When Goldoni began to write, the drama had fallen into a sadly burlesque
condition. Shortly after the first performance of his "Venetian
Gondolier," a play called "Belisario" was represented, in which the
blinded hero was led on to the stage by Harlequin, and beaten with a
stick to show him the way. This indignity of presentation awoke in
Goldoni a desire to write a play on the same theme. Asking the principal
actor in this farce, what he thought of it, the man replied, "It is a
joke, a making fun of the public, but this sort of thing will go on till
the stage is reformed." And he encouraged Goldoni to put his purpose
into action. He did indeed begin a play on this theme, but wars and
sieges hindered its performance; for the War of the Polish Succession
broke out, that war called the war of Don Carlos, regarding which
Carlyle is so sarcastic in his Life of Frederick the Great; and Milan
was occupied by the King of Sardinia, to the great astonishment of
Goldoni, who, although he lived in the house of an ambassador, and
should have been well informed of current events, knew no more about
them than an infant. He now accompanied his chief to Crema, Modena,
and Parma, in which latter city, he, the man of peace _par excellence_,
assisted at the great battle of June 1734. The impressions then gained,
he afterwards utilised in his comedy, "L'Amante Militare." Indeed,
skilful workman that he was, he always turned to account whatever
befell him, whatever he saw or heard, and his wandering and adventurous
life furnished him many opportunities for studying men and manners.

It would lead us too far to follow Goldoni through all the incidents of
his varied history. It must suffice to indicate the salient points. In
1736, having freed himself from service to the Ambassador, and having
again now consorted with actors, now exercised his legal profession,
he married the woman who proved his good angel, Nicoletta Conio,
who accompanied him all his life, modest, affectionate, indulgent,
long-suffering, light-hearted even in the midst of adverse fortune,
enamoured of him and of his fame, his truest friend, comforter, inspirer,
and stay: in a word, an ideal woman, whose character has been exquisitely
sketched by the modern Italian playwright, Paolo Ferrari, in his graceful
comedy, "Goldoni e le sue sedici Commedie." Shortly after this marriage,
and in large part thanks to his wife's encouragement and faith in him,
Goldoni issued finally f