The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 23: English

In Short

This volume of Giacomo Casanova's memoirs chronicles his tumultuous residence in London during the mid-eighteenth century. Immersed in an unfamiliar culture, Casanova navigates high-stakes gaming clubs, eccentric local customs, financial entrapments, and a consuming, destructive infatuation with a young woman named Charpillon. Surrounded by swindlers, noblemen, and dubious courtesans, he struggles against manipulation and his own compulsive passions. Blending social observation with agonizing personal confession, the book endures as a raw, psychologically unflinching self-portrait of a man undone by desire.

The Story

The narrative opens in London, where Casanova arrives feeling isolated and restless, struggling with a language he does not understand. He quickly encounters eccentric local behaviors, from nonchalant attitudes toward suicide to bankers indifferent to a client's actual name. Through acquaintances like Lord Pembroke, he gains entry into exclusive social circles, attends lavish dinners, and participates high-stakes faro games alongside dubious figures such as the self-styled Count de Castelbajac and Count Schwerin.

Casanova soon reconnects with an old acquaintance, the Charpillon, and her circle of impoverished relatives and sharpers, including the rogue Chevalier Goudar. Despite recognizing their venal nature and recalling an old financial grievance involving forged bills and jewels, Casanova falls into an obsessive infatuation with the young woman. He visits her relentlessly, enduring coldness, public humiliation, and psychological torment. His attempts to possess her lead to violent outbursts, rage, and a subsequent physical collapse brought on by fever and emotional exhaustion.

Despite resolving to break free, Casanova repeatedly returns to her orbit, sending gifts and entering into further humiliations orchestrated by her family and associates. The psychological siege drives him to despair; burdened by overwhelming anguish, he contemplates suicide on Westminster Bridge, carrying lead-weighted pockets. His life is spared when an acquaintance, Sir Edgar, intercepts him and restores his equilibrium through forced companionship.

Recovering his composure, Casanova attempts to distance himself, yet the persecution continues. He is ambushed in Pall Mall and falsely imprisoned in Newgate under murky legal pretexts engineered by his enemies. Refusing to be broken, he secures bail through his tradesmen, faces his tormentors—including the Charpillon, Rostaing, and Goudar—with profound contempt, and watches as the legal fees fall upon his accusers instead. Having weathered the storm of his London entanglement, he moves forward, chastened yet enduringly resilient.

How It Unfolds

• The voyage begins: Casanova arrives in London feeling restless and alienated, wandering into coffee-houses and banks where he observes the unique financial indifference and eccentricities of the English.
• The gambling tables: Introduced to elite social circles by Lord Pembroke, he dines with questionable nobility and participates in high-stakes faro games where deceit and financial ruin lurk beneath polite manners.
• The fatal charm: He encounters the Charpillon and her family of sharpers, quickly falling under a spell that blinds him to their calculated extortion and his own previous grievances with them.
• Descent into torment: Trapped by his own relentless desire, Casanova endures excruciating visits, emotional manipulation, and physical abuse that culminate in a debilitating fever and severe psychological distress.
• The brink of despair: Overwhelmed by humiliation and the prospect of endless torment, he walks toward Westminster Bridge with heavy lead balls in his pockets intending to end his life.
• Saved by chance: Sir Edgar encounters him on the bridge, inadvertently interrupting his suicidal intent and guiding him back to society through unexpected friendship and distraction.
• Newgate and release: Ambushed and falsely arrested in Pall Mall, Casanova is thrown into Newgate prison before reliable tradesmen bail him out, allowing him to face his accusers with cool disdain.

The People

Giacomo Casanova acts as both the narrator and the primary focal point, a man of intellect and worldly experience who is nonetheless catastrophically vulnerable to physical beauty and emotional manipulation. His pride and self-awareness stand in constant opposition to his compulsive passions, leading him to self-inflicted misery.

The Charpillon is a young, enigmatic woman who uses her striking beauty and calculated coldness to manipulate Casanova and extract money and gifts. Untouched by conventional affection, she understands her power over men and deploys it with ruthless, unyielding precision, leaving Casanova a humiliated captive to her indifference.

Chevalier Goudar functions as an informative rogue and fixers' liaison, possessing encyclopedic knowledge of London's underworld and high society alike. He navigates the schemes of the city with cynical amusement, occasionally warning Casanova while simultaneously profiting from the chaos.

Count Schwerin and the self-styled Count de Castelbajac represent the parasitic hangers-on of European society—impoverished gamblers and forgers who rely on false titles and deception to survive, ultimately collapsing into disgrace and imprisonment when exposed.

Sir Edgar appears as an accidental savior, a cheerful and observant young Englishman whose casual intervention on Westminster Bridge pulls Casanova back from the edge of self-destruction.

In Its Own Voice

"I passed a night which seemed like a never-ending nightmare, and I got up sad and savage, feeling as if I could kill a man on the smallest provocation."

This sentence opens Casanova's account, capturing his immediate psychological alienation upon arriving in London.

"At any other time this calculation would have made me laugh, and, as it was, I felt as if the incident had done me good."

Casanova reflects on a cold-blooded conversation about suicide heard in a coffee-house, illustrating the strange, dark tone of his initial days in the city.

"My rage had evaporated, and I trembled at the thought of this young frightened girl running about the streets at such an hour."

Following a violent altercation, Casanova reveals the swift emotional pendulum swings that define his relationship with his tormentors.

What It's Really About

The memoirs examine the destructive friction between rational intellect and unbridled sensual obsession. Casanova is a man who prides himself on worldly wisdom, yet he exposes his utter helplessness when confronted with calculated indifference and physical allure. The book explores how social environments—specifically the transactional, commercialized society of eighteenth-century London—shape human interactions, turning romance and social standing into matters of credit, debt, and exploitation. Beneath the colorful anecdotes lies a sobering inquiry into self-deception, pride, and the psychological prisons that individuals construct for themselves through unchecked desire.

Why Read It Today

Readers drawn to psychologically intense autobiographies and unfiltered human confessions will find this volume deeply compelling. Reading it feels like sitting across from an aging, remarkably candid man who refuses to hide his most embarrassing follies, vanities, and moments of profound weakness. It offers a vivid, unvarnished window into the grit, glamour, and darker underbelly of eighteenth-century urban life, far removed from polished historical fiction.

Honesty requires noting certain difficulties: the narrative moves at a deliberate, sometimes repetitive pace as Casanova circles the same destructive infatuation, and period attitudes toward women and class reflect the stark realities of the era. Yet, the reward lies in Casanova's unmatched prose and psychological transparency, capturing the timeless spectacle of a brilliant mind entirely at war with its own heart.