock I saw Strasoldo and his friend Pittoni coming into the
inn. They spoke to the landlord, and seemed to be searching the whole
place, passing from one room to another.

I laughed, and told Leuzica that they were looking for her, and that our
turn would doubtless come before long.

"Remember your promise," said she.

"You may be sure of that."

The tone in which this remark was delivered comforted her, and she
exclaimed,--

"Well; well, let them come; they will get nothing by it."

I heard footsteps approaching, and went out, closing the door behind me,
and begging them to excuse my not asking them in, as there was a
contraband commodity in my room.

"Only tell me that it is not my maid," said Strasoldo, in a pitiable
voice. "We are sure she is here, as the sentinel at the gate saw her come
in at ten o'clock."

"You are right, the fair Leuzica is at this moment in my room. I have
given her my word of honour that no violence shall be used, and you may
be sure I shall keep my word."

"I shall certainly not attempt any violence, but I am sure she would come
of her own free will if I could speak to her."

"I will ask her if she wishes to see you. Wait a moment."

Leuzica had been listening to our conversation, and when I opened the
door she told me that I could let them in.

As soon as Strasoldo appeared she asked him proudly if she was under any
obligations to him, if she had stolen anything from him, and if she was
not perfectly free to leave him when she liked.

The poor count replied mildly that on the contrary it was he who owed her
a year's wages and had her box in his possession, but that she should not
have left him without giving any reason.

"The only reason is that I don't want to go to Vienna," she replied. "I
told you so a week ago. If you are an honest man you will leave me my
trunk, and as to my wages you can send them to me at my aunt's at Laibach
if you haven't got any money now."

I pitied Strasoldo from the bottom of my heart; he prayed and entreated,
and finally wept like a child. However, Pittoni roused my choler by
saying that I ought to drive the slut out of my room.

"You are not the man to tell me what I ought and what I ought not to do,"
I replied, "and after I have received her in my apartments you ought to
moderate your expressions."

Seeing that I stood on my dignity he laughed, and asked me if I had
fallen in love with her in so short a time.

Strasoldo here broke in by saying he was sure she had not slept with me.

"That's where you are mistaken," said she, "for there's only one bed, and
I did not sleep on the floor."

They found prayers and reproaches alike useless and left us at noon.
Leuzica was profuse in her expressions of gratitude to me.

There was no longer any mystery, so I boldly ordered dinner for two, and
promised that she should remain with me till the count had left Trieste.

At three o'clock the Venetian consul came, saying that Count Strasoldo
had begged him to use his good offices with me to persuade me to deliver
up the fair Leuzica.

"You must speak to the girl herself," I replied; "she came here and stays
here of her own free will."

When the worthy man had heard the girl's story he went away, saying that
we had the right on our side.

In the evening a porter brought her trunk, and at this she seemed touched
but not repentant.

Leuzica supped with me and again shared my couch. The count left Trieste
at day-break.

As soon as I was sure that he was gone, I took a carriage and escorted
the fair Leuzica two stages on her way to Laibach. We dined together, and
I left her in the care of a friend of hers.

Everybody said I had acted properly, and even Pittoni confessed that in
my place he would have done the same.

Poor Strasoldo came to a bad end. He got into debt, committed peculation,
and had to escape into Turkey and embrace Islam to avoid the penalty of
death.

About this time the Venetian general, Palmanova, accompanied by the
procurator Erizzo, came to Trieste to visit the governor, Count
Wagensberg. In the afternoon the count presented me to the patricians who
seemed astonished to see me at Trieste.

The procurator asked me if I amused myself as well as I had done at Paris
sixteen years ago, and I told him that sixteen years more, and a hundred
thousand francs less, forced me to live in a different fashion. While we
were talking, the consul came in to announce that the felucca was ready.
Madame de Lantieri as well as her father pressed me to join the party.

I gave a bow, which might mean either no or yes, and asked the consul
what the party was. He told me that they were going to see a Venetian
man-of-war at anchor in the harbor; his excellence there being the
captain I immediately turned to the countess and smilingly professed my
regret that I was unable to set foot on Venetian soil.

Everybody exclaimed at me,--

"You have nothing to fear. You are with honest people. Your suspicion is
quite offensive."

"That is all very fine, ladies and gentlemen, and I will come with all my
heart, if your excellences will assure me that my joining this little
party will not be known to the State Inquisitors possibly by to-morrow."

This was enough. Everybody looked at me in silence, and no objections
could be found to my argument.

The captain of the vessel, who did not know me, spoke a few whispered
words to the others, and then they left.

