CASANOVA DE SEINGALT, de s:ix'gal', GIOVANNI .Ltcovo (1725-1803?). An Italian adventurer, born in Venice. His father, an actor, came of a noble family; his mother was the beautiful daughter of a shoemaker. lle wag brought up by his grandmother, and eduested for the priesthood. Expelled in disgrace from the Seminary of Saint Cy prian. he was for a brief time attached to the household of Cardinal A• quaviva, entered the Venetian military service, and began a career of intrigue and adventure of which lie has given us a frank and very well writ ten :lc-vomit in his Hemoirs (12 vols., Leipzig, often reprinted). His adventurous wan derings led him to almostevery Court of Europe, even to Constantinople and Saint Petersburg. Journalist, preacher, card-sharper. mesmerist, doctor, diplomatist, lie was always a char latan. always a rake, and nearly always a scoundrel. Yet he entered often into high cir cles, and was presented to Empress Catharine of Russia. In 1755 he returned to Venice, was promptly arrested as a spy, and imprisoned in the Piotnbi, afterwards made notorious by Silvio Pellico. The story of his escape (October 1756) is the most graphic portion of his Me moirs, and also the most decent. Published sepa
rately. it gained him celebrity and made him the fashion. tie now began a new career of dissolute adventure. Ifandsinne, witty, and affable, lie ob tained inti`rVieWA with Louis XV. and Frederick the threat, With 1101ISSeall and Voltaire. In Madame de Pompadour he found a kindred spirit, Italian princes honored him, and the Holy Father recognized his virtues by a decora tion. All efforts to himself in the favor of the Venetians, such as his refutation of Ana.lot de la Itow=snye's attack on the lion of that Republic, failed, and as he became known his character was recognized even in Madrid and Paris. In his fifty-seventh year 11752. he accepted the post of librarian to Count. WaIdstein at Dux. in Bohemia. Here he spent his declining years, living over again with delight the exploits of his godless life. These he decked with an outrageous frankness and many professions in his Memoirs, which are a faithful picture of Venetian manners and morals in their worst estate. drawn with what •TaniW calls "a marvelous instinct for vice and corruption."