Be off, or I'll kick you down-stairs!"

CASANOVA

(JEAN JACQUES CASANOVA DE SEINGALT)

(1725-1803)

The unique figure of Casanova stands out as a type of all that was
most vicious and most brilliant in the eighteenth century. The
pre-revolutionary philosophies, filtering through society, were
weakening religious restraints and producing a hypocritical conformity
to tradition and a new uncertainty which inclined people to present
enjoyment and epicureanism. But even the court aristocracy, to whom
self-indulgence was the rule of life, were astounded at the
unrestraint of Casanova's pleasure-seeking. He professed himself a
Christian, but during all his vicious career was never influenced by a
conscientious scruple. In a period when social graces were extolled
above all others, when conversation was cultivated as a fine art, and
when the salon was perhaps the greatest power in France, he was
pre-eminent for talent and charm. His physical beauty fascinated both
men and women; his fearlessness, often running into a mad bravado
which lost no chance to fight, won him the respect of men. He could be
witty in many tongues; he was an adept in fashionable fads of the day;
was supposed to have a gift for mesmerism, and to be something of a
sorcerer.

He could adapt himself to any society, appearing both as the idol of
European courts and a boon companion in low taverns. He had countless
duels and love affairs, and concluded one after another with the same
cynical heartlessness: always a gay soldier of fortune, experimenting
with his various talents; now a diplomat, now an abbe or popular
preacher, and now a writer of political essays.

When Casanova's father, a man of gentle birth, became an actor and
married a pretty actress, Zanetta Farusi, the daughter of an Italian
shoemaker, he hopelessly alienated his family. Jean-Jacques, their
first child, was born in Venice, and during their professional travels
was left there with his grandmother. Her earnest desire was to educate
the beautiful and precocious child; and she economized from her scanty
means until she was able to send him to the Seminary of Saint Cyprian
in Venice. He passed his entrance examinations, and studied there for
a time, exhibiting unusual ability. Then at sixteen he was expelled
for a disgraceful intrigue, which would have consigned him to prison
but for his mother, whose influence secured him the protection of
Cardinal Acquaviva and a position in