margarita — madame buondcorsi — the duchess of fiano — cardinal bernis — the princess santa croce — menicuccio and his sister

i had made up my mind to spend a quiet six months at rome, and the day after my arrival i took a pleasant suite of rooms opposite the spanish ambassador, whose name was d’aspura. it happened to be the same rooms as were occupied twenty-seven years ago by the teacher of languages, to whom i had gone for lessons while i was with cardinal acquaviva. the landlady was the wife of a cook who only, slept with his better half once a week. the woman had a daughter of sixteen or seventeen years old, who would have been very pretty if the small-pox had not deprived her of one eye. they had provided her with an ill-made artificial eye, of a wrong size and a bad colour, which gave a very unpleasant expression to her face. margarita, as she was called, made no impression on me, but i made her a present which she valued very highly. there was an english oculist named taylor in rome at that time, and i got him to make her an eye of the right size and colour. this made margarita imagine that i had fallen in love with her, and the mother, a devotee, was in some trouble as to whether my intentions were strictly virtuous.

i made arrangements with the mother to supply me with a good dinner and supper without any luxury. i had three thousand sequins, and i had made up my mind to live in a quiet and respectable manner.

the next day i found letters for me in several post-offices, and the banker belloni, who had known me for several years, had been already advised of my bill of exchange. my good friend dandolo sent me two letters of introduction, of which one was addressed to m. erizzo, the venetian ambassador. he was the brother of the ambassador to paris. this letter pleased me greatly. the other was addressed to the duchess of fiano, by her brother m. zuliani.

i saw that i should be free of all the best houses, and i promised myself the pleasure of an early visit to cardinal bernis.

i did not hire either a carriage or a servant. at rome both these articles are procurable at a moment’s notice.

my first call was on the duchess of fiano. she was an ugly woman, and though she was really very good-natured, she assumed the character of being malicious so as to obtain some consideration.

her husband, who bore the name of ottoboni, had only married her to obtain an heir, but the poor devil turned out to be what the romans call ‘babilano’, and we impotent. the duchess told me as much on the occasion of my third visit. she did not give me the information in a complaining tone, or as if she was fain to be consoled, but merely to defy her confessor, who had threatened her with excommunication if she went on telling people about her husband’s condition, or if she tried to cure him of it.

the duchess gave a little supper every evening to her select circle of friends. i was not admitted to these reunions for a week or ten days, by which time i had made myself generally popular. the duke did not care for company and supped apart.

the prince of santa croce was the duchess’s ‘cavaliere servante’, and the princess was served by cardinal bernis. the princess was a daughter of the marquis falconieri, and was young, pretty, lively, and intended by nature for a life of pleasure. however, her pride at possessing the cardinal was so great that she did not give any hope to other competitors for her favour.

the prince was a fine man of distinguished manners and great capability, which he employed in business speculations, being of opinion, and rightly, that it was no shame for a nobleman to increase his fortune by the exercise of his intelligence. he was a careful man, and had attached himself to the duchess because she cost him nothing, and he ran no risk of falling in love with her.

two or three weeks after my arrival he heard me complaining of the obstacles to research in the roman libraries, and he offered to give me an introduction to the superior of the jesuits. i accepted the offer, and was made free of the library; i could not only go and read when i liked, but i could, on writing my name down, take books away with me. the keepers of the library always brought me candles when it grew dark, and their politeness was so great that they gave me the key of a side door, so that i could slip in and out as i pleased.

the jesuits were always the most polite of the regular clergy, or, indeed, i may say the only polite men amongst them; but during the crisis in which they were then involved, they were simply cringing.

the king of spain had called for the suppression of the order, and the pope had promised that it should be done; but the jesuits did not think that such a blow could ever be struck, and felt almost secure. they did not think that the pope’s power was superhuman so far as they were concerned. they even intimated to him by indirect channels that his authority did not extend to the suppression of the order; but they were mistaken. the sovereign pontiff delayed the signature of the bull, but his hesitation proceeded from the fact that in signing it he feared lest he should be signing his own sentence of death. accordingly he put it off till he found that his honour was threatened. the king of spain, the most obstinate tyrant in europe, wrote to him with his own hand, telling him that if he did not suppress the order he would publish in all the languages of europe the letters he had written when he was a cardinal, promising to suppress the order when he became pope. on the strength of these letters ganganelli had been elected.

