ABSTRACT

Gil Blas, though wearing the Golillo, Capa, and Spada, with the most pure Castilian grace, thinks and acts with all the vivacity of a Frenchman, and displays, in many respects, the peculiar sentiments of one. There has been an unauthenticated account of Alain Le Sage having obtained possession of some manuscripts of Cervantes', which he had used liberally, and without acknowledgment, in the construction of his Gil Blas. The last French editor of Le Sage's works thinks that Gil Blas may have had a prototype in the humorous but licentious History of Francion, written by the Sieur Moulinet de Parc. Gil Blas is the principal character in a moving scene, where, though he frequently plays a subordinate part in the action, that entire he lays before people is coloured with his own opinions, remarks, and sensations. Gil Blas character has all the weaknesses and inequalities proper to human nature, and which people daily recognize in themselves and in their acquaintance.