The Memoires of Casanova, Complete

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


This earthquake shock was the result of those which at the same time
destroyed Lisbon.




CHAPTER XXVII

Various Adventures--My Companions--I Prepare to Escape--
Change of Cell

To make the reader understand how I managed to escape from a place like
the Leads, I must explain the nature of the locality.

The Leads, used for the confinement of state prisoners, are in fact the
lofts of the ducal palace, and take their name from the large plates of
lead with which the roof is covered. One can only reach them through the
gates of the palace, the prison buildings, or by the bridge of which I
have spoken called the Bridge of Sighs. It is impossible to reach the
cells without passing through the hall where the State Inquisitors hold
their meetings, and their secretary has the sole charge of the key, which
he only gives to the gaoler for a short time in the early morning whilst
he is attending to the prisoners. This is done at day-break, because
otherwise the guards as they came and went would be in the way of those
who have to do with the Council of Ten, as the Council meets every day in
a hall called The Bussola, which the guards have to cross every time they
go to the Leads.

The prisons are under the roof on two sides of the palace; three to the
west (mine being among the number) and four to the east. On the west the
roof looks into the court of the palace, and on the east straight on to
the canal called Rio di Palazzo. On this side the cells are well lighted,
and one can stand up straight, which is not the case in the prison where
I was, which was distinguished by the name of 'Trave', on account of the
enormous beam which deprived me of light. The floor of my cell was
directly over the ceiling of the Inquisitors' hall, where they commonly
met only at night after the sitting of the Council of Ten of which the
whole three are members.

As I knew my ground and the habits of the Inquisitors perfectly well, the
only way to escape--the only way at least which I deemed likely to
succeed--was to make a hole in the floor of my cell; but to do this tools
must be obtained--a difficult task in a place where all communication
with the outside world was forbidden, where neither letters nor visits
were allowed. To bribe a guard a good deal of money would be necessary,
and I had none. And supposing that the gaoler and his two guards allowed
themselves to be strangled--for my hands were my only weapons--there was
always a third guard on duty at the door of the passage, which he locked
and would not open till his fellow who wished to pass through gave him
the password. In spite of all these difficulties my only thought was how
to escape, and as Boethius gave me no hints on this point I read him no
more, and as I was certain that the difficulty was only to be solved by
stress of thinking I centered all my thoughts on this one object.

It has always been my opinion that when a man sets himself determinedly
to do something, and thinks of nought but his design, he must succeed
despite all difficulties in his path: such an one may make himself Pope
or Grand Vizier, he may overturn an ancient line of kings--provided that
he knows how to seize on his opportunity, and be a man of wit and
pertinacity. To succeed one must count on being fortunate and despise all
ill success, but it is a most difficult operation.

Towards the middle of November, Lawrence told me that Messer-Grande had a
prisoner in his hands whom the new secretary, Businello, had ordered to
be placed in the worst cell, and who consequently was going to share
mine. He told me that on the secretary's reminding him that I looked upon
it as a favour to be left alone, he answered that I had grown wiser in
the four months of my imprisonment. I was not sorry to hear the news or
that there was a new secretary. This M. Pierre Businello was a worthy man
whom I knew at Paris. He afterwards went to London as ambassador of the
Republic.

In the afternoon I heard the noise of the bolts, and presently Lawrence
and two guards entered leading in a young man who was weeping bitterly;
and after taking off his handcuffs they shut him up with me, and went out
without saying a word. I was lying on my bed, and he could not see me. I
was amused at his astonishment. Being, fortunately for himself, seven or
eight inches shorter than I, he was able to stand upright, and he began
to inspect my arm-chair, which he doubtless thought was meant for his own
use. Glancing at the ledge above the grating he saw Boethius, took it up,
opened it, and put it down with a kind of passion, probably because being
in Latin it was of no use to him. Continuing his inspection of the cell
he went to the left, and groping about was much surprised to find
clothes. He approached the recess, and stretching out his hand he touched
me, and immediately begged my pardon in a respectful manner. I asked him
to sit down and we were friends.

"Who are you?" said I.