The next day the consul told me that the captain had praised my prudence
in declining to go on board, as if anyone had chanced to tell him my name
and my case whilst I was on his ship, it would have been his duty to
detain me.

When I told the governor of this remark he replied gravely that he should
not have allowed the ship to leave the harbour.

I saw the procurator Erizzo the same evening, and he congratulated me on
my discretion, telling me he would take care to let the Tribunal know how
I respected its decisions.

About this time I had the pleasure of seeing a beautiful Venetian, who
visited Trieste with several of her admirers. She was of the noble family
of Bon, and had married Count Romili de Bergamo, who left her free to do
whatever she liked. She drew behind her triumphal chariot an old general,
Count Bourghausen, a famous rake who had deserted Mars for the past ten
years in order to devote his remaining days to the service of Venus. He
was a delightful man, and we became friends. Ten years later he was of
service to me, as my readers will find in the next volume, which may
perhaps be the last.




CHAPTER XXII

Some Adventures at Trieste--I Am of Service to the Venetian
Government--My Expedition to Gorice and My Return to
Trieste--I Find Irene as an Actress and Expert Gamester

Some of the ladies of Trieste thought they would like to act a French
play, and I was made stage manager. I had not only to choose the pieces,
but to distribute the parts, the latter being a duty of infinite
irksomeness.

All the actresses were new to the boards, and I had immense trouble in
hearing them repeat their parts, which they seemed unable to learn by
heart. It is a well-known fact that the revolution which is really wanted
in Italy is in female education. The very best families with few
exceptions are satisfied with shutting up their daughters in a convent
for several years till the time comes for them to marry some man whom
they never see till the eve or the day of their marriage. As a
consequence we have the 'cicisbeo', and in Italy as in France the idea
that our nobles are the sons of their nominal fathers is a purely
conventional one.

What do girls learn in convents, especially in Italian convents? A few
mechanical acts of devotion and outward forms, very little real religion,
a good deal of deceit, often profligate habits, a little reading and
writing, many useless accomplishments, small music and less drawing, no
history, no geography or mythology, hardly any mathematics, and nothing
to make a girl a good wife and a good mother.

As for foreign languages, they are unheard of; our own Italian is so soft
that any other tongue is hard to acquire, and the 'dolce far niente'
habit is an obstacle to all assiduous study.

I write down these truths in spite of my patriotism. I know that if any
of my fellow-countrywomen come to read me they will be very angry; but I
shall be beyond the reach of all anger.

To return to our theatricals. As I could not make my actresses get their
parts letter perfect, I became their prompter, and found out by
experience all the ungratefulness of the position.

The actors never acknowledged their debt to the prompter, and put down to
his account all the mistakes they make.

A Spanish doctor is almost as badly off; if his patient recovers, the
cure is set down to the credit of one saint or another; but if he dies,
the physician is blamed for his unskilful treatment.

A handsome negress, who served the prettiest of my actresses to whom I
shewed great attentions, said to me one day,--

"I can't make out how you can be so much in love with my mistress, who is
as white as the devil."

"Have you never loved a white man?" I asked.

"Yes," said she, "but only because I had no negro, to whom I should
certainly have given the preference."

Soon after the negress became mine, and I found out the falsity of the
axiom, 'Sublata lucerna nullum discrimen inter feminas', for even in the
darkness a man would know a black woman from a white one.

I feel quite sure myself that the negroes are a distinct species from
ourselves. There is one essential difference, leaving the colour out of
account--namely, that an African woman can either conceive or not, and
can conceive a boy or a girl. No doubt my readers will disbelieve this
assertion, but their incredulity would cease if I instructed them in the
mysterious science of the negresses.

Count Rosenberg, grand chamberlain of the emperor, came on a visit to
Trieste in company with an Abbe Casti, whose acquaintance I wished to
make on account of some extremely blasphemous poems he had written.
However, I was disappointed; and instead of a man of parts, I found the
abbe to be an impudent worthless fellow, whose only merit was a knack of
versification.

Count Rosenberg took the abbe with him, because he was useful in the
capacities of a fool and a pimp-occupations well suited to his morals,
though by no means agreeable to his ecclesiastical status. In those days
syphilis had not completely destroyed his uvula.

I heard that this shameless profligate, this paltry poetaster, had been
named poet to the emperor. What a dishonour to the memory of the great
Metastasio, a man free from all vices, adorned with all virtues, and of
the most singular ability.

Casti had neither a fine style, nor a knowledge of dramatic requirements,
as appears from two or three comic operas composed by him, in which the
reader will find nothing but foolish buffooneries badly put together. In
one of these comic operas he makes use of slander against King Theodore
and the Venetian Republic, which he turns into ridicule by means of
pitiful lies.

