Part 18 (1/2)

This firmness intimidated him He came to the house at the hour appointed, and y, with a meanness worthy of himself But he afterwards took his ed to me in public, he secretly acted in so vile a h unable to prevail on the aiveto leave him

A wretch like hih of my character to make it serviceable to his purposes He kneas s; but haughty and i decency and dignity in things in which these were requisite, and notthe respect due tothat which I owed to others In this he undertook to disgust me, and in this he succeeded He turned the house upside down, and destroyed the order and subordination I had endeavored to establish in it A house without a woman stands in need of rather a severe discipline to preserve that nity He soon converted ours into a place of filthy debauch and scandalous licentiousness, the haunt of knaves and debauchees He procured for second gentleot discharged, another pimp like himself, who kept a house of ill--fame, at the Cross of Malta; and the indecency of these two rascals was equalled by nothing but their insolence Except the bed-chaood order, there was not a corner in the whole house supportable to an entleman and myself had a private table, at which the Abbe Binis and the pages also eat In the most paltry ale-house people are served with more cleanliness and decency, have cleaner linen, and a table better supplied We had but one little and very filthy candle, pewter plates, and iron forks

I could have overlooked what passed in secret, but I was deprived of ondola I was the only secretary to an ao on foot, and the livery of his excellency no longer accompaniedwhich passed in the house was known in the city All those ere in the service of the other ambassadors loudly exclaimed; Dominic, the only cause of all, exclai the indecency hich ere treated was h I was the only one in the house who said nothing of the matter abroad, I complained loudly of it to the ambassador, as well as of himself, who, secretly excited by the wretch, entirely devoted to his will, daily ood deal to keep up a footing with those in the same situation with myself, and to make are appearance proper toof my salary, and when I asked him for money, he spoke of his esteem for me, and his confidence, as if either of these could have filled

These two banditti at length quite turned the head of their ood one, and ruined hiains, of which he was the dupe, whilst they persuaded hireatly in his favor They persuaded him to take upon the Brenta, a Palazzo, at twice the rent it orth, and divided the surplus with the proprietor The apartments were inlaid with mosaic, and ornamented with coluu, had all these superbly , for no other reason than because at Paris apartments were thus fitted up It was for a similar reason that he only, of all the aes their swords, and from his footmen their canes Such was the man, who, perhaps from the sa him faithfully

I patiently endured his disdain, his brutality, and ill-treat theht they had in then for me of the honor I n my employment The first mark I received of his ill as relative to a dinner he was to give to the Duke of Modena and his fanified to ry, that having the honor daily to dine at his table, if the Duke of Modena, when he came, required I should not appear at it, nity of his excellency would not suffer me to consent to such a request ”How;” said he passionately, ”entleentlemen do not!” ”Yes, sir,” replied I, ”the post hich your excellency has honored e the functions of it, so far ennobles entle themselves such; and I am admitted where they cannot appear You cannot but know that on the day on which you shall make your public entry, I am called to the ceremony by etiquette; and by an immemorial custom, to follow you in a dress of ceremony, and afterwards to dine with you at the palace of St Mark; and I know not why a e and the senate of Venice should not eat in private with the Duke of Modena” Though this argument was unanswerable, it did not convince the ambassador; but we had no occasion to renew the dispute, as the Duke of Modena did not co in his power to reeable to hts, by taking froive them to his dear Vitali; and I am convinced that had he dared to send him to the senate, in my place, he would have done it He commonly employed the Abbe Binis in his closet, to write his private letters: he made use of him to write to M de Maurepas an account of the affair of Captain Olivet, in which, far froave himself any concern about the matter, he deprived me of the honor of the depositions, of which he sent hi them to Patizel, who had not opened his mouth

He wished to mortify me, and please his favorite; but had no desire to dismiss me his service He perceived it would be more difficult to find me a successor, than M Follau, who had already made him known to the world An Italian secretary was absolutely necessary to him, on account of the answers from the senate; one who could write all his despatches, and conduct his affairs, without his giving hi; a person who, to thethe toad-eater of his gentlemen, without honor, merit, or principles He wished to retain, and hu me far from my country, and his oithout money to return to either, and in which he would, perhaps, had succeeded, had he began with more moderation: but Vitali, who had other views, and wished to force me to extremities, carried his point The moment I perceived, I lost all my trouble, that the ambassador i satisfied with thereeable at hoeneral disesteeht be prejudicial to ood ones; I tookhim sufficient time to provide hi yes or no, he continued to treatthings to remain in the same state, and that he took no measures to procure hi to hied he would obtainthat whether I received it or not, I could not possibly re tian to be eth the ambassador received a letter from his brother, which must have reh he was extree, I never saw him so violent as on this occasion After torrents of unsufferable reproaches, not knohatsold his ciphers I burst into a loud laughter, and asked hiht there was in Venice a ive half a crown for them all He threatened to call his servants to throw me out of theUntil then I had been very conation seizedturned a button which fastened it within: ”No, count,” said I, returning to hi to do with this affair; please to let it be settled between ourselves” My action and manner instantly made him calm; fear and surprise were marked in his countenance The moment I saw his fury abated, I bid hi for his ansent to the door, opened it, and passed slowly across the antecha to custom, and who, I aainst hi back to my apartment, I descended the stairs, and immediately went out of the palace never more to enter it

I hastened immediately to M le Blond and related to hi the man, he was but little surprised He kept h without preparation, was splendid

All the French of consequence ere at Venice, partook of it

The ale person The consul related eneral, and by no means in favor of his excellency He had not settledreduced to the few louis I had in my pocket, I was extremely embarrassed about my return to France Every purse was opened to me