"I am Maggiorin, of Vicenza. My father, who was a coachman, kept me at
school till I was eleven, by which time I had learnt to read and write; I
was afterwards apprenticed to a barber, where I learnt my business
thoroughly. After that I became valet to the Count of X---. I had been in
the service of the nobleman for two years when his daughter came from the
convent. It was my duty to do her hair, and by degrees I fell in love
with her, and inspired her with a reciprocal passion. After having sworn
a thousand times to exist only for one another, we gave ourselves up to
the task of shewing each other marks of our affection, the result of
which was that the state of the young countess discovered all. An old and
devoted servant was the first to find out our connection and the
condition of my mistress, and she told her that she felt in duty bound to
tell her father, but my sweetheart succeeded in making her promise to be
silent, saying that in the course of the week she herself would tell him
through her confessor. She informed me of all this, and instead of going
to confession we prepared for flight. She had laid hands on a good sum of
money and some diamonds which had belonged to her mother, and we were to
set out for Milan to-night. But to-day the count called me after dinner,
and giving me a letter, he told me to start at once and to deliver it
with my own hand to the person to whom it was addressed at Venice. He
spoke to me so kindly and quietly that I had not the slightest suspicion
of the fate in store for me. I went to get my cloak, said good-bye to my
little wife, telling her that I should soon return. Seeing deeper below
the surface than I, and perchance having a presentiment of my misfortune,
she was sick at heart. I came here in hot haste, and took care to deliver
the fatal letter. They made me wait for an answer, and in the mean time I
went to an inn; but as I came out I was arrested and put in the
guard-room, where I was kept till they brought me here. I suppose, sir, I
might consider the young countess as my wife?"

"You make a mistake."

"But nature---- "

"Nature, when a man listens to her and nothing else, takes him from one
folly to another, till she puts him under the Leads."

"I am under the Leads, then, am I?"

"As I am."

The poor young man shed some bitter tears. He was a well-made lad, open,
honest, and amorous beyond words. I secretly pardoned the countess, and
condemned the count for exposing his daughter to such temptation. A
shepherd who shuts up the wolf in the fold should not complain if his
flock be devoured. In all his tears and lamentations he thought not of
himself but always of his sweetheart. He thought that the gaoler would
return and bring him some food and a bed; but I undeceived him, and
offered him a share of what I had. His heart, however, was too full for
him to eat. In the evening I gave him my mattress, on which he passed the
night, for though he looked neat and clean enough I did not care to have
him to sleep with me, dreading the results of a lover's dreams. He
neither understood how wrongly he had acted, nor how the count was
constrained to punish him publicly as a cloak to the honour of his
daughter and his house. The next day he was given a mattress and a dinner
to the value of fifteen sous, which the Tribunal had assigned to him,
either as a favour or a charity, for the word justice would not be
appropriate in speaking of this terrible body. I told the gaoler that my
dinner would suffice for the two of us, and that he could employ the
young man's allowance in saying masses in his usual manner. He agreed
willingly, and having told him that he was lucky to be in my company, he
said that we could walk in the garret for half an hour. I found this walk
an excellent thing for my health and my plan of escape, which, however, I
could not carry out for eleven months afterwards. At the end of this
resort of rats, I saw a number of old pieces of furniture thrown on the
ground to the right and left of two great chests, and in front of a large
pile of papers sewn up into separate volumes. I helped myself to a dozen
of them for the sake of the reading, and I found them to be accounts of
trials, and very diverting; for I was allowed to read these papers, which
had once contained such secrets. I found some curious replies to the
judges' questions respecting the seduction of maidens, gallantries
carried a little too far by persons employed in girls' schools, facts
relating to confessors who had abused their penitents, schoolmasters
convicted of pederasty with their pupils, and guardians who had seduced
their wards. Some of the papers dating two or three centuries back, in
which the style and the manners illustrated gave me considerable
entertainment. Among the pieces of furniture on the floor I saw a
warming-pan, a kettle, a fire-shovel, a pair of tongs, some old
candle-sticks, some earthenware pots, and even a syringe. From this I
concluded that some prisoner of distinction had been allowed to make use
of these articles. But what interested me most was a straight iron bar as
thick as my thumb, and about a foot and a half long. However, I left
everything as it was, as my plans had not been sufficiently ripened by
time for me to appropriate any object in particular.

