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The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt novel. A total of 566 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt.Vol. I."Venetian Years"by Jacques
The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt.Vol. I."Venetian Years"by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt.CASANOVA AT DUX An Unpublished Chapter of History, By Arthur Symons I The Memoirs of Casanova, though they have enjoyed the popularity of a bad re
- 1 The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt.Vol. I."Venetian Years"by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt.CASANOVA AT DUX An Unpublished Chapter of History, By Arthur Symons I The Memoirs of Casanova, though they have enjoyed the popularity of a bad re
- 2 The sanguine temperament rendered me very sensible to the attractions of voluptuousness: I was always cheerful and ever ready to pa.s.s from one enjoyment to another, and I was at the same time very skillful in inventing new pleasures. Thence, I suppose,
- 3 The following April my mother left me under the care of her own mother, who had forgiven her as soon as she had heard that my father had promised never to compel her to appear on the stage. This is a promise which all actors make to the young girls they m
- 4 Doctor Gozzi, who was attached to me, called me privately one day into his study, and asked me whether I would feel disposed to carry out the advice he would give me in order to bring about my removal from the house of the Sclavonian woman, and my admissi
- 5 I was in that state of mind when suddenly I heard outside of my door the gruff voice of Bettina's mother, who begged me to come down, adding that her daughter was dying. As I would have been very sorry if she had departed this life before she could f
- 6 Cordiani's letter was perfectly explicit; it gave the strongest evidence that she was in the habit of receiving him every night, and therefore the story she had prepared to deceive me was useless. I felt it was so, and, being disposed to calm her anx
- 7 The next day Doctor Olivo found her very feverish, and told her brother that she would most likely be excited and delirious, but that it would be the effect of the fever and not the work of the devil. And truly, Bettina was raving all day, but Dr. Gozzi,
- 8 de Malipiero in the evening the reason for which I could not go to his house, for I did not feel any inclination to show myself anywhere until my hair had grown again.I went home and partook with my brother of a repast which appeared rather scanty in comp
- 9 I thought Juliette very singular, for she seldom spoke to me, and whenever she looked at me she made use of an eye-gla.s.s, or she contracted her eye-lids, as if she wished to deny me the honour of seeing her eyes, which were beyond all dispute very beaut
- 10 These words, so true, so artless, so innocent, made me realize the immense superiority of nature's eloquence over that of philosophical intellect. For the first time I folded this angelic being in my arms, exclaiming, "Yes, dearest Lucie, yes, t
- 11 Whenever I caught anyone it always turned out to be Nanette or Marton, who at once discovered themselves, and I, stupid Don Quixote, instantly would let them go! Love and prejudice blinded me, I could not see how ridiculous I was with my respectful reserv
- 12 This reserve gave me the suspicion that I had something to do with her secret, and that Nanette was the rival of Angela. Such a delightful conversation caused me to lose the wish of pa.s.sing an idle night with two girls so well made for love."It is
- 13 "About a month after your last visit she saw him for the first time. He must have thrown a spell over her, for our Lucie was as pure as a dove, and you can, I believe, bear testimony to her goodness.""And no one knows where they are?"&
- 14 CHAPTER VI My Grandmother's Death and Its Consequences I Lose M. de Malipiero's Friends.h.i.+p--I Have No Longer a Home-- La Tintoretta--I Am Sent to a Clerical Seminary--I Am Expelled From It, and Confined in a Fortress During supper the conver
- 15 The priest committed me to the care of the rector, and my luggage was carried to the dormitory, where I went myself to deposit my cloak and my hat. I was not placed amongst the adults, because, notwithstanding my size, I was not old enough. Besides, I wou
- 16 Early next morning Major Pelodoro (the governor of the fortress) called me up to his room, and told me that, in compelling me to spend the night in the guard-house, he had only obeyed the orders he had received from Venice from the secretary of war. "
- 17 "I am very glad people think me guilty; it is something of a revenge, but it will be rather difficult to bring it home to me.""Very difficult! All the same, Razetta swears he recognized you, and the same declaration is made by the Forlan wh
- 18 We came to a chamber in which I saw a table, a chair, a small toilet-gla.s.s and a bed with the straw pallia.s.se turned over, very likely for the purpose of allowing the looker-on to suppose that there were sheets underneath, but I was particularly disgu
