Evening star., 1933-09-17

wrote prepared orations carried on legal
studies at Padua. INDUCED in carnival pleas
ures at Venice. and began the long series OF
affairs with women which ended only with his
old age. spent in pleasant recollection Of his
earlier adventures and in writing his Memoirs.
Old age was long way ahead. however, when
he was a dandified young abbe, playing at
faro, practicing alchemy to pay his gambling
debts, expelled from Rome because of dis
graceful conduct. visiting ConstantinOple, where
he gained q reputation a Sorcerer. De-
baucheries in Paris and Dresden and Vienna
were followed by period in prison for the
possession of books on magic. Having escaped
from prison. he became "financier." not a
very reputable one, in Paris. and travelled about
Europe OStenSibly on business but really seek
ing new adventures At about this time he
took to himself the title of Chevalier de Sem
gait. Why not? Voltaire had adopted q name
he preferred to that bestowed on him by his
parents Shortly af er, Voltaire most notorious
of the eighteenth century Frenchmen. received
him at Les DeliceS. but was little interested in
the namboyant Italian except a victim for
his caustic wit. Casanovas imprisonment did
not Quench his interest in magic and he and
Nine Ia Marquise d'Urfe formed a partner
ship for its practice in Paris with the object
OF reincarnatirg the Marquse as a man. In
England the Chevalier made little social head
way, but incurred many debts and left hastily
to escape prosecution for fraud. The activity
of the wild, fantastic life, unmOtivated by any
ideal but the sensual. was nearing the end.
when Casanova regretfully accepted the inv-
tation of the young Count Waldstein, inter-
ested in magic. to come to Bohemia as his
librarian. He considered that he was burying
himself, but the salary was adequate and he
would be treated like gentleman. The life
of the world and the senses must end some
time and the end had come for Casanova. He
wrote ard thought longingly of his past for
over 10 years. and died an unrepentent pagan.
DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON
BY George Orwell. New York Harper g.
Brothers.
DARIS and London are not as hospitable
places can be found in the world for
penniess young man. Farmers are becoming
sophisticated and hard-hearted. so that
they look aSkance even at fresh-faced boy hik-
erS who ask TO sleep in their barns, thinking
suspiciCusly CT cigarettes smoked III the hay, of
running to the farm house for water and sup
plies, and of noise which would distu.b the
farm wife's sleep and temper. But rural dis
tricts are more kindly places for the down
and out than large cities. Mr. Orwell was
undoubtedly out for expe, fences. however, and
he found them in abundance in Paris and Lon
don. This book is personal story. probably
with the embellishments allowable to the writer
Of such adventures. He must have had
minimum of funds, for he able to become a
resident of a dingy little hotel not clean, not
free from bugs, not respectable, in Paris. He
found in the Hotel des Trois Moineaux a great
variety of types not to be found in the hotels
of the Champs ElySees district. The Rougiers
a wretched and tricky pair sold post cards to
tourists on the Boul' Mich. A Bulgarian Shoe
maker tapped shoes by day and studied the
ology at night sewer worker, stone mason,
a rag salesman his reighbors in tie
grimy hotel rooms. Mr.. Orwell did not remain
unemployed and technically down and out;
he found two jobs. He became first dish.
washer in fashionable hotel where the dishes
were washed, but where the dirt beyond the
walls Of the gilded dining rooms would have
discouraged the appetites of those who were
paying large prices for their filet m gnons and
sauce piquantes, if they had known about 1t.
In London there is even less cheer and
savoir vivre for doWn-and-outerS than IN
Paris. the city of caSuainesS and struggling
shoulders London lacks the sidewalk cafes
and numerous public gardens and parks with
their free benches where, if there is not
downpour too frosty weather, the man who
has no money and nowhere to go may find
a temporary resting place Mr.. Orwells de-
scription of the available sleeping places III
London for the homeless man comedies with
some of the most poignant scenes in the re-
cent novel, "Livingstones." by Derrick Leon
in which a long unemployed man is one OF
the minor characters. The Embankment is
a 1aVOrlte overnight place. 50 1d"oflle
place for suicides According to London law,
one may sit on a bench for the night but
may not stretch out and sleep To secure a
bench one must be there early. for by y
O'Clock all are usually taken. BY o'clock
in the morning a competent policeman clears
the benches. OF course protection from the
cold is the affair of the bench occupants. or
Of no one. The various cheap London lodging
houses do not sound much better than the
Embankment benches as Mr.. Orwell describes
them Their prices range from tuppence to
a shilling and their comforts vary accordingly.
The Twopenny Hangover, where dodgers are
permitted to sit a bench and hang owe.
a rope stretched before them, is only a little
worse than the Cofin, where they sleep In