Old Age and Death | Page 7

employment until 1776.

Early in 1776, Casanova entered the service of the Tribunal of
Inquisitors as an "occasional Confidant," under the fictitious name of
Antonio Pratiloni, giving his address as "at the Casino of S. E. Marco
Dandolo."
In October 1780, his appointment was more definitely established and
he was given a salary of fifteen ducats a month. This, with the six
sequins of life-income left by Barbaro and the six given by Dandolo,
gave him a monthly income of three hundred and eighty-four
lires--about seventy-four U. S. dollars--from 1780 until his break with
the Tribunal at the end of 1781.
In the Archives of Venice are preserved forty-eight letters from
Casanova, including the Reports he wrote as a "Confidant," all in the
same handwriting as the manuscript of the Memoirs. The Reports may
be divided into two classes: those referring to commercial or industrial
matters, and those referring to the public morals.
Among those of the first class, we find:
A Report relating to Casanova's success in having a change made in the
route of the weekly diligence running from Trieste to Mestre, for which
service, rendered during Casanova's residence at Trieste in 1773, he
received encouragement and the sum of one hundred ducats from the
Tribunal.
A Report, the 8th September 1776, with information concerning the
rumored project of the future Emperor of Austria to invade Dalmatia
after the death of Maria Theresa. Casanova stated he had received this
information from a Frenchman, M. Salz de Chalabre, whom he had
known in Paris twenty years before. This M. Chalabre [printed Calabre]
was the pretended nephew of Mme. Amelin. "This young man was as
like her as two drops of water, but she did not find that a sufficient
reason for avowing herself his mother." The boy was, in fact, the son of
Mme. Amelin and of M. de Chalabre, who had lived together for a long
time.
A Report, the 12th of December 1776, of a secret mission to Trieste, in
regard to a project of the court of Vienna for making Fiume a French
port; the object being to facilitate communications between this port
and the interior of Hungary. For this inquiry, Casanova received sixteen
hundred lires, his expenditures amounting to seven hundred and
sixty-six lires.

A Report, May-July 1779, of an excursion in the market of Ancona for
information concerning the commercial relations of the Pontifical
States with the Republic of Venice. At Forli, in the course of this
excursion, Casanova visited the dancing-girl Binetti. For this mission
Casanova received forty-eight sequins.
A Report, January 1780, remarking a clandestine recruiting carried out
by a certain Marrazzani for the [Prussian] regiment of Zarembal.
A Report, the 11th October 1781, regarding a so-called Baldassare
Rossetti, a Venetian subject living at Trieste, whose activities and
projects were of a nature to prejudice the commerce and industry of the
Republic.
Among the Reports relating to public morals may be noted:
December 1776. A Report on the seditious character of a ballet called
"Coriolanus." The back of this report is inscribed: "The impressario of
S. Benedetto, Mickel de l'Agata, shall be summoned immediately; it
has been ordered that he cease, under penalty of his life, from giving
the ballet Coriolanus at the theater. Further, he is to collect and deposit
all the printed programmes of this ballet."
December 1780. A Report calling to the attention of the Tribunal the
scandalous disorders produced in the theaters when the lights were
extinguished.
3rd May 1781. A Report remarking that the Abbe Carlo Grimani
believed himself exempt, in his position as a priest, from the
interdiction laid on patricians against frequenting foreign ministers and
their suites. On the back of this Report is written: "Ser Jean Carlo,
Abbe Grimani, to be gently reminded, by the Secretary, of the
injunction to abstain from all commerce with foreign ministers and
their adherents"
Venetian nobles were forbidden under penalty of death from holding
any communication with foreign ambassadors or their households. This
was intended as a precaution to preserve the secrets of the Senate.
26th November 1781. A Report concerning a painting academy where
nude studies were made, from models of both sexes, while scholars
only twelve or thirteen years of age were admitted, and where
dilettantes who were neither painters nor designers, attended the
sessions.
22nd December 1781. By order, Casanova reported to the Tribunal a

list of the principal licentious or antireligious books to be found in the
libraries and private collections at Venice: la Pucelle; la Philosophie de
l'Histoire; L'Esprit d'Helvetius; la Sainte Chandelle d'Arras; les Bijoux
indiscrets; le Portier des Chartreux; les Posies de Baffo; Ode a Priape;
de Piron; etc., etc.
In considering this Report, which has been the subject of violent
criticism, we should bear in mind three points:
first--the Inquisitors required this information;