Born in Venice in 1725, died probably in 1803; his father an
actor, his mother a shoemaker's daughter; educated for the
priesthood; expelled in disgrace from the seminary; entered
the Venetian military service, and began a career of
intrigue and adventure as chronicled in his memoirs;
wandered to almost every quarter of Europe, living by his
wits as journalist, doctor, mesmerist, and diplomat;
effected an entrance to many high social circles and was
presented to Catharine of Russia, Louis XV, Frederick the
Great, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Madame de Pompadour; arrested
in Venice as a spy in 1755, imprisoned and escaped;
afterward honored by Italian princes and decorated by the
Pope; became librarian to Count Waldstein in Bohemia in his
fifty-seventh year; his "Memoirs" notable as a picture of
manners and morals at their worst, chronicled with the
utmost frankness.