another man would have taken refuge in casuistry and told the king that it was not for a pope to be bound to the cardinal’s promises, in which contention he would have been supported by the jesuits. however, in his heart ganganelli had no liking for the jesuits. he was a franciscan, and not a gentleman by birth. he had not a strong enough intellect to defy the king and all his threats, or to bear the shame of being exhibited to the whole world as an ambitious and unscrupulous man.

i am amused when people tell me that ganganelli poisoned himself by taking so many antidotes. it is true that having reason, and good reason, to dread poison, he made use of antidotes which, with his ignorance of science, might have injured his health; but i am morally certain that he died of poison which was given by other hands than his own.

my reasons for this opinion are as follows:

in the year of which i am speaking, the third of the pontificate of clement xiv., a woman of viterbo was put in prison on the charge of making predictions. she obscurely prophesied the suppression of the jesuits, without giving any indication of the time; but she said very clearly that the company would be destroyed by a pope who would only reign five years three months and three days — that is, as long as sixtus v., not a day more and not a day less.

everybody treated the prediction with contempt, as the product of a brain-sick woman. she was shut up and quite forgotten.

i ask my readers to give a dispassionate judgment, and to say whether they have any doubt as to the poisoning of ganganelli when they hear that his death verified the prophecy.

in a case like this, moral certainty assumes the force of scientific certainty. the spirit which inspired the pythia of viterbo took its measures to inform the world that if the jesuits were forced to submit to being suppressed, they were not so weak as to forego a fearful vengeance. the jesuit who cut short ganganelli’s days might certainly have poisoned him before the bull was signed, but the fact was that they could not bring themselves to believe it till it took place. it is clear that if the pope had not suppressed the jesuits, they would not have poisoned him, and here again the prophecy could not be taxed with falsity. we may note that clement xiv., like sixtus v., was a franciscan, and both were of low birth. it is also noteworthy that after the pope’s death the prophetess was liberated, and, though her prophecy had been fulfilled to the letter, all the authorities persisted in saying that his holiness had died from his excessive use of antidotes.

it seems to me that any impartial judge will scout the idea of ganganelli having killed himself to verify the woman of viterbo’s prediction. if you say it was a mere coincidence, of course i cannot absolutely deny your position, for it may have been chance; but my thoughts on the subject will remain unchanged.

this poisoning was the last sign the jesuits gave of their power. it was a crime, because it was committed after the event, whereas, if it had been done before the suppression of the order, it would have been a stroke of policy, and might have been justified on politic grounds. the true politician looks into the future, and takes swift and certain measures to obtain the end he has in view.

the second time that the prince of santa croce saw me at the duchess of fiano’s, he asked me ‘ex abrupta’ why i did not visit cardinal bernis.

“i think of paying my suit to him to-morrow,” said i.

“do so, for i have never heard his eminence speak of anyone with as much consideration as he speaks of yourself.”

“he has been very kind to me, and i shall always be grateful to him.”

the cardinal received me the next day with every sign of delight at seeing me. he praised the reserve with which i had spoken of him to the prince, and said he need not remind me of the necessity for discretion as to our old venetian adventures.

“your eminence,” i said, “is a little stouter, otherwise you look as fresh as ever and not at all changed.”

“you make a mistake. i am very different from what i was then. i am fifty-five now, and then i was thirty-six. moreover, i am reduced to a vegetable diet.”

“is that to keep down the lusts of the flesh?”

“i wish people would think so; but no one does, i am afraid.”

he was glad to hear that i bore a letter to the venetian ambassador, which i had not yet presented. he said he would take care to give the ambassador a prejudice in my favour, and that he would give me a good reception.

“we will begin to break the ice to-morrow,” added this charming cardinal. “you shall dine with me, and his excellence shall hear of it.”

he heard with pleasure that i was well provided for as far as money was concerned, and that i had made up my mind to live simply and discreetly so long as i remained in rome.

“i shall write about you to m—— m— — ” he said. “i have always kept up a correspondence with that delightful nun.”

i then amused him by the, talk of my adventure with the nun of chamberi.

“you ought to ask the prince of santa croce to introduce you to the princess. we might pass some pleasant hours with her, though not in our old venetian style, for the princess is not at all like m—— m——.

“and yet she serves to amuse your eminence?”