In another piece called The Cave of Trophonius, Casti made himself the
laughing-stock of the literary world by making a display of useless
learning which contributes nothing towards the plot.

Among the persons of quality who came to Gorice, I met a certain Count
Torriano, who persuaded me to spend the autumn with him at a country
house of his six miles from Gorice.

If I had listened to the voice of my good genius I should certainly never
have gone.

The count was under thirty, and was not married. He could not exactly be
called ugly in spite of his hangdog countenance, in which I saw the
outward signs of cruelty, disloyalty, treason, pride, brutal sensuality,
hatred, and jealousy. The mixture of bad qualities was such an appalling
one that I thought his physiognomy was at fault, and the goods better
than the sign. He asked me to come and see him so graciously that I
concluded that the man gave the lie to his face.

I asked about him before accepting the invitation, and I heard nothing
but good. People certainly said he was fond of the fair sex, and was a
fierce avenger of any wrong done to him, but not thinking either of these
characteristics unworthy of a gentleman I accepted his invitation. He
told me that he would expect me to meet him at Gorice on the first day of
September, and that the next day we would leave for his estate.

In consequence of Torriano's invitation I took leave of everybody,
especially of Count Wagensberg, who had a serious attack of that malady
which yields so easily to mercury when it is administered by a skilled
hand, but which kills the unfortunate who falls amongst quacks. Such was
the fate of the poor count; he died a month after I had left Trieste.

I left Trieste in the morning, dined at Proseco, and reached Gorice in
good time. I called at Count Louis Torriano's mansion, but was told he
was out. However, they allowed me to deposit what little luggage I had
when I informed them that the count had invited me. I then went to see
Count Torres, and stayed with him till supper-time.

When I got back to the count's I was told he was in the country, and
would not be back till the next day, and that in the meantime my trunks
had been taken to the inn where a room and supper had been ordered.

I was extremely astonished, and went to the inn, where I was served with
a bad supper in an uncomfortable room; however, I supposed that the count
had been unable to accommodate me in his house, and I excused him though
I wished he had forewarned me. I could not understand how a gentleman who
has a house and invites a friend can be without a room wherein to lodge
him.

Next morning Count Torriano came to see me, thanked me for my
punctuality, congratulated himself on the pleasure he expected to derive
from my society, and told me he was very sorry we could not start for two
days, as a suit was to be heard the next day between himself and a
rascally old farmer who was trying to cheat him.

"Well, well," said I, "I will go and hear the pleadings; it will be an
amusement for me."

Soon after he took his leave, without asking me where I intended dining,
or apologizing for not having accommodated me himself.

I could not make him out; I thought he might have taken offence at my
descending at his doors without having given him any warning.

"Come, come, Casanova," I said to myself, "you may be all abroad.
Knowledge of character is an unfathomable gulf. We thought we had studied
it deeply, but there is still more to learn; we shall see. He may have
said nothing out of delicacy. I should be sorry to be found wanting in
politeness, though indeed I am puzzled to know what I have done amiss."

I dined by myself, made calls in the afternoon, and supped with Count
Tomes. I told him that I promised myself the pleasure of hearing the
eloquence of the bar of Gorice the next day.

"I shall be there, too," said he, "as I am curious to see what sort of a
face Torriano will put on it, if the countryman wins. I know something
about the case," he continued, "and Torriano is sure of victory, unless
the documents attesting the farmer's indebtedness happen to be forgeries.
On the other hand, the farmer ought to win unless it can be shewn that
the receipts signed by Torriano are forgeries. The farmer has lost in the
first court and in the second court, but he has paid the costs and
appealed from both, though he is a poor man. If he loses to-morrow he
will not only be a ruined man, but be sentenced to penal servitude, while
if he wins, Torriano should be sent to the galleys, together with his
counsel, who has deserved this fate many times before."

I knew Count Tomes passed for somewhat of a scandal-monger, so his
remarks made little impression on me beyond whetting my curiosity. The
next day I was one of the first to appear in the court, where I found the
bench, plaintiff and defendant, and the barristers, already assembled.
The farmer's counsel was an old man who looked honest, while the count's
had all the impudence of a practised knave. The count sat beside him,
smiling disdainfully, as if he was lowering himself to strive with a
miserable peasant whom he had already twice vanquished.

The farmer sat by his wife, his son, and two daughters, and had that air
of modest assurance which indicates resignation and a good conscience.

I wondered how such honest people could have lost in two courts; I was
sure their cause must be a just one.

They were all poorly clad, and from their downcast eyes and their humble
looks I guessed them to be the victims of oppression.

Each barrister could speak for two hours.

