Volume II Part 63 (1/2)
Enjoying foolishly enough, his look of astonishment, I shewed him the books which teach one how to summon the elementary spirits My readers will, I hope, do me the favour to believe that I put no faith in these conjuring books, but I had them by me and used to amuse myself with them as one does amuse one's self with the multitudinous follies which proceed from the heads of visionaries A few days after, the traitor caht not tell ive me a thousand sequins for my five books, but that he would like to exaenuine
As he promised to letmuch about thetheht theeries I found out, some years after, that he had taken them to the State Inquisitors, who thus discovered that I was a notable hout this fatal month tended to my ruin, for Madame Memmo, mother of Andre, Bernard, and Laurent Memmo, had taken it into her head that I had inclined her sons to atheistic opinions, and took counsel with the old knight Antony Mocenigo, M de Bragadin's uncle, as angry with me, because, as he said, I had conspired to seduce his nephew The matter was a serious one, and an auto-da-fe was very possible, as it came under the jurisdiction of the Holy Office--a kind of wild beast, hich it is not good to quarrel Nevertheless, as there would be so me up in the ecclesiastical prisons of the Holy Office, it was determined to carry my case before the State Inquisitors, who took upon the a watch upon
M Antony Condulmer, who as a friend of Abbe Chiari's was an enemy of mine, was then an Inquisitor of State, and he took the opportunity of looking upon ht of a disturber of the peace of the commonwealth A secretary of an embassy, whom I knew some years after, told me that a paid informer, with two other witnesses, also, doubtless, in the pay of this grand tribunal, had declared that I was guilty of only believing in the devil, as if this absurd belief, if it were possible, did not necessarily connote a belief in God! These three honest fellows testified with an oath that when I lost money at play, on which occasion all the faithful are wont to blaspheme, I was never heard to curse the devil I was further accused of eatingto hear finea Freenas I did with three noblee sums which I was seen to lose, as many state secrets as I could worm out of them
All these accusations, none of which had any foundation in fact, served the Tribunal as a pretext to treat me as an enemy of the commonwealth and as a prime conspirator For several weeks I was counselled by persons whoo abroad whilst the Tribunal was engaged on h, for the only people who can live in peace at Venice are those whose existence the Tribunal is ignorant of, but I obstinately despised all these hints If I had listened to the indirect advice which was given me, I should have become anxious, and I was the sworn foe of all anxiety I kept saying to uilty of nothing, and the innocent have nothing to fear” I was a fool, for I argued as if I had been a free reat extent keptof possible misfortune was the actual ht I lost every day, I owed money everywhere, I had pawned allthe precaution, however, of re the portraits, which with my important papers and my amorous letters I had placed in the hands of Madame Manzoni I found myself avoided in society An old senator toldCountess Bonafede had becoiven her She was still at the asylu but utter my name with curses I must let my readers into the secret of this s Countess Bonafede, to whoiven soht herself capable of ely Worried by her letters I went to see her several times, and always left her a few sequins, but with the exception of ive her any proofs of my affection My coldness had baulked all her endeavours for a year, when she played a crih I was never able absolutely to convict her, I had every reason to believe her guilty
She wrote me a letter, in which she importuned me to come and see her at a certain hour on important business
My curiosity, as well as a desire to be of service to her, took me there at the appointed ti her arms round my neck, and told h heartily, and I was pleased to find her looking neater than usual, which, doubtless,prettier She reminded me of St Andre, and succeeded so well in her efforts that I was on the point of satisfying her desires I took off my cloak, and asked her if her father were in She told o out for aback I mistook the door, and I found myself in the next room, where I wasfelloith hihter has just told me that you were out”
”I entlemen, which, however, can wait for another day”
I would have gone, but he stoppeddishted to see an the tale of his troubles, which were of more than one kind The State Inquisitors had stopped his slender pension, and he was on the eve of seeing hi his bread He said that he had not been able to pay his landlord anything for three years, but if he could pay only a quarter's rent, he would obtain a respite, or if he persisted in turning hi of it, and take up his abode somewhere else As he only wanted twenty ducats, I took out six sequins and gave the his poor cloak, he called his daughter, told her to keep me company, and went out
Alone with the countess, I examined the door of cohtly open
”Your father,” I said, ”would have surprised uess what he would have done with the two sbirri ith him The plot is clear, and I have only escaped from it by the happiest of chances”
She denied, wept, called God to witness, threw herself on her knees; but I turnedto me, but her letters remained unanswered, and I saw her no more
It was suer, and wretchedness, her head was turned, and she became so mad that she went out of the house stark naked, and ran up and down St Peter's Place, asking those who stopped her to take her to my house This sad story went all over the town and caused reat deal of annoyance The poor wretch was sent to an asylum, and did not recover her reason for five years When she ca her bread in the streets, like all her brothers, except one, who of Spain twelve years afterwards
At the tio, but the story was dug up against me, and dressed out in the attire of fiction, and thus fore their thunder upon me to ave Messer-Grande instructions to secure me, alive or dead In this furious style all orders for arrests proceeding from the Three were issued, for the least of their commands carried with it the penalty of death
Three or four days before the Feast of St James, my patron saint, M---- M---- made me a present of several ells of silver lace to tri to wear on the eve of the feast I went to see her, dressed in ain on the day following to ask her to lend me some money, as I did not knohere to turn to find some She was still in possession of the five hundred sequins which she had put aside when I had sold her dia I passed the night at play, and I lost the five hundred sequins in advance At day-break, being in need of a little quiet, I went to the Erberia, a space of ground on the quay of the Grand Canal Here is held the herb, fruit, and flower ood society who come to walk in the Erberia at a rather early hour usually say that they coetables, fruit and flowers, which hail from the numerous islands near the town; but everyone knows that they are ht in the excesses of Venus or Bacchus, or who have lost all hope at the ga-table, and come here to breath a purer air and to cal in this place she the character of a nation changes The Venetians of old tireat a mystery of love as of state affairs, have been replaced by the modern Venetians, whoseThose who come to the Erberia omen wish to excite the envy of their friends by thus publishi+ng their good fortune
Those who come alone are on the watch for discoveries, or on the look-out for materials to make wives or husbands jealous, the wolad to let everybody know that they are without any restraint upon their actions There was certainly no question of s the disordered style of dress worn
The wons of disorder i to talk about As for theairs were intended to give the idea of a surfeit of pleasure, and to make one think that the disordered appearance of their companions was a sure triu to look tired out, and as if one stood in need of sleep
This veracious description, reader, will not give you a very high opinion of the morals of my dear fellow citizens; but what object should I have at ? Venice is not at the world's end, but is well enough known to those whose curiosity brings them into Italy; and everyone can see for hi up and down for half an hour, I ca the whole house still a-bed I drew my key out to open the door, but as my astonishment to find it useless, as the door was open, and what is more, the lock burst off I ran upstairs, and found the bitter lamentations
”Messer-Grande,” she told me, ”has entered my house forcibly, acco upside down, on the pretext that he was in search of a porthly contraband article He said he knew that a port before, which was quite true; but it belonged to Count S----, and only contained linen and clothes Messer-Grande, after inspecting it, went out without saying a word”
He had also paid my room a visit She toldshe was in the right I proadin on the s, I lay down, but my nervous excitement, which I attributed to my heavy losses at play, made me rise after three or four hours, and I went to see M de Bragadin, to whonal arounds on which my landlady required proportionate auaranteed the peace of all law-abiding people
I saw that the three friends were greatly saddened by what I said, and the wise old man, quietly but sadly, told me that I should have my answer after dinner