found that the man was a hairdresser by trade, and a great talker by nature, for he could take care of my beautiful head of hair, and I wanted to practise French conversation.  He was a good-for-nothing fellow, a drunkard and a debauchee, a peasant from Picardy, and he could hardly read or write, but I did not mind all that; all I wanted from him was to serve me, and to talk to me, and his French was pretty good.  He was an amusing rogue, knowing by heart a quantity of erotic songs and of smutty stories which he could tell in the most laughable manner.

When I had sold my stock of goods from Constantinople (except the wines), I found myself the owner of nearly five hundred sequins.  I redeemed all the articles which I had pledged in the hands of Jews, and turned into money everything of which I had no need.  I was determined not to play any longer as a dupe, but to secure in gambling all the advantages which a prudent young man could obtain without sullying his honour.

I must now make my readers acquainted with the sort of life we were at that time leading in Corfu.  As to the city itself, I will not describe it, because there are already many descriptions better than the one I could offer in these pages.

We had then in Corfu the ‘proveditore-generale’ who had sovereign authority, and lived in a style of great magnificence.  That post was then filled by M. Andre Dolfin, a man sixty years of age, strict, headstrong, and ignorant.  He no longer cared for women, but liked to be courted by them.  He received every evening, and the supper-table was always laid for twenty-four persons.

We had three field-officers of the marines who did duty on the galleys, and three field-officers for the troops of the line on board the men-of-war.  Each galeass had a captain called ‘sopracomito’, and we had ten of those captains; we had likewise ten commanders, one for each man-of-war, including three ‘capi di mare’, or admirals.  They all belonged to the nobility of Venice.  Ten young Venetian noblemen, from twenty to twenty-two years of age, were at Corfu as midshipmen in the navy.  We had, besides, about a dozen civil clerks in the police of the island, or in the administration of justice, entitled ’grandi offciali di terra’.  Those who were blessed with handsome wives had the pleasure of seeing their houses very much frequented by admirers who aspired to win the favours of the ladies, but there was not much heroic love-making, perhaps for the reason that there were then in Corfu many Aspasias whose favours could be had for money.  Gambling was allowed everywhere, and that all absorbing passion was very prejudicial to the emotions of the heart.

The lady who was then most eminent for beauty and gallantry was Madame F——.  Her husband, captain of a galley, had come to Corfu with her the year before, and madam had greatly astonished all the naval officers.  Thinking that she had the privilege of the choice, she had given the preference to M. D---- R-----, and had dismissed all the suitors who presented themselves.  M. F——­ had married her on the very day she had left the convent; she was only seventeen years of age then, and he had brought her on board his galley immediately after the marriage ceremony.