Volume II Part 66 (2/2)
”And so you conde! Do you know the reason of your imprisonment?”
”Yes, sir, and I will endeavour in a feords to inform you of it”
”My name is Squaldo nobili My father was a country, and at his death leftto it I lived in Friuli, about a day's journey froed my little property, I determined to sell it and to set up in Venice, which I did ten years ago I brought withthat in this happy cos of liberty, I believed that by utilizing an to lend e of the world, I chose this business in preference to all others I rented a shbourhood 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 h I had expended two thousand on household expenses as I wished to live in comfort In this fashi+on I sawa respectable fortune in ti lent a Jeo sequins upon soesse,' 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,hiood-bye to hell and all the empty terrors of a future life; one's eyes are opened, one knows the way to bliss, one becoet this book, and pay no heed to those foolish persons ould tell you this treasure is not to be approached”
This curious discourse h I did not know it had been translated into Italian
The author as a great adht to surpass his model, but toiled in vain He is not much read despite the prohibition to read his works, which should have given theive 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 froht 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 ga, debauchery, and idleness set all the world awry and in continual need of ather what the fool drops
”Three years ago a certain Count Seriman came and asked me to take from hiive hiation 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 ave , 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 suain ree 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 fro 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 theht take it, but not a pennyan ill-pleased air, of which I took no notice Three days ago the Abbe Justiniani told ive permission to the State Inquisitors to send their ht the thing in a the usual precautions, I waited the approach of themy money in a place of safety At daybreak Messer-Grande came to the house, and askedhi he seizedsuch an infa ht he would certainly not have toldtale, doubtless in the belief that I should take his part In all the folly about Charron hich he torether, 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 uided priest he had beco 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 tookhim 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 fewhis cloak went away Lawrence told ood reason, that, to e 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 own lined with foxskin, a coverlet of wadded silk, and a bear-skin bag for ladly, for the coldness was unbearable as the heat in August Lawrence told ht spend to the aht have what books I liked, and take in the newspaper, and that this present caadin I asked hirateful for the kindness of the Tribunal and the goodness of M de Bragadin”
The s at all this must have been in a siaveup the idea of escape; so easily shall you ht low and overwheladin had come before the three Inquisitors, and that on his knees, and with tears in his eyes, he had entreated theive 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 doithout delay the na, as I alking in the garret, my eyes fell on the iron bar I have ht very easily be made into a defensive or offensive weapon I took possession of it, and having hidden it under own 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 tothe 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 fashi+on 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 ht edges ter an inch and a half in length My bar thus sharpened forer, and would have done justice to a first-rate cutler No one can iine 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 e scar, the result of the nuth of the work No one would guess the sufferings I underwent to bring my work to co what use I could make of my weapon, my first care was to hide it in such aover a thousand plans, to all of which there was some objection, I cast my eyes on my arm-chair, and there I contrived to hide it so as to be secure from all suspicion Thus did Providence aid me to contrive a wonderful and al of vanity, not because I eventually succeeded--for I owed soh to undertake such a scheht have ruinedliberty
After thinking for three or four days as to what I should do with the bar I had -stick and twenty inches long, I determined that the best plan would be to make a hole in the floor under my bed
I was sure that the room below my cell was no other than the one in which I had seen M Cavalli I knew that this roo, and I felt persuaded that, after I had made my hole, I could easily let myself doith my sheets, which I would make into a rope and fasten to my bed Once there, I would hide under the table of the court, and in the et to a place of safety before anyone could follow ht be placed in the hall, but ht be of double or even of triple thickness, and this thought puzzledout the rooht last If I forbade theht rouse suspicion; all the more as, to free myself of the fleas, I had requested the they would soon discover what I was about I an by forbidding the any reason A week after, Lawrence asked ht ive me some fatal injury
”I will make them water the floor,” said he
”That would be worse, Lawrence, for the daht cause a plethora”
In this manner I obtained a week's respite, but at the end of that tiave orders that arret, and on pretence of having the sweeping done with greater care, he lighted a candle This let ; but I was crafty enough to take no notice of hiht how I could put it on good train Next er and covered my handkerchief with the blood, and then awaited Lawrence in bed As soon as he cahed so violently as to break a blood-vessel, which hadup all the blood he saw ”Get me a doctor” The doctor came, ordered me to be bled, and wrote me a prescription I told hi the roo so, and just as if I had asked hi man who had died froerous than breathing in dust Lawrence called all the Gods to witness that he had only had the rooain I laughed to myself, for the doctor could not have played his part better if I had given hihted, and said they would take care only to sweep the cells of those prisoners who had angered theed my pardon, and assured h their cells were swept out regularly
”But what the doctor says is worth considering,” said he, ”and I shall tell them all about it, for I look upon theood, as it made me sleep, and relieved me of the spasained th every day, but the time to set about my as not yet come; it was still too cold, and I could not hold the bar for any length of ti stiff My scheht I had to exercise boldness and foresight to ridto pass or which I could foresee The situation of aall for all half its bitterness vanishes