“well, i have to be content with what i can get.”

the next day as i was getting up from dinner the cardinal told me that m. zuliani had written about me to the ambassador, who would be delighted to make my acquaintance, and when i went i had an excellent reception from him.

the chevalier erizzo, who is still alive, was a man of great intelligence, common sense, and oratorical power. he complimented me on my travels and on my being protected by the state inquisitors instead of being persecuted by them. he kept me to dinner, and asked me to dine with him whenever i had no other engagement.

the same evening i met prince santa croce at the duchess’s, and asked him to introduce me to his wife.

“i have been expecting that,” he replied “even since the cardinal talked to her about you for more than an hour. you can call any day at eleven in the morning or two in the afternoon.”

i called the next day at two o’clock. she was taking her siesta in bed, but as i had the privileges allowed to a person of no consequence she let me in directly. she was young, pretty, lively, curious, and talkative; she had not enough patience to wait for my answer to her questions. she struck me as a toy, well adapted to amuse a man of affairs, who felt the need of some distraction. the cardinal saw her regularly three times a day; the first thing in the morning he called to ask if she had had a good night, at three o’clock in the afternoon he took coffee with her, and in the evening he met her at the assembly. he always played at piquet, and played with such talent that he invariably lost six roman sequins, no more and no less. these losses of the cardinal’s made the princess the richest young wife in rome.

although the marquis was somewhat inclined to be jealous, he could not possibly object to his wife enjoying a revenue of eighteen hundred francs a month, and that without the least scandal, for everything was done in public, and the game was honestly conducted. why should not fortune fall in love with such a pretty woman?

the prince of santa croce could not fail to appreciate the friendship of the cardinal for his wife, who gave him a child every year, and sometimes every nine months, in spite of the doctor’s warnings to beware of results. it was said that to make up for his enforced abstinence during the last few days of his wife’s pregnancy, the prince immediately set to again when the child was being baptized.

the friendship of the cardinal for the prince’s wife also gave him the advantage of getting silks from lyons without the pope’s treasurer being able to say anything, as the packets were addressed to the french ambassador. it must also be noted that the cardinal’s patronage kept other lovers from the house. the high constable colonna was very much taken with her. the prince had surprised this gentleman talking to the princess in a room of the palace and at an hour when she was certain that the cardinal would not be in the way. scarcely had the colonna gone when the prince told his wife that she would accompany him into the country the next day. she protested, saying that this sudden order was only a caprice and that her honour would not allow of her obeying him. the prince, however, was very determined, and she would have been obliged to go if the cardinal had not come in and heard the story from the mouth of the innocent princess. he shewed the husband that it was to his own interests to go into the country by himself, and to let his wife remain in rome. he spoke for her, assuring the prince that she would take more care for the future and avoid such meetings, always unpleasant in a house.

in less than a month i became the shadow of the three principal persons in the play. i listened and admired and became as necessary to the personages as a marker at billiards. when any of the parties were afflicted i consoled them with tales or amusing comments, and, naturally, they were grateful to me. the cardinal, the prince, and his fair wife amused each other and offended no one.

the duchess of fiano was proud of being the possessor of the prince who left his wife to the cardinal, but no one was deceived but herself. the good lady wondered why no one acknowledged that the reason why the princess never came to see her was mere jealousy. she spoke to me on the subject with so much fire that i had to suppress my good sense to keep her good graces.

i had to express my astonishment as to what the cardinal could see in the princess, who, according to her, was skinny in person and silly in mind, altogether a woman of no consequence. i agreed to all this, but i was far from thinking so, for the princess was just the woman to amuse a voluptuous and philosophic lover like the cardinal.

i could not help thinking now and again that the cardinal was happier in the possession of this treasure of a woman than in his honours and dignities.

i loved the princess, but as i did not hope for success i confined myself strictly to the limits of my position.

i might, no doubt, have succeeded, but more probably i should have raised her pride against me, and wounded the feelings of the cardinal, who was no longer the same as when we shared m—— m—— in common. he had told me that his affection for her was of a purely fatherly character, and i took that as a hint not to trespass on his preserves.

i had reason to congratulate myself that she observed no more ceremony with me than with her mail. i accordingly pretended to see nothing, while she felt certain i saw all.

it is no easy matter to win the confidence of such a woman, especially if she be served by a king or a cardinal.

my life at rome was a tranquil and happy one. margarita had contrived to gain my interest by the assiduity of her attentions. i had no servant, so she waited on me night and morning, and her false eye was such an excellent match that i quite forgot its falsity. she was a clever, but a vain girl, and though at first i had no designs upon her i flattered her vanity by my conversation and the little presents i bestowed upon her, which enabled her to cut a figure in church on sundays. so before long i had my eyes opened to two facts; the one that she was sure of my love, and wondered why i did not declare it; the other, that if i chose i had an easy conquest before me.

