Note C — CASSANOVA DE SEINGALT. 1757.
Reading edition
The word cubit here evidently corresponds with the cordwainer’s cubit. And if so the ladder measured 247 yards. But there never was a ladder of this length. The longest are not more than 130, and the strongest man cannot manœuvre such a one, nor even carry it. Supposing the cubit here to mean the same as the Italian braccio, the ladder would even then be 91 yards long, and it would have been difficult for Cassanova to move such a ladder, as he relates. We must set it down to exaggeration, and let him go on with his story.