- 19 Entertaining feelings of grat.i.tude for my kind host, and disposed to listen attentively to his poem, I dismissed all sadness, and I paid his poetry such compliments that he was delighted, and, finding me much more talented than he had judged me to be at
- 20 "I quite agree with you, and I shall compliment His Holiness on the establishment.""Oh! His Holiness knows all about it, he resided here before he became pope. If Monsignor Caraffa had not been well acquainted with you, he would not have in
- 21 I found several drivers starting for Cosenza, but when they heard that I had no luggage, they refused to take me, unless I paid in advance. They were quite right, but their prudence placed me under the necessity of going on foot. Yet I felt I must reach M
- 22 "I have made the amalgam," he said, "but the mercury is not perfect.""It is equal to that which I have sold in Portici, and that is the very letter of your engagement.""But my engagement says likewise without injury to t
- 23 As we came out of the palace of the d.u.c.h.ess, I left my friends and went alone to Panagiotti's to claim the barrel of muscatel wine. The manager was kind enough to have the barrel divided into two smaller casks of equal capacity, and I sent one to
- 24 "I will buy you one, dear.""Then buy mine," I said; "I will let you have it for twenty ounces, and you can give me a note of hand payable to bearer in payment. I owe that amount to an Englishman, and I will give it him to redeem m
- 25 "I suppose you will often think me rather too severe; but you are not likely to confide everything to me.""Everything, without any exception.""Allow me to feel somewhat doubtful; you have not told me where you spent four hours yes
- 26 "I have loved Barbara for the last six months, and for three months she has given me indisputable proofs of her affection. Five days ago, we were betrayed by the servant, and the father caught us in a rather delicate position. He left the room withou
- 27 "My husband does not believe us to be in love with each other, or else he does not mind such trifling pleasures as youth is generally wont to indulge in. My mother is a clever woman, and perhaps she suspects the truth, but she is aware that it is no
- 28 "Because most likely he had already addressed himself to G.o.d before he ventured to apply to you; and when Your Holiness sends him to G.o.d again, he finds himself sent back, as the proverb says, from Herod to Pilate."The Pope, as well as his t
- 29 After breakfast we took a walk through the garden, and, finding myself alone with Lucrezia, I expostulated tenderly with her for having almost thrown her sister in my arms."Do not reproach me," she said, "when I deserve praise. I have broug
- 30 "Yes, madam, and I have had the honour to return it to his eminence. I have found it so perfect that I am certain it must have cost you a great deal of time.""Time?" exclaimed the cardinal; "Oh! you do not know the marchioness.&qu
- 31 The cardinal asked her if she intended to remain to dinner."Yes," she answered; "but I shall not enjoy my dinner, for I hate to eat alone.""If you would honour him so far, the abbe would keep you company."She gave me a gracio
- 32 Three or four days after that visit, as I was walking with the Abbe Gama towards the Villa Medicis, he told me deliberately that there would be an execution during the night in the Piazza di Spagna."What kind of execution?""The bargello or
- 33 "That, my dear friend," said the abbe, "is one of the vices of the Romans; happy those who can afford to laugh at it; but this slander may do you harm, even in the mind of our cardinal."As there was no performance at the Opera that nig
- 34 "Reverend sir, I am not obliged to believe you.""You are a fool.""I am master in my own house, and I beg you will go to some other inn."Such an answer, coupled to a most unexpected notice to quit, threw me into a violent pa.s
- 35 "It is," he replied, "the defect of all castrati.""No, it is the perfection of all handsome women. Bellino, believe me, I am enough of a good judge to distinguish between the deformed breast of a castrato, and that of a beautiful
- 36 As supper-time was drawing near, I went to Don Sancio, whom I found in magnificently-furnished apartments. The table was loaded with silver plate, and his servants were in livery. He was alone, but all his guests arrived soon after me--Cecilia, Marina, an
- 37 "Listen to me," she replied, "and I will tell you everything."My name is Therese. My father, a poor clerk in the Inst.i.tute of Bologna, had let an apartment in his house to the celebrated Salimberi, a castrato, and a delightful musici
- 38 But, pray where is the man who is always suffering from a rheum?The fact is that the fearful night I pa.s.sed in the guardhouse of St.Mary resulted for me in a slight loss and in a great gain. The small loss was to be away from my dear Therese, but, being