I took twenty sequins from that of M le Blond, and as many from that of M St Cyr, hom, next to M le Blond, I was the most intimately connected I returned thanks to the rest; and, till e at the house of the chancellor of the consulshi+p, to prove to the public, the nation was not an accomplice in the injustice of the a me taken notice of inhis being an ambassador, nobody went near his house, quite lost his senses and behaved like a ot hietinformed of this by the Abbe de Binis, I resolved to re off the next day as I had intended My conduct had been known and approved of by everybody; I was universally esteen to return an answer to the extravagant ht re myself uneasy about the attempts of a madman I continued to see my friends: I went to take leave of the ambassador from Spain, who received me well, and of the Comte de Finochietti, minister from Naples, whom I did not find at home

I wrote him a letter and received froth I tookmy embarrassment, no other debts than the two sums I had borrowed, and of which I have just spoken; and an account of fifty croith a shopkeeper, of the name of Morandi, which Carrio proh we have frequently met since that time; but with respect to the two sums of money, I returned them very exactly the moment I had it inso of the celebrated amusements of that city, or at least of the little part of the my residence there It has been seen how little in e, or those that are so called

My inclinations did not change at Venice, but my occupations, which reeable to me the simple recreations I per of all was the society of men of merit M le Blond, de St Cyr, Carrio Altuna, and a Forlinian gentleotten, and whom I never call to my recollection without emotion: he was the man of all I ever knehose heart lishreat wit and information, and, like ourselves, passionately fond of entlemen had their wives, female friends, or mistresses: the latter were most of them women of talents, at whose apartments there were balls and concerts

There was but little play; a lively turn, talents, and the theatres rendered this amusement incipid Play is the resource of none but ht with ainst Italian music; but I had also received from nature a sensibility and niceness of distinction which prejudice cannot withstand I soon contracted that passion for Italian music hich it inspires all those who are capable of feeling its excellence

In listening to barcaroles, I found I had not yet knohat singing was, and I soon beca, and playing in the boxes when I wished to listen, I frequently withdrew from the company to another part of the theater There, quite alone, shut up in th of the representation, to the pleasure of enjoying it at ease unto the conclusion One evening at the theatre of Saint Chrysostom, I fell into a more profound sleep than I should have done in my bed The loud and brilliant airs did not disturb iven elic ! what ravishment!

what ecstasy, when at the same instant I opened my ears and eyes! My first idea was to believe I was in paradise The ravishi+ng air, which I still recollect and shall never forget, began with these words:

Conservami la bella, Che siit; I had and kept it for a ti upon paper as inwas different This divine composition can never be executed but inon which it woke me from sleep

A kind of music far superior, in my opinion, to that of operas, and which in all Italy has not its equal, nor perhaps in the whole world, is that of the 'scuole' The 'scuole' are houses of charity, established for the education of young girls without fortune, to whoe or for the cloister Airls, music is in the first rank Every Sunday at the church of each of the four 'scuole', during vespers, reat orchestra, and co in the galleries by girls only; not one of whoe I have not an idea of anything so voluptuous and affecting as this music; the richness of the art, the exquisite taste of the vocal part, the excellence of the voices, the justness of the execution, everything in these delightful concerts concurs to produce an impression which certainly is not the mode, but from which I am of opinion no heart is secure Carrio and I never failed being present at these vespers of the 'Mendicanti', and ere not alone The church was always full of the lovers of the art, and even the actors of the opera came there to form their tastes after these excellent rate, which suffered nothing to escape but sounds, and concealed fro else One day I spoke of it at Le Blond's; ”If you are so desirous,” said he, ”to see those little girls, it will be an easy matter to satisfy your wishes

I aive you a collation with them” I did not let hi the saloon, which contained these beauties I soof love which I had never before experienced

M le Blond presented to ers, of whom the names and voices were all hich I was acquainted Come, Sophia,--she was horrid Come, Cattina,--she had but one eye Coured her

Scarcely one of thehed at my surprise; however, two or three of the but in the choruses; I was al the collation we endeavored to excite theliness does not exclude the graces, and I found they possessed the in this ence and sensibility, they ed to such a degree that I left the house ally faces I had scarcely courage enough to return to vespers But after having seen the girls, the danger was lessened I still found their singing delightful; and their voices so much embellished their persons that, in spite of my eyes, I obstinately continued to think them beautiful

Music in Italy is acco an expense, that it is not worth while for such as have a taste for it to deny themselves the pleasure it affords I hired a harpsichord, and, for half a crown, I had at my apartment four or five sy such airs, etc, as had given me most pleasure at the opera I also had some symphonies performed from my 'Muses Galantes'

Whether these pleased the performers, or the ballet-master of St John Chrysostom wished to flatter me, he desired to have two of the these executed by that admirable orchestra They were danced to by a little Bettina, pretty and aa, a friend of ours e often went to spend the evening But apropos of girls of easy virtue: it is not in Venice that ato confess, so to say upon it, and I will proceed to the confession with the saenuousness hich I have irls of pleasure, but at Venice those were all I had within ainst hters of M le Blond were very amiable, but difficult of access; and I had too much respect for the father and mother ever once to have the least desire for theer inclination to a young lady naent fro of Prussia, but Carrio was in love with her there was even between thee He was in easy circumstances, and I had no fortune: his salary was a hundred louis (guineas) a year, and mine amounted to no ) and, besidesto oppose a friend, I knew that in all places, and especially at Venice, with a purse so ill furnished as allantry was out of the question I had not lost the pernicious custo my wants Too busily e from the climate, I lived upwards of a year in that city as chastely as I had done in Paris, and at the end of eighteenapproached the sex, except twice byto speak

The first was procured entleed him to make me The conversation at the table turned on the aentleard to the racefulness and elegantthat they were superior to all others of the same description in any other part of the world