--Gil Blas does the same whilst
secretary of the Duke of Olivarez.

15. Francisca, the actress, is shut up in a convent at Carthagena,
because the corregidor's son falls in love with her--Laura, in _Gil
Blas_, is shut up in a convent, because the corregidor's only son falls
in love with her.

16. The adventures of Francisca and Laura resemble each other.

17. So do those of Toston and Scipio.

18. Toston and Scipio both lose their wives; and both disbelieve in
reality, though they think proper to accept, the excuses they make on
their return.

19. _Finally_, in _Gil Blas_ we find a vivid description of the habits
and manners prevalent in the European dominions of Spain during the
reigns of Philip III. and Philip IV. But in no part of _Gil Blas_ do we
find any allusion to the habits and manners of the viceroy's canons,
nuns, and monks of America; and yet Scipio is dispatched with a
lucrative commission to New Spain. It may fairly be inferred, therefore,
that so vast a portion of the Spanish monarchy did not escape the notice
of the attentive critic who wrote _Gil Blas_; and the silence can only
be accounted for by the fact, that the principal anecdotes relating to
America, were reserved to make out the _Bachelier de Salamanque_, from
the remainder of which _Gil Blas_ was taken.

Now, the dates of _Gil Blas_ and the Bachelier de Salamanque were
these:--the two first volumes of _Gil Blas_ were published in 1715, the
third volume in 1724, which, it is clear, he intended to be the last.
First, from the Latin verses with which it closes; and secondly, from
the remark of the anachronism of Don Pompeyo de Castro, which he
promises to correct if his work gets to a new edition. In 1735 he
published a fourth volume of _Gil Blas_, and, in 1738, the two volumes
of the _Bachelier de Salamanque_ as a translation. Will it be said that
Le Sage's other works prove him to have been capable of inventing _Gil
Blas_? It will be still without foundation. All his critics agree, that,
though well qualified to embellish the ideas of others, and master of a
flowing and agreeable style, he was not an inventive or original writer.
Such is the language of Voltaire, M. de la Martiniere, and of Chardin,
and even of M. Neufchateau himself; and yet, it is to a person of this
description that the authorship of _Gil Blas_, second only to _Don
Quixote_ in prose works of fiction, has been attributed.

Among the topics insisted upon by the Comte de N