- 39 "Your native place?""Venice.""Where do you come from?""That is no business of yours."This answer, which I thought was in keeping with my external appearance, had the desired effect: the landlord bowed himself out, a
- 40 "True; but I advise you to enter the Venetian service like Major Pelodoro."As I was leaving the ducal palace, I met the Abbe Grimani who told me that the abrupt manner in which I had left his house had displeased everybody."Even the Spanish
- 41 The chaplain of the s.h.i.+p was a Sclavonian priest, very ignorant, insolent and coa.r.s.e-mannered, and, as I turned him into ridicule whenever the opportunity offered, he had naturally become my sworn enemy. 'Tant de fiel entre-t-il dans l'am
- 42 "The most essential? It is the perfume.""No; that is a pleasure of the organ of smelling--a sensual pleasure.""Then I do not know.""Listen. The princ.i.p.al pleasure derived from tobacco smoking is the sight of a smoke i
- 43 "Observe, my son, that G.o.d never abandons the man who, in the midst of misfortunes, falls down in prayer before Him, and that He often allows the wretch who has no faith in prayer to die miserably.""Yet we meet with Atheists who are fortu
- 44 "Should you wish to see the person with whom you danced the forlana, take a walk towards evening in the garden beyond the fountain, and contrive to become acquainted with the old servant of the gardener by asking her for some lemonade. You may percha
- 45 As soon as I had landed with my luggage, and had engaged a rather mean lodging, I presented myself to M. Andre Dolfin, the proveditore-generale, who promised me again that I should soon be promoted to a lieutenancy. After my visit to him, I called upon M.
- 46 "The story cannot be anything but true, and your doubts surprise me.""I doubt, monsignor, because I happen to have positive information respecting the families of La Rochefoucault and Du Plessis. Besides, I have seen too much of the man. He
- 47 The bells begin to toll, and I proceed towards the church. The long-bearded papa, surprised at my sudden apparition, enquires whether I am Romeo (a Greek); I tell him that I am Fragico (Italian), but he turns his back upon me and goes into his house, the
- 48 "Be reasonable, and come with me of your own accord. My orders are to take you by force, but as I have not enough men to do so, I shall make my report, and the general will, of course, send a force sufficient to arrest you.""Never; I will n
- 49 "Would you have the courage," she said, "to repeat all you have just told me, and exactly in the same terms, before the proveditore-generale?""Most certainly, madam, provided he asked me himself.""Well, then, prepare to
- 50 "In spite of my distress," I said, "I fell in love with a young and beautiful Greek slave, who very nearly contrived to make me break through all the sanitary laws.""How so?""You are alone, madam, and I have not forgotte
- 51 "You have acted," she said, "most n.o.bly; but you must agree with me that I cannot be certain that this piece of paper is really my note of hand, although I see my name on it.""True, madam; and if you are not certain of it, I con
- 52 My conclusion was that M. F---- had asked M. D---- R---- to let me go with him at the suggestion of his wife, or, at least with her consent, and it was highly flattering to my love and to my vanity. But I was bound in honour not to accept the post, unless
- 53 I opened the parcel, but feeling that it contained hair, I hurriedly concealed it under the bed-clothes: at the same moment the blood rushed to my head with such violence that it actually frightened me. I begged for some water, she came to me, with M. D--
- 54 "What should I do, if I had no hope? I hope, because I know you have a heart.""Ah! yes. Do you recollect the day, when, in your anger, you told me that I had only a head, but no heart, thinking you were insulting me grossly!""Oh!
- 55 Our desires revive; she casts a look upon my state of innocence entirely exposed to her sight. She seems vexed at my want of excitement, and, throwing off everything which makes the heat unpleasant and interferes with our pleasure, she bounds upon me. It
- 56 I told her candidly my position and the state I had been thrown in, when I thought of the dreadful consequences it might have had for her. I saw her shudder and tremble, and she turned pale with fear when I added that I would have avenged her by killing m
- 57 With an education which ought to have ensured me an honourable standing in the world, with some intelligence, wit, good literary and scientific knowledge, and endowed with those accidental physical qualities which are such a good pa.s.sport into society,
- 58 M. de Bragadin said that it was Solomon's key, vulgarly called cabalistic science, and he asked me from whom I learnt it."From an old hermit," I answered, "who lives on the Carpegna Mountain, and whose acquaintance I made quite by chan
- 59 "Never mind. The sooner you dishonour yourself, the more you will save, for you will always be compelled to accept your dishonour whenever you find yourself utterly unable to pay your losses. It is therefore more prudent not to wait until then."
