“He would be a handsome man if he were not ugly; he is tall and strongly built, but his dark complexion and his glittering eyes give him a fierce expression.  He is easier to annoy than amuse; he laughs little but makes others laugh by the peculiar turn he gives to his conversation.  He knows everything except those matters on the knowledge of which he chiefly prides himself, namely, dancing, the French language, good taste, and knowledge of the world.  Everything about him is comic, except his comedies; and all his writings are philosophical, saving those which treat of philosophy.  He is a perfect well of knowledge, but he quotes Homer and Horace ad nauseam.”

Supplement
to

The memoirs of
Jacques Casanova
de Seingalt
Containing an Outline of Casanova’s career from the
year 1774, when his own Memoirs abruptly
end, until his death in 1798

PART THE FIRST

Venice 1774-1782
Casanova’s return to Venice

Thus Casanova ended his Memoirs, concluding his narrative with his sojourn at Trieste, in January 1774, where he had remained, except for a few excursions, since the 15th November 1772.  He was forty-nine years of age.  Since his unfortunate experiences in England, the loss of his fortune and the failure of his efforts to obtain congenial and remunerative employment in Germany or Russia, he had come to concentrate his efforts on a return to his native city.

Of his faithful friends, the nobles Bragadin, Barbaro and Dandolo, the first had died in 1767, having gone into debt “that I might have enough,” sending Casanova, from his death-bed, a last gift of a thousand crowns.  Barbaro who had died also, in 1771, left Casanova a life-income of six sequins a month.  The survivor, Dandolo, was poor, but until his death, he also gave Casanova a monthly provision of six sequins.  However, Casanova was not without influential friends who might not only obtain a pardon from the State Inquisitors but also assist him to employment; and, in fact, it was through such influence as that wielded by the Avogador Zaguri and the Procurator Morosini, that Casanova received his pardon, and later, a position as “Confidant,” or Secret Agent, to the Inquisitors at Venice.

Casanova re-entered Venice the 14th September 1774 and, presenting himself, on the 18th, to Marc-Antoine Businello, Secretary of the Tribunal of the Inquisitors of State, was advised that mercy had been accorded him by reason of his refutation of the History of the Venetian Government by Amelot de la Houssaie which he had written during his forty-two day imprisonment at Barcelona in 1768.  The three Inquisitors, Francesco Grimani, Francesco Sagredo and Paolo Bembo, invited him to dinner to hear his story of his escape from The Leads.

In 1772, Bandiera, the Republic’s resident at Ancona, drew this portrait of Casanova: