The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 20: Milan

The narrator recounts episodes of courtship and social negotiation centered on a young dancer, her suitors, and the financial arrangements that secure her theatrical engagement. He describes persuading a noble suitor to guarantee the woman's future, then withdrawing to travel while continuing to advise and observe the couple's progress. Travel scenes to Milan mix visits to aristocratic houses, purchases of luxury cloth, and encounters with a companion given to quoting Dante. The memoir interweaves anecdotes about theatre managers, bankers, servants, and gifts with reflections on reputation, friendship, and the uses of money and influence in provincial high society.