Volume II Part 72 (1/2)

The fool never thought how he had responded to ht,” I said, ”you may stop here on the condition that you will pray to St Francis; and that you go forthwith and fetch my books, which I wish to leave to the count”

He did so without answering me, doubtless with much joy My books orth at least a hundred crowns The count told ive them back on my return

”You ain The books will cover your expenditure of two sequins As to this rascal, I ae to come with me He would be in the way, and the fellow is not worthy of sharing with Father Balbi and ht”

”That's true,” said the count, ”provided that he does not congratulate hiive me pens, ink, and paper, which he possessed in spite of the regulations to the contrary, for such prohibitions were nothing to Lawrence, ould have sold St Mark hi letter, which I gave to Soradaci, not being able to read it over, as I had written it in the dark I began by a fine heading, which I wrote in Latin, and which in English would run thus:

”'I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord'”

”Our lords of state are bound to do all in their power to keep a prisoner under the Leads, and on the other hand the prisoner, who is fortunately not on parole, is bound also to ht to act thus is founded on justice, while the prisoner follows the voice of nature; and since they have not asked hiht not to ask the in the bitterness of his heart, knows that he may have the ill luck to be recaptured before he succeeds in leaving the Venetian territory and escaping to a friendly state; but if so, he appeals to the hues not to add to theto the voice of nature, he is endeavouring to escape He begs them, if he be taken, to return hiives the whole to Francis Soradaci, who is still a captive for want of courage to escape, not likeliberty to life Casanova entreats their excellencies not to refuse the poor wretch this gift Dated an hour before ht, in the cell of Count Asquin, on October 31st, 1756”

I warned Soradaci not to give this letter to Lawrence, but to the secretary in person, who, no doubt, would interrogate hio himself to the cell, which was the more likely course The count said ive me back all ain to prove that he would return everything gladly

But our ti the half of the ropes by Father Balbi's neck on one side and his clothes on the other I did the same to myself, and with our hats on and our coats off ent to the opening

E quindi uscimmo a rimirar le stelle--DANTE

CHAPTER xxx

The Escape I Nearly Lose My Life on the Roof I Get out of the Ducal Palace, Take a Boat, and Reach the Mainland-- Danger to Which I A Myself of Hiot out the first, and Father Balbi followed , had orders to put the plate of lead back in its place, and then to go and pray to St Francis for us Keeping onof the plates of lead, and then holding the side of the plate which I had lifted I succeeded in drawing myself up to the summit of the roof The monk had taken hold of my waistband to follow me, and thus I was like a beast of burden who has to carry and draw along at the same time; and this on a steep and slippery roof

When ere half-way up the monk asked me to stop, as one of his packets had slipped off, and he hoped it had not gone further than the gutter My first thought was to give him a kick and to send him after his packet, but, praised be to God! I had sufficient self-control not to yield to it, and indeed the punishment would have been too heavy for both of us, as I should have had no chance of escaping by myself I asked hi that it was a s arrets under the Leads, I told hiht be our destruction The poortosurreatest difficulty fifteen or sixteen plates we got to the top, on which I sat astride, Father Balbi i my exae the Greater, and about two hundred paces in front of us were the numerous cupolas of St Mark's Church, which fore's private chapel, and noa finer My first step was to take off my bundle, and I told my companion to do the sahs, but wishi+ng to take off his hat, which was in his way, he took hold of it aardly, and it was soon dancing froutter My poor companion was in despair

”A bad oun and here am I deprived of shi+rt, hat, and a preciousa curious account of the festivals of the palace”

I felt cal on hands and knees, and I told him quietly that the two accidents which had happened to hi extraordinary in them, and that not even a superstitious person would call theht, and that they were far froht rather,” said I, ”to warn you to be prudent, and to re over us, for if your hat had fallen to the left instead of to the right, we should have been undone; as in that case it would have fallen into the palace court, where it would have caught the attention of the guards, and have let them know that there was someone on the roof; and in a fewabout me for some time I told the monk to stay still till I ca astride the roof andwithout any difficulty For nearly an hour I went to this side and that, keeping a sharp look-out, but in vain; for I could see nothing to which the rope could be fastened, and I was in the greatest perplexity as to as to be done It was of no use thinking of getting down on the canal side or by the court of the palace, and the church offered only precipices which led to nothing To get to the other side of the church towards the Canonica, I should have had to climb roofs so steep that I saw no prospect of success The situation called for hardihood, but not the smallest piece of rashness

It was necessary, however, either to escape, or to reenter the prison, perhaps never again to leave it, or to throw myself into the canal In such a dileood deal to chance, and to ht aon the canal sides, and two-thirds of the distance froood distance froarret lighted by it did not forht a loft, inhabited or uninhabited, above some rooms in the palace, the doors of which would probably be opened by day-break I was morally sure that if the palace servants saw us they would help us to escape, and not deliver us over to the Inquisitors, even if they recognized us as criminals of the deepest dye; so heartily was the State Inquisition hated by everyone