i guessed the latter circumstance one day when, after i had asked her to tell me her adventures from the age of eleven to that of eighteen, she proceeded to tell me tales, the telling of which necessitated her throwing all modesty to the winds.

i took the utmost delight in these scandalous narrations, and whenever i thought she had told the whole truth i gave her a few pieces of money; while whenever i had reason to suppose that she had suppressed some interesting circumstances i gave her nothing.

she confessed to me that she no longer possessed that which a maid can lose but once, that a friend of hers named buonacorsi was in the same case, and finally she told me the name of the young man who had relieved them both of their maidenheads.

we had for neighbor a young piedmontese abbe named ceruti, on whom margarita was obliged to wait when her mother was too busy. i jested with her about him, but she swore there was no lovemaking between them.

this abbe was a fine man, learned and witty, but he was overwhelmed with debt and in very bad odour at rome on account of an extremely unpleasant story of which he was the hero.

they said that he had told an englishman, who was in love with princess lanti, that she was in want of two hundred sequins, that the englishman had handed over the money to the abbe, and that the latter had appropriated it.

this act of meanness had been brought to light by an explanation between the lady and the englishman. on his saying to the princess that he was ready to do anything for her, and that the two hundred sequins he had given her were as nothing in comparison with what he was ready to do, she indignantly denied all knowledge of the transaction. everything came out. the englishman begged pardon, and the abbe was excluded from the princess’s house and the englishman’s also.

this abbe ceruti was one of those journalists employed to write the weekly news of rome by bianconi; he and i had in a manner become friends since we were neighbours. i saw that he loved margarita, and i was not in the least jealous, but as he was a handsome young fellow i could not believe that margarita was cruel to him. nevertheless, she assured me that she detested him, and that she was very sorry that her mother made her wait on him at all.

ceruti had already laid himself under obligations to me. he had borrowed a score of crowns from me, promising to repay them in a week, and three weeks had gone by without my seeing the money. however, i did not ask for it, and would have lent him as much more if he had requested me. but i must tell the story as it happened.

whenever i supped with the duchess of fiano i came in late, and margarita waited up for me. her mother would go to bed. for the sake of amusement i used to keep her for an hour or two without caring whether our pleasantries disturbed the abbe, who could hear everything we said.

one evening i came home at midnight and was surprised to find the mother waiting for me.

“where is your daughter?” i enquired.

“she’s asleep, and i really cannot allow you to pass the whole night with her any longer.”

“but she only stays with me till i get into bed. this new whim wounds my feelings. i object to such unworthy suspicions. what has margarita been telling you? if she has made any complaints of me, she has lied, and i shall leave your house to-morrow.”

“you are wrong; margarita has made no complaints; on the contrary she says that you have done nothing to her.”

“very good. do you think there is any harm in a little joking?”

“no, but you might be better employed.”

“and these are your grounds for a suspicion of which you should be ashamed, if you are a good christian.”

“god save me from thinking evil of my neighbour, but i have been informed that your laughter and your jests are of such a nature as to be offensive to people of morality.”

“then it is my neighbour the abbe who has been foolish enough to give you this information?”

“i cannot tell you how i heard it, but i have heard it.”

“very good. to-morrow i shall seek another lodging, so as to afford your tender conscience some relief.”

“can’t i attend on you as well as my daughter?”

“no; your daughter makes me laugh, and laughing is beneficial to me, whereas you would not make me laugh at all. you have insulted me, and i leave your house to-morrow.”

“i shall have to tell my husband the reason of your departure, and i do not want to do that.”

“you can do as you like; that’s no business of mine. go away; i want to get into bed.”

“allow me to wait on you.”

“certainly not; if you want anybody to wait on me, send margarita.”

“she’s asleep.”

“then wake her up.”

the good woman went her way, and two minutes later, the girl came in with little on but her chemise. she had not had time to put in her false eye, and her expression was so amusing that i went off into a roar of laughter.

“i was sleeping soundly,” she began, “and my mother woke me up all of a sudden, and told me to come and wait on you, or else you would leave, and my father would think we had been in mischief.”

“i will stay, if you will continue to wait on me.”

