In retrospect, it was a class of novel which informed a puritanical USA that eighteenth century people coulld have quite a bit of fun. This is a judicious use of episodes from Casanova's memoirs and the tropes of "Tom Jones". It passed the time and was easily adopted into a film script. ( )

Excellent historical novel of Mid-Eigthteenth Century Europe and Colonial America.

In bildungsroman fashion, the story follows the adventures and moral education of it's young protagonist, the illegitimate son of an English Earl and French dancer, who starts out as a musician and actor in Venice and experiences various and extreme changes of fortune, adventure, and love. Sophisticated, highly-cultured characters exchange witty, indirect dialogue (sometimes lapsing into French or Italian to the minor irritation of the mono-lingual reader).

A glittering representation of the Rococo world painted by Boucher and Fragonard. Like all great historical fiction, the story exemplifies a theme that is emblematic of it's epoch: in this case, the disarray of morality and Religion, leaving the titular 'Lord Vanity' as the true governing force of the age. ( )

Historical novel playing in the eighteenth century: story of the pauper adventurer, bastard son of an English lord, who rose to power and position among the rulers of Europe by his sword, his wits and his charm: a journey from the gutters of Venice to the boudoirs and pleasure palaces of France and England and to the American continent: intrigue, romance and adventure.