- 60 Oh! what a cruel long night it was! In the morning I heard that the monster had gone away with his servant one hour after sealing my shame.You may imagine my despair! I adopted the only plan that despair could suggest, and that, of course, was not the rig
- 61 He came in with his son, the living portrait of his sister. M. Barbaro took them to his study to talk the matter over, and within an hour they had taken leave. As soon as they had gone, the excellent M. Barbaro asked me, as I had expected, to consult my h
- 62 I found the lovely countess in bed, but awake, and her eyes beaming with happiness and contentment. For a fortnight I had only seen her sad, melancholy, and thoughtful. Her pleased countenance, which I naturally ascribed to my influence, filled me with jo
- 63 Observing the lovely face of the young girl, I do not hesitate, but jump into the gondola, and pay double fare, on condition that no more pa.s.sengers are taken. An elderly priest was seated near the young girl, he rises to let me take his place, but I po
- 64 "One had a rank breath; another painted her face, and, indeed, almost every young girl is guilty of that fault. I am afraid marriage is out of the question for me, because I want, for instance, my wife to have black eyes, and in our days almost every
- 65 After breakfast I had great difficulty in convincing the curate that my seat in the carriage was the last one, but I found it easier to persuade him on our arrival in Treviso to remain for dinner and for supper at a small, unfrequented inn, as I took all
- 66 "We have become husband and wife.""What will my uncle say to-morrow?""He need not know anything about it until he gives us the nuptial benediction in his own church.""And when will he do so?""As soon as we have
- 67 "I do not care for love," he answered: "but I should like to get married in order to have a house of my own."When I returned to the palace, I told M. Dandolo that he might open the affair with Count Algarotti, and the count mentioned i
- 68 His enthusiasm and happiness delighted me, and I congratulated myself upon my own work. Yet I felt inwardly some jealousy, and I could not help envying a lot which I might have kept for myself.M. Daridolo and M. Barbaro having been also invited by Charles
- 69 "Whoever you may be, go away and let me sleep quietly, for I do not believe in ghosts;" he covers himself again and composes himself to sleep.I wait five or six minutes, and pull again at the bedclothes; but when he tries to draw up the sheet, s
- 70 "Yes, my dear Marina, I do love you, but if you wish to be my mistress, you must be only mine.""Oh! of course. I have three hundred sequins, and I will give them to you to-morrow if you will take me as your mistress.""I do not wan
- 71 "Since that time the lady goes to the casino, and continues to mix in society, but does not see company at her own house, and lives in perfect accord with her husband.""How did the husband take it all?""Quite well, and like an int
- 72 O'Neilan places himself under arrest, but the next day he is set at liberty. He had, only to plead that it was an accident.The officer Laurent not having called upon me to redeem his promisory note of six sequins during the week, I told him in the st
- 73 The commissary, greatly astonished, looked at his son, and said, with the voice of a judge on the bench, "Well, son, would you ever have thought that I would be offered one thousand sequins for this knife?"He then opened a drawer and took out of
- 74 These words brought back her smile.The house was well situated, and there was not another dwelling around it for at least four hundred yards. I was glad to see that I should have comfortable quarters, but I was annoyed by a very unpleasant stink which tai
- 75 Nature had operated, and the mind of a young girl soon enlarges its sphere when pleasure is her teacher. She went to bed, and as she knew that she had no longer anything to conceal from me, her modesty was not alarmed when she undressed herself in my pres
- 76 The next morning as I was dressing I had a call from the cowardly Alfani-Celi; I received him with a jeering smile, saying that I had expected him.The hair-dresser being in the room Celi did not answer, but as soon as we were alone he said, "How coul
- 77 I hurried over my toilet, and without waiting for my hair to be dressed I proceeded to the bishop's palace, and making a great deal of noise I almost compelled the servants to take me to his room. A lackey who was at the door informed me that his lor
- 78 "We do nothing else. We play the game of the Pharaoh (faro), and I hold the bank."Everybody, understanding the shrewdness of this evasive answer, laughed again, and Juliette herself could not help joining in the general merriment."But tell
- 79 "The proposal was, after all, rather agreeable to me; I consented to her wishes. I only regretted my inability to make her understand that, if she was followed by anyone from Rome, and if that person wanted to take her back, I was not in a position t
- 80 "Have I not some reason to be so?" "No, for I have not given you my decision yet." "Now I breathe more freely, for I am sure you will tell me to accompany you to Parma." "Yes, come to Parma."……
- 81 The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt.Vol. II."To Paris and Prison".by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt.TO PARIS AND PRISON EPISODE 6 -- PARIS CHAPTER I Leave Bologna a Happy Man--The Captain Parts from Us in Reggio, where I Spend a Delightful
- 82 "Are your husband's parents still alive?""His father is dead, but his mother is still alive, and resides with her uncle, Canon Casanova."That was enough. The good woman was my Welsh cousin, and her children were my Welsh nephews.