One day towards the end of the month my companion was taken away, and
Lawrence told me that he had been condemned to the prisons known as The
Fours, which are within the same walls as the ordinary prisons, but
belong to the State Inquisitors. Those confined in them have the
privilege of being able to call the gaoler when they like. The prisons
are gloomy, but there is an oil lamp in the midst which gives the
necessary light, and there is no fear of fire as everything is made of
marble. I heard, a long time after, that the unfortunate Maggiorin was
there for five years, and was afterwards sent to Cerigo for ten. I do not
know whether he ever came from there. He had kept me good company, and
this I discovered as soon as he was gone, for in a few days I became as
melancholy as before. Fortunately, I was still allowed my walk in the
garret, and I began to examine its contents with more minuteness. One of
the chests was full of fine paper, pieces of cardboard, uncut pens, and
clews of pack thread; the other was fastened down. A piece of polished
black marble, an inch thick, six inches long, and three broad, attracted
my attention, and I possessed myself of it without knowing what I was
going to do with it, and I secreted it in my cell, covering it up with my
shirts.

A week after Maggiorin had gone, Lawrence told me that in all probability
I should soon get another companion. This fellow Lawrence, who at bottom
was a mere gabbling fool, began to get uneasy at my never asking him any
questions. This fondness for gossip was not altogether appropriate to his
office, but where is one to find beings absolutely vile? There are such
persons, but happily they are few and far between, and are not to be
sought for in the lower orders. Thus my gaoler found himself unable to
hold his tongue, and thought that the reason I asked no questions must be
that I thought him incapable of answering them; and feeling hurt at this,
and wishing to prove to me that I made a mistake, he began to gossip
without being solicited.

"I believe you will often have visitors," said he, "as the other six
cells have each two prisoners, who are not likely to be sent to the
Fours." I made him no reply, but he went on, in a few seconds, "They send
to the Fours all sorts of people after they have been sentenced, though
they know nothing of that. The prisoners whom I have charge of under the
Leads are like yourself, persons of note, and are only guilty of deeds of
which the inquisitive must know nothing. If you knew, sir, what sort of
people shared your fate, you would be astonished, It's true that you are
called a man of parts; but you will pardon me.... You know that all men
of parts are treated well here. You take me, I see. Fifty sous a day,
that's something. They give three livres to a citizen, four to a
gentleman, and eight to a foreign count. I ought to know, I think, as
everything goes through my hands."

He then commenced to sing his own praises, which consisted of negative
clauses.

"I'm no thief, nor traitor, nor greedy, nor malicious, nor brutal, as all
my predecessors were, and when I have drunk a pint over and above I am
all the better for it. If my father had sent me to school I should have
learnt to read and write, and I might be Messer-Grande to-day, but that's
not my fault. M. Andre Diedo has a high opinion of me. My wife, who cooks
for you every day, and is only twenty-four, goes to see him when she
will, and he will have her come in without ceremony, even if he be in
bed, and that's more than he'll do for a senator. I promise you you will
be always having the new-comers in your cell, but never for any length of
time, for as soon as the secretary has got what he wants to know from
them, he sends them to their place--to the Fours, to some fort, or to the
Levant; and if they be foreigners they are sent across the frontier, for
our Government does not hold itself master of the subjects of other
princes, if they be not in its service. The clemency of the Court is
beyond compare; there's not another in the world that treats its
prisoners so well. They say it's cruel to disallow writing and visitors;
but that's foolish, for what are writing and company but waste of time?
You will tell me that you have nothing to do, but we can't say as much."

Such was, almost word for word, the first harangue with which the fellow
honoured me, and I must say I found it amusing. I saw that if the man had
been less of a fool he would most certainly have been more of a
scoundrel.

The next day brought me a new messmate, who was treated as Maggiorin had
been, and I thus found it necessary to buy another ivory spoon, for as
the newcomers were given nothing on the first day of their imprisonment I
had to do all the honours of the cell.

My new mate made me a low bow, for my beard, now four inches long, was
still more imposing than my figure. Lawrence often lent me scissors to
cut my nails, but he was forbidden, under pain of very heavy punishment,
to let me touch my beard. I knew not the reason of this order, but I
ended by becoming used to my beard as one gets used to everything.

The new-comer was a man of about fifty, approaching my size, a little
bent, thin, with a large mouth, and very bad teeth. He had small grey
eyes hidden under thick eyebrows of a red colour, which made him look
like an owl; and this picture was set off by a small black wig, which
exhaled a disagreeable odour of oil, and by a dress of coarse grey cloth.
He accepted my offer of dinner, but was reserved, and said not a word the
whole day, and I was also silent, thinking he would soon recover the use
of his tongue, as he did the next day.

