Volume VI Part 56 (2/2)
”A club of young rakes, of whom I was one, had a casino at the Zuecca; we passedanyone Sos were the scenes of unlawful pleasures, the engines of the laere secretly directed against us, and the casino was shut up, and ere ordered to be arrested All escaped except myself and a man named Branzandi We had to wait for our unjust sentence for two years, but at last it appeared My wretched felloas condemned to lose his head, and afterwards to be burnt, while I was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment 'in carcere duro' In 1765 I was set free, and went to Padua hoping to live in peace, but ave me no rest, and I was accused of the same crime I would not wait for the storm to burst, so I fled to Rome, and two years afterwards the Council of Ten condeht bear this if I had the ithal to live, but a brother-in-law of mine has possessed himself of all I have, and the unjust Tribunal winks at his misdeeds
”A Roman attorney made me an offer of an annuity of tls a day on the condition that I should renounce all claims on my estate I refused this iniquitous condition, and left Rome to come here and turn hermit I have followed this sorry trade for two years, and can bear it no more”
”Go back to Rome; you can live on tls a day”
”I would rather die”
I pitied hih I was not a rich man he elcome to dine every day at ave him a sequin
Two or three days later my man told me that the poor wretch had committed suicide
In his room were found five nuratitude for our kindness to him These five numbers were very profitable to the Lottery of Naples, for everyone, le one proved a winning nuiven by a man before he co the Neapolitans to be destroyed by such a misadventure
I went to see the wretchedof the case, and ulation must beerection It ht also be the result of an agony of pain, and before anyone can speak dogmatically on the point he must first have had a practical experience
As I was leaving the cafe I had the good luck to catch a handkerchief thief in the act; it was about the twentieth I had stolen from me in the month I had spent at Naples Such petty thieves abound there, and their skill is soht, he beggedhe would return all the handkerchiefs he had stolen froht
”You have stolen more than twenty from me”
”Not I, but some of et theo del Castello Letat us”
The little rascal tooktavern, and shewed me into a roos As soon as he heard I had co cupboard full of handkerchiefs, aht theht several others, though I knew they were stolen
The worthy Neapolitan dealer seemed to think me trustworthy, and three or four days before I left Naples he told me that he could sell me, for ten or twelve thousand ducats, commodities which would fetch four times that amount at Rome or elsewhere
”What kind of cos, and jewels, which I dare not sell here”
”Aren't you afraid of being discovered?”
”Not much, I don't tell everyone of my business”