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CASANOVA DE SEINGALT, GIOVANNI JACOPO...

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 441 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CASANOVA DE SEINGALT, GIOVANNI JACOPO (1725–1798) , See also:

Italian adventurer, was See also:born at See also:Venice in 1725. His See also:father belonged to an See also:ancient and even See also:noble See also:family, but alienated his See also:friends by embracing the dramatic profession See also:early in See also:life. He made a runaway See also:marriage with Zanetta Farusi, the beautiful daughter of a Venetian shoemaker; and Giovanni was their eldest See also:child. When he was but a See also:year old, his parents, taking a See also:journey to See also:London, See also:left him in See also:charge of his grandmother, who, perceiving his precocious and lively See also:intellect, had him educated far above her means. At sixteen he passed his examination and entered the See also:seminary of St See also:Cyprian in Venice, from which he was expelled a See also:short See also:time afterwards for some scandalous and immoral conduct, which would have cost him his See also:liberty, had not his See also:mother managed somehow to procure him a situation in the See also:household of the See also:Cardinal Acquaviva. He made but a short stay, however, in that See also:prelate's See also:establishment, all See also:restraint being irksome to his wayward disposition, and took to travelling. Then began that existence of See also:adventure and intrigue which only ended with his See also:death. He visited See also:Rome, See also:Naples, See also:Corfu and See also:Constantinople. By turns journalist, preacher, See also:abbe, diplomatist, he was nothing very See also:long, except homme a bonnes fortunes, which profession he cultivated till the end of his days. In 1755, having returned to Venice, he was denounced as a See also:spy and imprisoned. On the 1st of See also:November 1756 he b a succeeded in escaping, and made his way to See also:Paris. Here he was made director of the See also:state See also:lotteries, gained much See also:financial reputation and a considerable See also:fortune, and frequented the society of the most notable See also:French men and See also:women of the See also:day.

In 1759 he set out again on his travels. He visited in turn the See also:

Netherlands, See also:South See also:Germany, Switzerland—where he made the acquaintance of See also:Voltaire,—Savoy, See also:southern See also:France, Florence—whence he was expelled,—and Rome, where the See also:pope gave him the See also:order of the See also:Golden See also:Spur. In 1761 he returned to Paris, and for the next four or five years lived partly here, partly in See also:England, South Germany and See also:Italy. In 1764 he was in See also:Berlin, where he refused the offer of a See also:post made him by See also:Frederick II. He then travelled by way of See also:Riga and St See also:Petersburg to See also:Warsaw, where he was favourably received by See also:King See also:Stanislaus See also:Poniatowski. A See also:scandal, followed by a See also:duel, forced him to flee, and he returned by a devious route to Paris, only to find a lettre de cachet awaiting him, which drove him to seek See also:refuge in See also:Spain. Expelled from See also:Madrid in 1769, he went by way of Aix—where he met Cagliostro—to Italy once more. From 1974, with which year his See also:memoirs See also:close, he was a See also:police spy in the service of the Venetian inquisitors of state; but in 1782, in consequence of a satirical See also:libel on one of his patrician patrons, he had once more to go into See also:exile. In 1785 he was appointed by See also:Count Waldstein, an old Paris acquaintance, his librarian at the See also:chateau of See also:Dux in Bohemia. Here he lived until his death, which probably occurred on the 4th of See also:June 1798. The See also:main authority for Casanova's life is his Memoires (12 vols., See also:Leipzig, 1826-1838; later ed. in 8 vols., Paris, 1885), which were written at Dux. They are See also:clever, well written and, above all, cynical, and interesting as a trustworthy picture of the morals and See also:manners of the times.

Among Casanova's other See also:

works may be mentioned Confutazione See also:delta storia del governo Veneto d'Amelot de la See also:Houssaye (See also:Amsterdam, 1769), an See also:attempt to ingratiate himself with the Venetian See also:government; and the Histoire of his See also:escape from See also:prison (Leipzig, 1788; reprinted See also:Bordeaux, 1884; Eng. trans. by P. See also:Villars, 1892). Ottmann's See also:Jacob Casanova (See also:Stuttgart, 1900) contains a bibliography.

End of Article: CASANOVA DE SEINGALT, GIOVANNI JACOPO (1725–1798)

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