Early in the morning he was given a bed and a bag full of linen. The
gaoler asked him, as he had asked me, what he would have for dinner, and
for money to pay for it.

"I have no money."

"What! a moneyed man like you have no money?"

"I haven't a sou."

"Very good; in that case I will get you some army biscuit and water,
according to instructions."

He went out, and returned directly afterwards with a pound and a half of
biscuit, and a pitcher, which he set before the prisoner, and then went
away.

Left alone with this phantom I heard a sigh, and my pity made me break
the silence.

"Don't sigh, sir, you shall share my dinner. But I think you have made a
great mistake in coming here without money."

"I have some, but it does not do to let those harpies know of it:"

"And so you condemn yourself to bread and water. Truly a wise proceeding!
Do you know the reason of your imprisonment?"

"Yes, sir, and I will endeavour in a few words to inform you of it."

"My name is Squaldo Nobili. My father was a countryman who had me taught
reading and writing, and at his death left me his cottage and the small
patch of ground belonging to it. I lived in Friuli, about a day's journey
from the Marshes of Udine. As a torrent called Corno often damaged my
little property, I determined to sell it and to set up in Venice, which I
did ten years ago. I brought with me eight thousand livres in fair
sequins, and knowing that in this happy commonwealth all men enjoyed the
blessings of liberty, I believed that by utilizing my capital I might
make a little income, and I began to lend money, on security. Relying on
my thrift, my judgment, and my, knowledge of the world, I chose this
business in preference to all others. I rented a small house in the
neighbourhood of the Royal Canal, and having furnished it I lived there
in comfort by myself; and in the course of two years I found I had made a
profit of ten thousand livres, though I had expended two thousand on
household expenses as I wished to live in comfort. In this fashion I saw
myself in a fair way of making a respectable fortune in time; but one,
day, having lent a Jew two sequins upon some books, I found one amongst
them called 'La Sagesse,' by Charron. It was then I found out how good a
thing it is to be able to read, for this book, which you, sir, may not
have read, contains all that a man need know--purging him of all the
prejudices of his childhood. With Charron good-bye to hell and all the
empty terrors of a future life; one's eyes are opened, one knows the way
to bliss, one becomes wise indeed. Do you, sir, get this book, and pay no
heed to those foolish persons who would tell you this treasure is not to
be approached."

This curious discourse made me know my man. As to Charron, I had read the
book though I did not know it had been translated into Italian. The
author who was a great admirer of Montaigne thought to surpass his model,
but toiled in vain. He is not much read despite the prohibition to read
his works, which should have given them some popularity. He had the
impudence to give his book the title of one of Solomon's treatises--a
circumstance which does not say much for his modesty. My companion went
on as follows:

"Set free by Charron from any scruples I still might have, and from those
false ideas so hard to rid one's self of, I pushed my business in such
sort, that at the end of six years I could lay my hand on ten thousand
sequins. There is no need for you to be astonished at that, as in this
wealthy city gambling, debauchery, and idleness set all the world awry
and in continual need of money; so do the wise gather what the fool
drops.

"Three years ago a certain Count Seriman came and asked me to take from
him five hundred sequins, to put them in my business, and to give him
half profits. All he asked for was an obligation in which I promised to
return him the whole sum on demand. At the end of a year I sent him
seventy-five sequins, which made fifteen per cent. on his money; he gave
me a receipt for it, but was ill pleased. He was wrong, for I was in no
need of money, and had not used his for business purposes. At the end of
the second year, out of pure generosity, I sent him the same amount; but
we came to a quarrel and he demanded the return of the five hundred
sequins. 'Certainly,' I said, 'but I must deduct the hundred and fifty
you have already received.' Enraged at this he served me with a writ for
the payment of the whole sum. A clever lawyer undertook my defence and
was able to gain me two years. Three months ago I was spoken to as to an
agreement, and I refused to hear of it, but fearing violence I went to
the Abbe Justiniani, the Spanish ambassador's secretary, and for a small
sum he let me a house in the precincts of the Embassy, where one is safe
from surprises. I was quite willing to let Count Seriman have his money,
but I claimed a reduction of a hundred sequins on account of the costs of
the lawsuit. A week ago the lawyers on both sides came to me. I shewed
them a purse of two hundred and fifty sequins, and told them they might
take it, but not a penny more. They went away without saying a word, both
wearing an ill-pleased air, of which I took no notice. Three days ago the
Abbe Justiniani told me that the ambassador had thought fit to give
permission to the State Inquisitors to send their men at once to my house
to make search therein. I thought the thing impossible under the shelter
of a foreign ambassador, and instead of taking the usual precautions, I
waited the approach of the men-at-arms, only putting my money in a place
of safety. At daybreak Messer-Grande came to the house, and asked me for
three hundred and fifty sequins, and on my telling him that I hadn't a
farthing he seized me, and here I am."

