"Nonsense,' replied the keeper, 'you make me laugh, We are taking you out of purgatory, and putting you into a little paradise, and you refuse to go. Come, come, you must obey. I will give you my arm, and will order your effects to be brought after you.'

"Seeing that opposition would be of no use, I arose to comply, and was greatly relieved when I found that the servant was directed to bring up my arm chair. My spontoon, which I had secreted in it, was thus to follow me, and hope with it. How delighted should I have been, could I have also carried away my beautiful hole, upon which I had wasted so much labour ! I can truly say, that when I left this horrible place, my whole heart remained behind."

Such was the result of our author's first attempt at escape. The jailer was afraid to inform the tribunal lest he should be supposed himself to have connived at it, and Casanova found himself no worse off than before. No sooner was he settled in his new quarters than he began to meditate new projects, and these were facilitated by the communication which he succeeded in opening with another prisoner. He was permitted by the jailer to exchange books with a monk occupying the next cell, named Balbi, and the books they sent each other were made the vehicle of a written correspondence. In carrying on this correspondence our author employed as a pen his little finger nail, which he had permitted to grow out and brought to a point, and used mulberry juice for ink. As every part of his own cell was now daily examined by the jailer he determined to commence operations in that of his correspondent, and succeeded in conveying the spontoon to him in the open back of a large bible. With this potent machine Balbi was to make an opening in the ceiling of his own cell, and having thus got into the apartment above, to cut through the partition wall, and finally make an opening from above in the ceiling of the cell of Casanova. When they had both in this way got from their cells into the apartment over them, which was immediately under the roof of the building, they were to effect their escape by getting out upon the roof and then taking their chance of what might occur. This plan, desperate as it may appear, finally succeeded, although it was obstructed by various interruptions, one of which, as in the former case, was occasioned by the introduction of another prisoner in our author's cell. The details of the manner in which this and all the other difficulties were obviated, are given in a very particular and entertaining manner. Immediately on receiving the spontoon Balbi began to work, concealing what he did as he advanced, by hanging his room with engravings, one of which was made to cover the opening. While the affair was in progress our author took occasion to enlighten himself as to its probable results by a sort of divination formerly in use, under the name of the Sortes Virgiliana, which consisted in opening Virgil at random, and taking the first verse on the top of

the page as an oracle. Our author, having no Virgil, employed his favourite Ariosto, and proceeded in the following manner.

"I wrote down a question addressed to my supposed familiar spirit, inquiring of him in what canto of Ariosto I should find the prediction of the day of my escape. This question I turned into numbers, from which I extracted an answer according to certain rules which I was in the habit of employing in telling fortunes. The canto indicated was the ninth. Proceeding in the same way I obtained the seventh and first as the numbers of the stanza and verse. I now took the poem, and turning to the passage indicated found the following verse:

Tra il fin d' Ottobre e il capo di Novembre.""

"Between the close of October and the beginning of November." It is not a little singular that it was precisely at midnight on the last day of October, as the reader will presently see, that he effected his escape. As he did not enter his new cell till the 25th of August, he certainly deserved great credit for the rapidity with which he brought his labours to a successful close. On getting into the garret above and reconnoitering the roof, which was covered with tiles, and over them with leaden plates, he found that he could easily make an opening through both with the invaluable spontoon. He then returned to his cell and employed four hours in converting his sheets, coverlets, mattresses, and straw bed into ropes, of which he made a hundred fathom. Having thus completed all the preliminary operations, he commenced his labours, which he describes in the following manner.

"I succeeded without assistance in making an opening in the roof twice as large as I wanted, and reached the leaden plate. I could not raise this alone, because it was riveted down, but with the aid of Balbi and the vigorous use of the spontoon, I detached it, and turning over a part of it, made an ample aperture. On putting my head through this aperture I saw with pain that there was a bright moon-light. This made it necessary to wait till about midnight, when the moon would have gone down. On a fine moonlight night the whole fashionable world of Venice is in the habit of walking in the square of St. Mark. Under these circumstances the shadows that we should have cast, had we gone out upon the roof, would undoubtedly have been noticed at once, and would have attracted the attention of the officers of the Holy Inquisition. After midnight we should have, at this season of short days, about seven hours before us, which would be amply sufficient for the purpose. We accordingly returned to the cell and passed three hours in conversation. After the moon had gone down, we divided the effects we had to carry between us, and proceeded to the opening, through which, in the language of Dante, we went out to look at the stars.