“i should like to come very much, but we mustn’t laugh any more, as the abbe has complained of us.”

“oh! it is the abbe, is it?”

“of course it is. our jests and laughter irritate his passions.”

“the rascal! we will punish him rarely. if we laughed last night, we will laugh ten times louder tonight.”

thereupon we began a thousand tricks, accompanied by shouts and shrieks of laughter, purposely calculated to drive the little priest desperate. when the fun was at its height, the door opened and the mother came in.

i had margarita’s night-cap on my head, and margarita’s face was adorned with two huge moustaches, which i had stuck on with ink. her mother had probably anticipated taking us in the fact, but when she came in she was obliged to re-echo our shouts of mirth.

“come now,” said i, “do you think our amusements criminal?”

“not a bit; but you see your innocent orgies keep your neighbour awake.”

“then he had better go and sleep somewhere else; i am not going to put myself out for him. i will even say that you must choose between him and me; if i consent to stay with you, you must send him away, and i will take his room.”

“i can’t send him away before the end of the month, and i am afraid he will say things to my husband which will disturb the peace of the house.”

“i promise you he shall go to-morrow and say nothing at all. leave him to me; the, abbe shall leave of his own free will, without giving you the slightest trouble. in future be afraid for your daughter when she is alone with a man and you don’t hear laughing. when one does not laugh, one does something serious.”

after this the mother seemed satisfied and went off to bed. margarita was in such high spirits over the promised dismissal of the abbe that i could not resist doing her justice. we passed an hour together without laughing, and she left me very proud of the victory she had gained.

early the next day i paid the abbe a visit, and after reproaching him for his behaviour i gave him his choice between paying me the money he owed me and leaving the house at once. he did his best to get out of the dilemma, but seeing that i was pitiless he said he could not leave without paying a few small sums he owed the landlord, and without the wherewithal to obtain another lodging.

“very good,” said i, “i will present you with another twenty crowns; but you must go to-day, and not say a word to anyone, unless you wish me to become your implacable enemy.”

i thus got rid of him and entered into possession of the two rooms. margarita was always at my disposal, and after a few days so was the fair buonacorsi, who was much the prettier of the two.

the two girls introduced me to the young man who had seduced them.

he was a lad of fifteen or sixteen, and very handsome though short. nature had endowed him with an enormous symbol of virility, and at lampsacus he would no doubt have had an altar erected to him beside that of priapus, with which divinity he might well have contended.

he was well-mannered and agreeable, and seemed much above a common workman. he did not love margarita or mdlle. bounacorsi; he had merely satisfied their curiosity. they saw and admired, and wished to come to a nearer acquaintance; he read their minds and offered to satisfy them. thereupon the two girls held a consultation, and pretending to submit out of mere complaisance; the double deed was done. i liked this young man, and gave him linen and clothes. so before long he had complete confidence in me. he told me he was in love with a girl, but unhappily for him she was in a convent, and not being able to win her he was becoming desperate. the chief obstacle to the match lay in the fact that his earnings only amounted to a paul a day, which was certainly an insufficient sum to support a wife on.

he talked so much about her that i became curious, and expressed a desire to see her. but before coming to this i must recite some other incidents of my stay at rome.

one day i went to the capitol to see the prizes given to the art students, and the first face i saw was the face of mengs. he was with battoni and two or three other painters, all being occupied in adjudging the merits of the various pictures.

i had not forgotten his treatment of me at madrid, so i pretended not to see him; but as soon as he saw me, he came up and addressed me as follows:

“my dear casanova, let us forget what happened at madrid and be friends once more.”

“so be it, provided no allusion is made to the cause of our quarrel; for i warn you that i cannot speak of it and keep my head cool.”

“i dare say; but if you had understood my position at madrid you would never have obliged me to take a course which gave me great pain.”

“i do not understand you.”

“i dare say not. you must know, then, that i was strongly suspected of being a protestant; and if i had shewn myself indifferent to your conduct, i might possibly have been ruined. but dine with me tomorrow; we will make up a party of friends, and discuss our quarrel in a good bottle of wine. i know that you do not receive your brother, so he shall not be there. indeed, i do not receive him myself, for if i did all honest people would give me the cold shoulder.”

i accepted his friendly invitation, and was punctual to the appointment.

my brother left rome a short time afterwards with prince beloselski, the russian ambassador to dresden, with whom he had come; but his visit was unsuccessful, as rezzonico proved inexorable. we only saw each other two or three times at rome.

three or four days after he had gone i had the agreeable surprise of seeing my brother the priest, in rags as usual. he had the impudence to ask me to help him.

