It is a historical fact that Casanova visited Voltaire at Ferney. There
is, however, no historical warrant for the account of the matter given
in the foregoing novel, and still less for the statement that Casanova
wrote a polemic against Voltaire. It is a historical fact, likewise,
that Casanova, when between fifty and sixty years of age, found it
necessary to enter Venetian service as a spy. Of this, and of many other
doings of the celebrated adventurer to which casual allusion is made in
the course of the novel, fuller and more accurate accounts will be found
in Casanova’s _Memoirs_. Speaking generally, nevertheless, _Casanova’s
Homecoming_ is to be regarded throughout as a work of fiction.