I shuddered, less at having such an infamous companion than at his
evidently considering me as his equal, for if he had thought of me in any
other light he would certainly not have told me this long tale, doubtless
in the belief that I should take his part. In all the folly about Charron
with which he tormented me in the three days we were together, I found by
bitter experience the truth of the Italian proverb: 'Guardati da colui
che non ha letto che un libro solo'. By reading the work of the misguided
priest he had become an Atheist, and of this he made his boast all the
day long. In the afternoon Lawrence came to tell him to come and speak
with the secretary. He dressed himself hastily, and instead of his own
shoes he took mine without my seeing him. He came back in half an hour in
tears, and took out of his shoes two purses containing three hundred and
fifty sequins, and, the gaoler going before, he went to take them to the
secretary. A few moments afterwards he returned, and taking his cloak
went away. Lawrence told me that he had been set at liberty. I thought,
and with good reason, that, to make him acknowledge his debt and pay it,
the secretary had threatened him with the torture; and if it were only
used in similar cases, I, who detest the principle of torture, would be
the first to proclaim its utility.

On New Year's Day, 1733, I received my presents. Lawrence brought me a
dressing-gown lined with foxskin, a coverlet of wadded silk, and a
bear-skin bag for me to put my legs in, which I welcomed gladly, for the
coldness was unbearable as the heat in August. Lawrence told me that I
might spend to the amount of six sequins a month, that I might have what
books I liked, and take in the newspaper, and that this present came from
M. de Bragadin. I asked him for a pencil, and I wrote upon a scrap of
paper: "I am grateful for the kindness of the Tribunal and the goodness
of M. de Bragadin."

The man who would know what were my feelings at all this must have been
in a similar situation to my own. In the first gush of feeling I forgave
my oppressors, and was on the point of giving up the idea of escape; so
easily shall you move a man that you have brought low and overwhelmed
with misfortune. Lawrence told me that M. de Bragadin had come before the
three Inquisitors, and that on his knees, and with tears in his eyes, he
had entreated them to let him give me this mark of his affection if I
were still in the land of the living; the Inquisitors were moved, and
were not able to refuse his request.

I wrote down without delay the names of the books I wanted.

One fine morning, as I was walking in the garret, my eyes fell on the
iron bar I have mentioned, and I saw that it might very easily be made
into a defensive or offensive weapon. I took possession of it, and having
hidden it under my dressing-gown I conveyed it into my cell. As soon as I
was alone, I took the piece of black marble, and I found that I had to my
hand an excellent whetstone; for by rubbing the bar with the stone I
obtained a very good edge.

My interest roused in this work in which I was but an apprentice, and in
the fashion in which I seemed likely to become possessed of an instrument
totally prohibited under the Leads, impelled, perhaps, also by my vanity
to make a weapon without any of the necessary tools, and incited by my
very difficulties (for I worked away till dark without anything to hold
my whetstone except my left hand, and without a drop of oil to soften the
iron), I made up my mind to persevere in my difficult task. My saliva
served me in the stead of oil, and I toiled eight days to produce eight
edges terminating in a sharp point, the edges being an inch and a half in
length. My bar thus sharpened formed an eight-sided dagger, and would
have done justice to a first-rate cutler. No one can imagine the toil and
trouble I had to bear, nor the patience required to finish this difficult
task without any other tools than a loose piece of stone. I put myself,
in fact, to a kind of torture unknown to the tyrants of all ages. My
right arm had become so stiff that I could hardly move it; the palm of my
hand was covered with a large scar, the result of the numerous blisters
caused by the hardness and the length of the work. No one would guess the
sufferings I underwent to bring my work to completion.