“where do you come from?”

“from venice; i had to leave the place, as i could no longer make a living there.”

“then how do you think of making a living at rome?”

“by saying masses and teaching french.”

“you a teacher of languages! why, you do not know your native tongue.”

“i know italian and french too, and i have already got two pupils.”

“they will no doubt make wonderful progress under your fostering care. who are they?”

“the son and daughter of the inn-keeper, at whose house i am staying. but that’s not enough to keep me, and you must give me something while i am starting.”

“you have no right to count on me. leave the room.”

i would not listen to another word, and told margarita to see that he did not come in again.

the wretched fellow did his best to ruin me with all my friends, including the duchess of fiano and the abbe gama. everybody told me that i should either give him some help, or get him out of rome; i got heartily sick of the sound of his name. at last the abbe ceruti came and told me that if i did not want to see my brother begging his bread in the streets i must give him some assistance.

“you can keep him out of rome,” he said, “and he is ready to go if you will allow him three pauls a day.” i consented, and ceruti hit on a plan which pleased me very much. he spoke to a priest who served a convent of franciscan nuns. this priest took my brother into his service, and gave him three pauls for saying one mass every day. if he could preach well he might earn more.

thus the abbe casanova passed away, and i did not care whether he knew or not where the three pauls had come from. as long as i stayed at rome the nine piastres a month came in regularly, but after my departure he returned to rome, went to another convent, and died there suddenly thirteen or fourteen years ago.

medini had also arrived in rome, but we had not seen each other. he lived in the street of the ursulines at the house of one of the pope’s light-cavalry men, and subsisted on the money he cheated strangers of.

the rascal had done well and had sent to mantua for his mistress, who came with her mother and a very pretty girl of twelve or thirteen. thinking it would be to his advantage to take handsome furnished apartments he moved to the place d’espagne, and occupied a house four or five doors from me, but i knew nothing of all this at the time.

happening to dine one day with the venetian ambassador, his excellency told me that i should meet a certain count. manucci who had just arrived from paris, and had evinced much delight on learning that i was at rome.

“i suppose you know him well,” said the ambassador, “and as i am going to present him to the holy father to-morrow, i should be much obliged if you could tell me who he really is.”

“i knew him at madrid, where he lived with mocenigo our ambassador; he is well mannered, polite, and a fine looking young man, and that’s all i know about him.”

“was he received at the spanish court?”

“i think so, but i cannot be positive.”

“well, i think he was not received; but i see that you won’t tell me all you know about him. it’s of no consequence; i shall run no risk in presenting him to the pope. he says he is descended from manucci, the famous traveller of the thirteenth century, and from the celebrated printers of the same name who did so much for literature. he shewed me the aldine anchor on his coat of arms which has sixteen quarters.”

i was astonished beyond measure that this man who had plotted my assassination should speak of me as an intimate friend, and i determined to conceal my feelings and await events. i did not shew the least sign of anger, and when after greeting the ambassador he came up to me with open arms, i received him cordially and asked after mocenigo.

manucci talked a great deal at dinner, telling a score of lies, all in my honour, about my reception at madrid. i believe his object was to force me to lie too, and to make me do the same for him another time.

i swallowed all these bitter pills, for i had no choice in the matter, but i made up my mind i would have a thorough explanation the next day.

a frenchman, the chevalier de neuville by name, who had come with manucci, interested me a great deal. he had come to rome to endeavour to obtain the annulment of marriage of a lady who was in a convent at mantua. he had a special recommendation to cardinal galli.

his conversation was particularly agreeable, and when we left the ambassador’s i accepted the offer to come into his carriage with manucci, and we drove about till the evening.

as we were returning at nightfall he told us that he was going to present us to a pretty girl with whom we would sup and where we should have a game of faro.

the carriage stopped at the place d’espagne, at a short distance from my lodging, and we went up to a room on the second floor. when i went in i was surprised to see count medini and his mistress, the lady whom the chevalier had praised, and whom i found not at all to my taste. medini received me cordially, and thanked the frenchman for having made me forget the past, and having brought me to see him.

m. de neuville looked astonished, and to avoid any unpleasant explanations i turned the conversation.

when medini thought a sufficient number of punters were present he sat down at a large table, placed five or six hundred crowns in gold and notes before him, and began to deal. manucci lost all the gold he had about him, neuville swept away half the bank, and i was content with the humble part of spectator.

