is out of the question. Nothing could be more circular than an argument
that Le Sage, because he possessed an inventive genius, might have
written _Gil Blas_; and that because he might have written _Gil Blas_,
he possessed an inventive genius. This being the case, let us examine
his biography. Le Sage was born in 1668 at Sargan, a small town near
Vannes in Bretagne; at twenty-seven he published a translation of
Aristoenaetus; and declining, from his love of literature, the hopes of
advancement, which, had he taken orders, were within his reach, he came
to Paris, where he contracted an intimate friendship with the Abbe de
Lyonne, who settled a pension on him, taught him Spanish, and bequeathed
to him his library--consisting, among other works, of several Spanish
manuscripts--at his death. His generous benefactor was the third son of
Hugo, Marquis de Lyonne, one of the most accomplished and intelligent
men in France. In 1656 he was set on a secret mission to Madrid; the
object of this mission was soon discovered in the peace of the Pyrenees
1650, and the marriage of Maria Theresa of Austria, eldest daughter of
Philip IV., with Louis XIV. During his residence in Spain the Marquis de
Lyonne lived in great intimacy with Louis de Haro, Duke of Montoro. The
Marquis de Lyonne was passionately fond of Spanish literature; he not
only purchased all the printed Spanish works he could procure, but a
vast quantity of unprinted manuscripts in the same language, all which,
together with the rest of his library, became at his death the property
of his son, the Abbe de Lyonne--the friend, patron, and testator of Le
Sage. To these facts must be added another very important circumstance,
that Le Sage never entered Spain. Of this fact, fatal as it is to Le
Sage's claims, Padre Isla was ignorant; but it is stated with an air of
triumph by M. Neufchateau, is proved by Llorente, and must be considered
incontestable. The case, then, as far as external evidence is concerned,
stands thus. Le Sage, a master of his own language, but not an inventive
writer, and who had never visited Spain, contracts a friendship which
gives him at first the opportunity of perusing, and afterwards the
absolute possession of, a number of Spanish manuscripts. Having
published several elegant paraphrases and translations of printed
Spanish works, he published _Gil Blas_ in several volumes, at long
intervals, as an original work; after this, he published the _Bachelier
d