E quindi uscimmo a rimirar le stelle.'

"We wore jackets and trowsers, with hats on our heads. I went out first and Balbi followed. Sustaining myself on my hands and knees, I lifted up successively the edges of the plates of lead with the point of my

spontoon, and then taking hold of them with my four fingers, raised myself gradually to the ridge-pole of the roof. The monk supported himself by grasping my waistband, and I was obliged to draw him up with me, and this over a very steep ascent, rendered slippery by a thick mist. When we had got about half way up, the monk begged me to stop, saying that he had lost one of his parcels, and hoped that it had not got below the gutter. My first impulse was to give him a kick, and send him after his parcel, but thanks to Providence I had discretion enough to contain myself, and it was well for me that I had, for I could not have escaped alone. I asked him whether it contained our cords. He replied that it was a manuscript which he had found in the garret over the cells, and which he thought would sell for something handsome. I then told him that he had better bear the loss with patience, for that a single step backwards might be fatal to us. The poor monk groaned in the spirit, and still hanging on upon my waistband, followed me up.

"After getting with much difficulty over fifteen or sixteen leaden plates, we reached the ridge-pole and placed ourselves astride upon it. We had behind us the little island of St. George the Elder, and before us at two hundred paces distance, the numerous cupolas of the church of St. Mark, which makes a part of the Doge's palace. I now began to relieve myself of my parcels, and invited my companion to do the same. He placed his bundle of ropes under him as well as he could, but in endeavouring to lay aside his hat, he lost his hold of it, and it rolled from plate to plate into the gutter, where it followed the other parcel into the canal. My poor comrade was a good deal distressed. A bad sign this!' said he; here I am at the outset, without my hat, besides losing my curious account of the festivals of Venice.' Being now in rather better humour, I quietly told him that these two accidents were not extraordinary, and ought not to be viewed as bad omens. Let them rather teach you,' said I, to be prudent, and to recollect that we are under the protection of Providence. If your hat had gone to the left instead of the right, we should have been ruined. It would have fallen into the court instead of the canal, and would infallibly have given an alarm, which would have led to our apprehension.'

"After passing several minutes in looking to the right and left, I told the monk to remain where he was, until my return, and I pushed myself forward without any difficulty, upon the ridge-pole. I employed about an hour, in going, in this way, over the whole roof, and carefully observed every part of it; but I could see nothing upon any of the sides to -which I could fasten the end of a rope. It was necessary, therefore, to abandon the idea of descending into the canal, or the palace court; and there was nothing on the top of the church, between the domes, that seemed to favour our purpose. If we crossed this church, and attempted to get up the roof of the Canonica, the ascent would be so steep as to be almost impracticable; and, though I was disposed to be bold, I wished to avoid the least imprudence.

"It was, however, necessary to decide upon something, and I finally fixed my eyes upon an upright window in the roof, on the side of the canal, and about two thirds of the way down towards the gutter. It was at such a distance from the place where we came out, that it probably did

not open upon the garret of our cells, but upon some other, belonging to an apartment in the palace, which would be open at daylight. I was quite confident that the servants in attendance, even those of the Doge's family, would assist our escape, out of hatred to the Inquisition, had they even supposed us to be the greatest criminals. Under this impression, I determined to examine the front of the window, and sliding gently down, I soon found myself astride, upon the top of its little roof. I then took hold of the sides with both hands, and advancing my head, I could see and feel a small grate, behind which was a window, glazed with diamond panes of glass, set in lead. The window presented no obstacle; but the grate, small as it was, seemed to be an invincible difficulty, for without a file I did not see how I could possibly remove it; and as I had nothing but my spontoon, I was greatly disappointed, and began to lose courage, when a slight accident restored my spirits.