- 83 "I think, my love, that, if we did not go, we should give some excuse for scandal-mongers to gossip. Yet, should you not like it, you know that there is no need for us to go. Do not think of me, for I prefer our pleasant chat in this room to the heav
- 84 I should have thought and acted differently if I had known all her history. Instead of remaining in Parma I should have gone with her to London, and I know now that she would have been delighted to go there.The two artists arrived soon afterwards; they we
- 85 "You see he does not know me, and yet he wishes to call on me. You must agree with me that if I accepted his visits I should give him a singular opinion of my character. Be good enough to tell him that, although known to no one and knowing no one, I
- 86 I did everything she asked me. From that moment our love became sad, and sadness is a disease which gives the death-blow to affection. We would often remain a whole hour opposite each other without exchanging a single word, and our sighs would be heard wh
- 87 "I do not want to sell it.""Excuse me if I have disturbed you, but you look ill.""Yes, I wish to be left alone.""What is the matter with you?"Coming nearer my bed, he took my hand, and found my pulse extremely low a
- 88 The fellow, drawing his sword, dared me to murder him, but at the same moment De la Haye threw himself between us, stamping violently on the floor. The landlord came up, and threatened the officer to send for the police if he did not withdraw immediately.
- 89 "I advise you for the future not to hurl at me the slightest taunt respecting the life I am leading with Bavois, when we are in the presence of my three worthy friends. I do not object to listen to you when we are alone.""You are wrong in t
- 90 Cantarini wishes to speak to you only as a private citizen, as he sends you word to call at his palace and not at the court-house. He is an elderly man, strict but just, to whom you must speak frankly and without equivocating, otherwise you would make mat
- 91 "That's all very well! You are as witty as a cousin of Satan, but I shall not wait your return to marry you; our wedding must take place at once.""What folly! Well, wait until this evening.""Not a bit of it, for I can almost
- 92 Thereupon an elderly man told me, with a voice full of sweetness, that I ought not to say that the gentlemen were wrong, though I might say that they were not right, thus imitating Cicero, who, instead of declaring to the Romans that Catilina and the othe
- 93 After the supper, which was protracted to a late hour, I repaired to the house of Madame Quinson, my landlady, where I found myself very comfortable. When I woke in the morning, the said Madame Quinson came to my room to tell me that a servant was outside
- 94 "Very likely the d.u.c.h.ess has no idea of the good she has done.""Quite the reverse, for it was a cunning artifice on her part. The d.u.c.h.ess, feeling interested in the newly-married young woman, and wis.h.i.+ng to serve her in a delica
- 95 "Ah! pray excuse me, I thought you were the mother of the three.""You were not mistaken, I am their mother."As she said these words she looked at Patu, and both burst into hearty laughter which did not make me blush, but which shewed m
- 96 "Oh! that is one of those things which can easily be ascertained. I see you are a foreigner, sir.""You are right."But I was delighted at the French opera, with the rapidity of the scenic changes which are done like lightning, at the si
- 97 And saying those words she got out, took her seat in the vis-a-vis, and I found myself very much in the position of Lot's wife, but not motionless.Dear reader, if you have ever been in such a predicament you will easily realize the rage with which I
- 98 "Perhaps her adventures are not known.""Ah, monsieur! at the court everything is known."I went about alone, sauntering through the apartments, when suddenly I met a dozen ugly ladies who seemed to be running rather than walking; they w
- 99 But the man whom she really wished to marry was Count Saint Simon. He would have married her if she had not given him false addresses to make enquiries respecting her birth. The Preati family of Verona denied all knowledge of her, as a matter of course, a
- 100 "Nothing extraordinary in that," I answered; "honest men generally contrive to be hung far away from their native country; and as a proof of it, sixty Frenchmen have been hung in the course of last year between Naples, Rome, and Venice. Fiv