Giovanni Bianchi

“ This same Child of mine, whose Irregularities have made such a Noise, is no Male, but as truly, in all Respects, a Female, as the Woman who bore her; he then proceeded to relate the Occasion of her leaving her Home, and rambling in a Man's Habit. The good Canon was amazed at such frantic Doings, and courteously dismissed the Carpenter; however, judging that the Governor's Letter was in a Stile too lofty and acrimonious, to be used to a Dignitary, he did not vouchsafe to answer it, nor made any other Use of the authentic Information given him of Giovanni's genuine Sex. ”

“ The leathern Machine, which was hid under the Pillow, fell into the Hands of the Surgeon's Mates in the Hospital, who immediately were for ripping it up, concluding that it contained Money, or something else of Value, but they found it stuffed only with old Rags: The Servants first suspected Giovanni's Sex, by her prominent Breasts, when they came to remove her Body from the Bed on which she died; and, making this known to the chief Mates, they not only discovered her to be a Woman, but also a Virgin, the Hymen being entire without the least Laceration. ”

“ Our unfortunate Adventurer's Name was Catherine Vizzani; she was born at Rome, and of ordinary Parentage, her Father being a Carpenter. When she came to her fourteenth Year, the Age of Love in our forward Climate, she was reserved and shy towards young Men, but would be continually romping with her own Sex, and some she caressed with all the Eagerness and Transport of a Male Lover; but, above all, she was passionately enamoured with one Margaret, whose Company she used to court, under Pretence of learning Embroidery ”

“ Pietro Tsacchi, a Native of Aruzzo, one of these Mates, and a Youth of great Hopes, came to me very early on the Morning of the twenty-eighth of June, and told me with a Blush, that a Patient was dead, in the Hospital, of a Wound in the Thigh by a Musket-Ball, who, upon the Denudation of her Body, proved to be a Woman, with a fine sound Hymen, and other Tokens of an untouched Virginity ”

“ The Subject before me is an Instance, that the Wantonness of Fancy, and the Depravity of Nature, are at as great a Height as ever; and that our Times afford a Girl, who, so far from being inferior to Sappho, or any of the Lesbian Nymphs, in an Attachment for those of her own Sex, has greatly surpassed them in Fatigues, Dangers, and Distress, which terminated in a violent Death. ”

“ Such was the End of this young Woman, after a Disguise of above eight Years, during which she lived, undiscovered, as a Man Servant, in different Families; it is, indeed, a Proof of singular Address and Self-Government, that in such a length of Time, she should preserve her Secret from Detection, and be Proof against any Inclination or Love for a Man, though living continually in the utmost Freedom with them, and often lying in the same Bed ”

“ After an honourable Issue of the Affair, which had brought the Podesta to Florence, he returned to Librafratta. Here Giovanni gave a more audacious Loose to his unnatural Desires, his Master's Presence being frequently required at Monte Pulciano, and other Places, whilst the Care of the House was committed to Giovanni, who, amidst all her Licentiousness, was never known, in the least, to have offended, in Point of Vigilance and Honesty: Among other Charmers, he had the Presumption to offer his Addresses to a very lovely young Gentlewoman, Niece to the Minister of the Village ”

“ Catherine Vizzani, &c.
LL our Passions are known to break out into very extravagant Sallies, but Love seems of all to be the most exorbitant; so that no one, read in the History of human Nature, will wonder, that a bare Report should ever have kindled such an ardent Affection in some, as to send the Persons thus infatuated a wandering, from one Country to another, in Quest of the desired Object ”

“ Besides this, Paolo Marchi, a Regular of distinguished Piety, wrote a very affectionate Letter, in his Behalf, to Maria Colomba, Purveyor to the Nuns of the Order of the immaculate Conception of the ever Blessed Virgin at Sienna. Accordingly Giovanni arrived at the Hospital della Scala on the Sixteenth of June, One Thousand, Seven Hundred, and Forty-three, and was laid in the seventieth Bed, being entered in the Register of the Patients, from his own Mouth, by the Name of Giovanni, Son of Francisco Bordoni, Freeman of Rome, and aged Twenty-four Years. ”

“ I do not deny that these Tubes have not, in Part, been discovered in Animals; I say, in Part, being, from my own Experience, convinced that the Epatocistics are in Oxen and Dogs, as I have never been able to distend their Gall Bladder jointly with the Neck,———the Air transpiring through these Tubes ”

“ This the following Narrative will manifest, which is a pregnant Example of the shocking Ebulition of human Passions, yet, at the same Time, of a most firm Constancy and Daringness in a young Creature, tho' with a sad Alloy of Guilt and Precipitancy. ”

“ Their first Rout was to Lucca, which lies at no great Distance from Librafratta, but making a Circuit to avoid Pisa, where her two Fellow-Travellers had a general Acquaintance; before their short Refreshment at Lucca was ended, Giovanni, who was used to Dispatch, had provided a Chaise ready at the Door, into which she hurried the two Nieces, whilst she contentedy placed herself in her common Post behind.With this Vehicle these three Adventurers proceeded towards Sienna, but with more Haste than good Speed ”