"Dear reader! if you will but imagine yourself, for a moment, in my position; if you will but recollect the torments to which I had been subjected for fifteen months, and the danger to which I was now exposed, upon a roof of lead, where the slightest false movement would have deprived me of life; if you will reflect that I had only a few hours to overcome all the difficulties that might occur to prevent my escape, and that if I failed I should suffer an increase of severity from the horrible tribunal which had me in its power: if, I say, you will consider these things, you will not, I trust, however philosophically disposed you may be, think the worse of me for the candid confession that I am about to make, especially when you take into view the natural tendency of adversity and distress to weaken the mind. I must own, then, should it even injure me in your opinion, that the circumstance to which I allude, as having exercised a cheering influence upon my spirits, was the sound of the clock of St. Mark, which just then struck twelve. It reminded me at once of the oracle which I had obtained from my favorite Ariosto: Tra il fin d' Ottobre e il capo di Novembre. And it seemed to be a sort of speaking talisman, which commanded me to act, and promised me success. sumed my work, and, on examining the grate again, I found that by inserting the point of my spontoon between it and the casement, I could, perhaps, remove it entirely. After a quarter of an hour's labour, I succeeded in this, and taking out the grate entire, I placed it on the roof by the side of the window. I then found no difficulty in breaking the glass, although I wounded one of my hands in the operation.

I re

"I now returned to the top of the roof, and made my way to the place where I had left my companion. I found him in a great rage, and he abused me outrageously for leaving him so long alone, saying, that he had been upon the point of returning to the cell. I asked him what he thought had become of me? I thought,' said he, that you must have fallen from the roof.'

"And is this the way in which you express your pleasure at seeing me again?'

"What have you been doing all this time?'

"Follow me,' said I, and you shall see.'

"We then resumed our parcels, and proceeded towards the window; when we had reached the point above it, I gave Balbi a full account of VOL. III. (1837.) NO. II.

U

what I had done, and consulted him upon the best means of getting into the window. It was easy enough for one, as by means of the cord he could be let down by the other; but I did not see what could be done for the second, as there was no way of fastening the cord to the window. By entering, and letting myself fall, I might break my arms and legs, and I did not like to venture without knowing the distance from the window to the floor. I communicated these reflections to Balbi in a tone of the most friendly interest. His reply was, 'take care of me first, and when I am fairly in, you will have time encugh to think of yourself.'

"I confess that I was tempted, for a moment, on hearing this answer, to plunge my spontoon into his breast. I restrained myself, however, and did not utter a word of reproach, but proceeded at once as he suggested, to take care of him. Undoing my parcel of cord, I tied one end firmly round his body, and making him lie down upon his breast, with his feet downwards, I lowered him to the top of the window. When he was there, I directed him to get in and hold on by the sides of the casement, which he did. I then descended, myself, to the top of the window as I had done before, and placing myself astride on the top, I grasped the cord firmly, and told the monk to let himself down. When he reached the floor he detached the rope, and upon drawing it up, I found that the distance was more than fifty feet. This was too far to think of leaping. The monk, who now thought himself safe, after passing two hours of mortal terror in a position that was certainly not very satisfactory, called out to me to throw him the rope, and that he would take care of it. It will be readily believed that I did not follow this wise counsel.

"Not knowing what to do, and waiting for some new thought, I returned to the top of the roof, and I now remarked a dome which I had not yet examined. Upon approaching it, I found a flat terrace covered with lead, before a window, which was fastened with two bolts. The terrace was undergoing some repair, and I found here a tub filled with mortar, a trowel, and a ladder, which I thought might be long enough to enable me to descend into the garret where I had left my companion. I accordingly tied the end of my rope to the first round, and dragged the ladder to the window. It was about twelve fathom long, and the difficulty was to get it in, in doing which I found so many obstacles, that I regretted not having the assistance of the monk.

"I had let down the ladder into such a position that one of its ends touched the window, and the other extended about one third of its length over the gutter. I now descended to the top of the window, and drawing up the ladder, fastened the rope to the eighth round, after which I let it down again, and then attempted to introduce the end next me into the window. I found, however, after getting in a few rounds, the end struck against the roof on the inside, and that there was no way of introducing it any further without raising the lower end. I might have placed the ladder across the window, and by fastening the rope to one of the rounds, have let myself down without danger, but the ladder would then have remained on the spot, and would have furnished the means of discovering our retreat, perhaps before we had quitted it. Determined not to lose by any imprudent act, the fruit of so much labour, I sought for some way of introducing the whole ladder, and having no one to assist