cell and, having made an opening there, assist
me out. "Arrived at this point," I said, "your
task will be over and mine begun, and both
yourself and Count Asquin shall be set at
liberty." He made answer that when he had
released me from my dungeon, I should not the
less be in prison, and that our situation then
would only differ from what it was at present by
greater space, for we should be merely in the
attics, which were closed by strong doors. "I
know that, reverend father," I replied, "but it
is not by the doors that we shall escape. My
plan is settled and I am sure to succeed. I
only ask of you exactness of execution and
abstinence from objections. Think only of the
way in which I can send you the instrument of
our deliverance, without the bearer knowing
anything about it. In the mean time, make the jailer
buy you a quantity of pictures of saints, large
enough to line the whole of the interior of your
prison. These religious prints will excite no
suspicion in him, and they will serve to hide
the hole you make in the roof. It will take you
several days to accomplish; and to prevent your
work from being seen, you must cover it with
one of your pictures. If you ask me why I
do not perform this work myself, my answer is
that I am suspected, and you are not." Though
I recommended Balbi to think how my spontoon
could reach him, I nevertheless, constantly dwelt
on the subject, and at last a good idea came into
my head. I desired Lorenzo to purchase for me
a folio Bible which had not long been published.
I hoped to conceal the spontoon in the back of
the binding, but when I obtained the volume, I
found that the instrument exceeded the length
of the book by two inches. My correspondent,
meanwhile, had written to say that he had
covered his cell with the pictures, and in my turn
I communicated the difficulty I was now in. He
rallied me, in reply, upon the barrenness of my
imagination, saying that I had only to send him
the spontoon concealed in my fox-skin dressing-
gown which Lorenzo had spoken of; as, without
giving rise to any suspicion, Count Asquin might
easily ask to see it. The jailer, he said, would
not unfold the robe. I felt persuaded of the
contrary; because an article of that kind is more
troublesome to carry folded than loose; and
though I sent the robe for them to look at, I
did not enclose the spontoon. Balbi, not finding
the weapon, thought it had been lost, and gave
way to despair, but I assured him that I had hit
upon a better plan than his.

This plan consisted in Casanova preparing
an enormous dishful of maccaroni, as a present
to the prisoner who had lent him so many
books, which the jailer was to carry to the
adjoining cell on the large Bible, and in the
back of which the spontoon, wrapped up in
paper, was hidden. As the dish was much
larger than the book, the projecting ends of the
instrument could not be seen, Casanova having
taken care to fix the jailer's attention to the
maccaroni, which was swimming in oil, and liable
to be spilt if not carried steadily. All that was
requisite for the success of this scheme was, that
Balbi, apprised of it beforehand, should take the
Bible and dish very carefully from the hands of
the bearer. The scheme answered perfectly, and
Casanova continues:

Father Balbi lost no time in setting to work,
and, the roof of his cell being very low, he
succeeded in the course of a week in making a hole
large enough to pass through, which he masked,
by pasting a large picture over it. On the 8th
of October he wrote to me that he had passed
the whole night in working at the upper partition
wall, but had not been able to remove more
than one brick, owing to the hardness of the
cement; but he promised not to relax in his
labours, all the time saying that we should only
make our situation worse. I replied that I felt
sure of the contrary, and that he must believe in
me and persevere. Alas! I was sure of nothing,
but I was obliged to say so, or abandon all.
Balbi's work was only difficult the first night;
the more he laboured, the easier it became, and
at last he had removed as many as six-and-thirty
bricks. On the 16th of October, at ten o'clock
in the morning, while I was busy translating an
ode of Horace, I heard overhead the stamping
of feet and three gentle knocks. It was the
concerted signal to show that we were not
deceived as to the locality. He went on working
till evening, and on the following evening he
wrote to me to say that if my roof was formed
of only two planks, his work would be finished
next day. He assured me that he had taken
care to make the aperture circular, as I had
recommended, and that he would not penetrate
the surface. This was quite necessary, as the
slightest sign of its being broken would have
betrayed us. The excavation, he added, was
such, that a quarter of an hour would suffice to
complete it. I had fixed on the night but one
after as the period of my evasion, never, I trusted,
to return; for with the assistance of a companion
three or four hours, I thought, would be quite
sufficient for making an opening in the great
roof of the ducal palace, for getting out, and for
finding the means of effecting a safe descent.
But I had not yet arrived at that point, and
before I could do so, my evil fortune reserved
for me more than one difficulty to overcome.

On the same day that Casanova received Balbi's
last letter, the jailer brought the prisoner
another companion, named Soradici, a low spy
who, for some neglect of duty, had been sent to
the Leads. He was an ignorant superstitious
faithless wretch, and not being able to trust
him, Casanova practised on his credulity, to the
extent of making him believe that an angel was
at work for his deliverance from prison; and
when he had succeeded in establishing this
belief, he wrote to Balbi to resume his task.
The month of October, was waning fast—it was
already the 25th—and the execution of his
project of escape, if made that year, must not
longer be delayed. It was the custom of the
Inquisitors of State, together with the secretary,
to pass the three first days of November at a
village on terra firma; during their absence,
Lorenzo, as Casanova knew by the last year's