Volume VI Part 11 (1/2)
”Why don't you write a letter to the auments you have just used to me?”
”I could not write to him before I knohether he will receive me or not But now, as I have reason to suppose that his opinions are much the same as your own, I will certainly write to him”
”I do not knohether his excellency thinks as I do or not, and, in spite of what I said to you, it is just possible that you do not know my own opinions on the question; but write to hiive you an audience”
”I shall follow your advice, for which I aot home I wrote to his excellency all I had said to the secretary, and the next day I had a visit fro reeable presence He said that he lived in the eh he grieved not to receive hted to seeManucci told me that he was a Venetian, and that he knewit dawned upon me that this Count Manucci was the son of that Jean Baptiste Manucci who had served as the spy of the State Inquisitors and had so adroitly ic, which were in all probability the chief corpus delicti
I did not say anything to hiuess was correct His hter of a valet de cha man if he were called count at the embassy, and he said he bore the title in virtue of a warrant from the elector-palatine My question skewed hian to speak openly tothat I was acquainted with the peculiar tastes of M de Mocenigo, the aly that he was his pathic
”I will do lad to hear him say so, for an Alexis should be able to obtain al from his Corydon We embraced, and he told me as we parted that he would expect me at the embassy in the afternoon, to take coffee in his room; the ambassador, he said, would certainly come in as soon as he heard of my presence
I went to the embassy, and had a very kind reception frorieved not to be able to receive ht presenthi enemies
”I hope soon to receive a letter from a friend ofhted, in that case, to present you to all the Spanish o was the sas to pederasty, a vice or taste which the French hold in horror Later on, Mocenigo was condemned by the Council of Ten to ten years' i started on an embassy to Vienna without formal permission Maria Theresa had intimated to the Venetian Government that she would not receive such a character, as his habits would be the scandal of her capital The Venetian Governo, and as he attempted to set out for Vienna they exiled him and chose another ambassador, whose ed himself with Hebe and not Ganys
In spite of his reputation for pederasty, Mocenigo was much liked at Madrid On one occasion I was at a ball, and a Spaniard noticing me with Manucci, came up toman was the ambassador's wife He did not know that the ambassador was Manucci's wife; in fact, he did not understand the arrangenorance is bliss!” etc However, in spite of the revolting nature of this vice, it has been a favourite one with several great men
It ell-known to the Ancients, and those who indulged in it were called Hermaphrodites, which symbolises not a man of two sexes but a man with the passions of the two sexes
I had called two or three tis, who had been painter in ordinary to his Catholic ave ood dinners His wife and family were at Ro the unusual privilege of being able to speak to the king whenever he would
At Mengs's house I trade the acquaintance of the architect Sabatini, an extre had summoned from Naples to cleanse Madrid, which was for town in Europe, or, for the matter of that, in the world Sabatini had beco drains, sewers, and closets for a city of fourteen thousand houses He had hter of Vanvitelli, as also an architect at Naples, but he had never seen her She came to Madrid about the sahteen, and no sooner did she see her husband than she declared she would never be his wife Sabatini was neither a young uished; and when he told his young wife that she would have to choose between him and a nunnery, she deterain However, she had no reason to repent of her choice; her husband was rich, affectionate, and easygoing, and gave her everything she wanted I sighed and burned for her in silence, not daring to declare my love, for while the wound of the death of Charlotte was still bleeding I also began to find that woive an to go to the theatre, and the masked balls to which the Count of Aranda had established They were held in a room built for the purpose, and named 'Los Scannos del Peral' A Spanish play is full of absurdities, but I rather relished the representations
The 'Autos Sacramentales' were still represented; they were afterwards prohibited I could not help ree way in which the boxes are constructed by order of the wretched police Instead of being boarded in front they are perfectly open, being kept up by small pillars A devotee once said to ulation, and he was surprised that it was not carried into force in Italy
”Why so?”
”Because lovers, who feel sure that no one in the pit can see them,of the shoulders
In a large box opposite to the stage sat 'los padres' of the Holy Inquisition to watch over theon them when of a sudden the sentinel at the door of the pit called out ”Dios!” and at this cry all the actors and all the audience,till the sound of a bell in the street ceased to be heard This bell betokened that a priest was passing by carrying the viaticuh, but I had seen enough of Spanish ion of the Spaniard is in outward show and cere to the desires of her lover covers the picture of Christ, or the Virgin, with a veil If the lover laughed at this absurdity he would run a risk of being denounced as an Atheist, and most probably by the wretched woman who had sold him her charentleman who takes a lady to a private room in an inn must expect to have a servant in the room the whole of the time, that he may be able to swear that the couple took no indecent liberties with each other In spite of all, profligacy is rampant at Madrid, and also the most dreadful hypocrisy, which is more offensive to true piety than open sin Men and woreeht However, coers; whether it be endeood reason to repent the favours one has obtained
The masked ball quite captivated me The first time I went to see what it was like and it only cost me a doubloon (about eleven francs), but ever after it costreason:
An elderly gentlener bymyself understood by the waiter, and asked ot one; I caed entertainht to come with a companion; then you could dance At present you cannot do so, as every lady has her partner, ill not allow her to dance with anyone else”
”Then I er, I do not know any lady whoer you would havea partner than a citizen of Madrid Under the new fashi+on, introduced by the Count of Aranda, the e of all the women in the capital You see there are about two hundred of theht; well, I think there are at least four thousand girls in Madrid who are sighing for someone to take them to the ball, for, as you may know, no woo to any respectable people, give your na their daughter to the ball You would have to send her a do her back in your carriage”