after supper, medini asked the chevalier to give him his revenge, and manucci asked me to lend him a hundred sequins. i did so, and in an hour he had not one left. neuville, on the other hand, brought down medini’s bank to twenty or thirty sequins, and after that we retired to our several homes.

manucci lodged with my sister-in-law, roland’s daughter, and i had made up my mind to give him an early call; but he did not leave me the opportunity, as he called on me early in the morning.

after returning me the hundred sequins he embraced me affectionately, and, shewing me a large letter of credit on bettoni, said that i must consider his purse as mine. in short, though he said nothing about the past, he gave me to understand that he wished to initiate a mutual policy of forget and forgive.

on this occasion my heart proved too strong for my brain; such has often been the case with me. i agreed to the articles of peace he offered and required.

besides, i was no longer at that headstrong age which only knows one kind of satisfaction, that of the sword. i remembered that if manucci had been wrong so had i, and i felt that my honour ran no danger of being compromised.

the day after, i went to dinner with him. the chevalier de neuville came in towards the close of the meal, and medini a few moments later. the latter called on us to hold a bank, each in his turn, and we agreed. manucci gained double what he had lost; neuvilie lost four hundred sequins, and i only lost a trifle. medini who had only lost about fifty sequins was desperate, and would have thrown himself out of the window.

a few days later manucci set out for naples, after giving a hundred louis to medini’s mistress, who used to sup with him; but this windfall did not save medini from being imprisoned for debt, his liabilities amounting to more than a thousand crowns.

the poor wretch wrote me doleful epistles, entreating me to come to his assistance; but the sole effect of his letters was to make me look after what he called his family, repaying myself with the enjoyment of his mistress’s young sister. i did not feel called upon to behave generously to him for nothing.

about this time the emperor of germany came to rome with his brother, the grand duke of tuscany.

one of the noblemen in their suite made the girl’s acquaintance, and gave medini enough to satisfy his creditors. he left rome soon after recovering his liberty, and we shall meet him again in a few months.

i lived very happily amongst the friends i had made for myself. in the evenings i visited the duchess of fiano, in the afternoons the princess of santa croce. the rest of my time i spent at home, where i had margarita, the fair buonacorsi, and young menicuccio, who told me so much about his lady-love that i felt quite curious to see her.

the girl was in a kind of convent where she had been placed out of charity. she could only leave it to get married, with the consent of the cardinal who superintended the establishment. when a girl went out and got married, she received a dower of two hundred roman crowns.

menicuccio had a sister in the same convent, and was allowed to visit her on sundays; she came to the grating, followed by her governess. though menicuccio was her brother, she was not permitted to see him alone.

five or six months before the date of which i am writing his sister had been accompanied to the grating by another girl, whom he had never seen before, and he immediately fell in love with her.

the poor young man had to work hard all the week, and could only visit the convent on holidays; and even then he had rarely the good luck to see his lady-love. in five or six months he had only seen her seven or eight times.

his sister knew of his love, and would have done all in her power for him, but the choice of a companion did not rest with her, and she was afraid of asking for this particular girl for fear of exciting suspicion.

as i have said, i had made up my mind to pay the place a visit, and on our way menicuccio told me that the women of the convent were not nuns, properly speaking, as they had never taken any vow and did not wear a monastic dress. in spite of that they had few temptations to leave their prison house, as they would only find themselves alone in the world with the prospect of starvation or hard work before them. the young girls only came out to get married, which was uncommon, or by flight, which was extremely difficult.

we reached a vast ill-built house, near one of the town gates — a lonely and deserted situation, as the gate led to no highway. when we went into the parlour i was astonished to see the double grating with bars so thick and close together that the hand of a girl of ten could scarce have got through. the grating was so close that it was extremely difficult to make out the features of the persons standing on the inner side, especially as this was only lighted by the uncertain reflection from the outer room. the sight of these arrangements made me shudder.

“how and where have you seen your mistress?” i asked menicuccio; “for there i see nothing but darkness.”

“the first time the governess chanced to have a candle, but this privilege is confined, under pain of excommunication, to relations.”

“then she will have a light to-day?”

“i expect not, as the portress will have sent up word that there was a stranger with me.”

“but how could you see your sweetheart, as you are not related to her?”