The farmer's advocate spoke for thirty minutes, which he occupied by
putting in the various receipts bearing the count's signature up to the
time when he had dismissed the farmer, because he would not prostitute
his daughters to him. He then continued, speaking with calm precision, to
point out the anachronisms and contradictions in the count's books (which
made his client a debtor), and stated that his client was in a position
to prosecute the two forgers who had been employed to compass the ruin of
an honest family, whose only crime was poverty. He ended his speech by an
appeal for costs in all the suits, and for compensation for loss of time
and defamation of character.

The harangue of the count's advocate would have lasted more than two
hours if the court had not silenced him. He indulged in a torrent of
abuse against the other barrister, the experts in hand-writing, and the
peasant, whom he threatened with a speedy consignment to the galleys.

The pleadings would have wearied me if I had been a blind man, but as it
was I amused myself by a scrutiny of the various physiognomies before me.
My host's face remained smiling and impudent through it all.

The pleadings over, the court was cleared, and we awaited the sentence in
the adjoining room.

The peasant and his family sat in a corner apart, sad, sorry, and
comfortless, with no friend to speak a consoling word, while the count
was surrounded by a courtly throng, who assured him that with such a case
he could not possibly lose; but that if the judges did deliver judgment
against him he should pay the peasant, and force him to prove the alleged
forgery.

I listened in profound silence, sympathising with the countryman rather
than my host, whom I believed to be a thorough-paced scoundrel, though I
took care not to say so.

Count Torres, who was a deadly foe to all prudence and discretion, asked
me my opinion of the case, and I whispered that I thought the count
should lose, even if he were in the right, on account of the infamous
apostrophes of his counsel, who deserved to have his ears cut off or to
stand in the pillory for six months.

"And the client too," said Tomes aloud; but nobody had heard what I had
said.

After we had waited for an hour the clerk of the court came in with two
papers, one of which he gave to the peasant's counsel and the other to
Torriano's. Torriano read it to himself, burst into a loud laugh, and
then read it aloud.

The court condemned the count to recognize the peasant as his creditor,
to pay all costs, and to give him a year's wages as damages; the
peasant's right to appeal ad minimum on account of any other complaints
he might have being reserved.

The advocate looked downcast, but Torriano consoled him by a fee of six
sequins, and everybody went away.

I remained with the defendant, and asked him if he meant to appeal to
Vienna.

"I shall appeal in another sort," said he; but I did not ask him what he
meant.

We left Gorice the next morning.

My landlord gave me the bill, and told me he had received instructions
not to insist on my paying it if I made any difficulty, as in that case
the count would pay himself.

This struck me as somewhat eccentric, but I only laughed. However, the
specimens I had seen of his character made me imagine that I was going to
spend six weeks with a dangerous original.

In two hours we were at Spessa, and alighted at a large house, with
nothing distinguished about it from an architectural point of view. We
went up to the count's room, which was tolerably furnished, and after
shewing me over the house he took me to my own room. It was on the ground
floor, stuffy, dark, and ill furnished.

"Ah!" said he, "this is the room my poor old father used to love to sit
in; like you, he was very fond of study. You may be sure of enjoying
perfect liberty here, for you will see no one."

We dined late, and consequently no supper was served. The eating and the
wine were tolerable, and so was the company of a priest, who held the
position of the count's steward; but I was disgusted at hearing the
count, who ate ravenously, reproach me with eating too slowly.

When we rose from table he told me he had a lot to do, and that we should
see each other the next day.

I went to my room to put things in order, and to get out my papers. I was
then working at the second volume of the Polish troubles.

In the evening I asked for a light as it was growing dark, and presently
a servant came with one candle. I was indignant; they ought to have given
me wax lights or a lamp at least. However, I made no complaint, merely
asking one of the servants if I was to rely on the services of any
amongst them.

"Our master has given us no instructions on the subject, but of course we
will wait on you whenever you call us."

This would have been a troublesome task, as there was no bell, and I
should have been obliged to wander all over the house, to search the
courtyard, and perhaps the road, whenever I wanted a servant.

"And who will do my room?" I asked.

"The maid."

"Then she has a key of her own?"

"There is no need for a key, as your door has no lock, but you can bolt
yourself in at night."

I could only laugh, whether from ill humour or amusement I really cannot
say. However, I made no remark to the man.

I began my task, but in half an hour I was so unfortunate as to put out
the candle whilst snuffing it. I could not roam about the house in the
dark searching for a light, as I did not know my way, so I went to bed in
the dark more inclined to swear than to laugh.

Fortunately the bed was a good one, and as I had expected it to be
uncomfortable I went to sleep in a more tranquil humour.