“by chance; the first time she came my sister’s governess — a good soul — said nothing about it. ever since there has been no candle when she has been present.” soon after, the forms of three or four women were dimly to be seen; but there was no candle, and the governess would not bring one on any consideration. she was afraid of being found out and excommunicated.

i saw that i was depriving my young friend of a pleasure, and would have gone, but he told me to stay. i passed an hour which interested me in spite of its painfulness. the voice of menicuccio’s sister sent a thrill through me, and i fancied that the blind must fall in love through their sense of hearing. the governess was a woman under thirty. she told me that when the girls attained their twenty-fifth year they were placed in charge of the younger ones, and at thirty-five they were free to leave the convent if they liked, but that few cared to take this step, for fear of falling into misery.

“then there are a good many old women here?”

“there are a hundred of us, and the number is only decreased by death and by occasional marriages.”

“but how do those who go out to get married succeed in inspiring the love of their husbands?”

“i have been here for twenty years, and in that time only four have gone out, and they did not know their husbands till they met at the altar. as might be expected, the men who solicit the cardinal for our hands are either madmen, or fellows of desperate fortunes who want the two hundred piastres. however, the cardinal-superintendent refuses permission unless the postulant can satisfy him that he is capable of supporting a wife.”

“how does he choose his bride?”

“he tells the cardinal what age and disposition he would prefer, and the cardinal informs the mother-superior.”

“i suppose you keep a good table, and are comfortably lodged.”

“not at all. three thousand crowns a year are not much to keep a hundred persons. those who do a little work and earn something are the best off.”

“what manner of people put their daughters in such a prison?”

“either poor people or bigots who are afraid of their children falling into evil ways. we only receive pretty girls here.”

“who is the judge of their prettiness?”

“the parents, the priest, and on the last appeal the cardinal- superintendent, who rejects plain girls without pity, observing that ugly women have no reason to fear the seductions of vice. so you may imagine that, wretched as we are, we curse those who pronounced us pretty.”

“i pity you, and i wonder why leave is not given to see you openly; you might have some chance of getting married then.”

“the cardinal says that it is not in his power to give permission, as anyone transgressing the foundation is excommunicated.”

“then i should imagine that the founder of this house is now consumed by the flames of hell”

“we all think so, and hope he may stay there. the pope ought to take some order with the house.”

i gave her ten crowns, saying that as i could not see her i could not promise a second visit, and then i went away with menicuccio, who was angry with himself for having procured me such a tedious hour.

“i suppose i shall never see your mistress or your sister,” said i; “your sister’s voice went to my heart.”

“i should think your ten paistres ought to work miracles.”

“i suppose there is another parlour.”

“yes; but only priests are allowed to enter it under pain of excommunication, unless you get leave from the holy father.”

i could not imagine how such a monstrous establishment could be tolerated, for it was almost impossible, under the circumstances, for the poor girls to get a husband. i calculated that as two hundred piastres were assigned to each as a dowry in case of marriage, the founder must have calculated on two marriages a year at least, and it seemed probable that these sums were made away with by some scoundrel.

i laid my ideas before cardinal bernis in the presence of the princess, who seemed moved with compassion for these poor women, and said i must write out a petition and get it signed by all of them, entreating the holy father to allow them the privileges customary in all other convents.

the cardinal told me to draft the supplication, to obtain the signatures, and to place it in the hands of the princess. in the meantime he would get the ear of the holy father, and ascertain by whose hands it was most proper for the petition to be presented.

i felt pretty sure of the signatures of the greater number of the recluses, and after writing out the petition i left it in the hands of the governess to whom i had spoken before. she was delighted with the idea, and promised to give me back the paper when i came again, with the signatures of all her companions in misfortune.

as soon as the princess santa croce had the document she addressed herself to the cardinal-superintendent orsini, who promised to bring the matter before the pope. cardinal bernis had already spoken to his holiness.

the chaplain of the institute was ordered to warn the superior that for the future visitors were to be allowed to see girls in the large parlour, provided they were accompanied by a governess.

menicuccio brought me this news, which the princess had not heard, and which she was delighted to hear from my lips.

the worthy pope did not stop there. he ordered a rigid scrutiny of the accounts to be made, and reduced the number from a hundred to fifty, doubling the dower. he also ordered that all girls who reached the age of twenty-five without getting married should be sent away with their four hundred crowns apiece; that twelve discreet matrons should have charge of the younger girls, and that twelve servants should be paid to do the hard work of the house.