At length the day of performance arrived. I could not go to the

play, being prevented by official business. The only thing to be

done was to send Scipio, that he might bring me back word how it went

off, for I was sincerely interested in the event. After waiting

impatiently for his return, in he came with a long face, which boded

no good. Well, said I, how was "The Count of Saldagna" welcomed by

the critics? Very roughly, answered he; never was there a play more

brutally handled; I left the house in high anger at the injustice and

insolence of the pit. It serves him right, rejoined I. Nunez is no

better than a madman, to be always running his head against the stone

walls of a theatre. If he was in his senses, could he have preferred

the hisses and catcalls of an unfeeling mob to the ease and dignity

he might have commanded under my patronage? Thus did I inveigh with

friendly vehemence against the poet of the Asturias, and disturb the

even tenor of my mind for an event which the sufferer hailed with

joy, and inserted among the well-omened particulars of his journal.

He came to see me within two days, and appeared in high spirits.

Santillane, cried he, I am come to receive your congratulations. My

fortune is made, my friend, though my play is marred. You know what

a mistake they made on the first and last night of "The Count of

Saldagna;" hissed instead of applauding! You would have thought all

the wild beasts of the forest had been let loose, with their ears

fortified against the softening power of poetry; but the more they

bellowed, the better I fared, and they have roared me into a

provision for life.

There was no knowing what to make of this incident in the drama of

our poet's adventures. What is all this, Fabricio? said I; how can

theatrical damnation have conjured up such Elysian ecstasy? It is

exactly so, answered he; I told you before that Don Bertrand had

thrown in some of the circumstances; and he was fully convinced that

there was no defect but in the taste of the spectators. They might

be very good judges; but, if they were, he was no judge at all!

Nunez, said he this morning,

Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni.[*]

[*] Members of parliament, and the ladies, will probably expect a

translation of these hard words; but I refer the former to their

dictionaries, to which they bade a long farewell on leaving Eton or

Harrow, and the latter to an extended paraphrase of five acts in the

tragedy of Cato. Those of the softer sex who may think the Stoic

philosophy rude and uncouth, will feel their nerves vibrate in unison

with the love scenes. TRANSLATOR.

Your piece has been ill received by the public; but against that you

may place my entire approbation, and thus you ought to set your heart

at rest. By way of something to balance the bad taste of the age, I

shall settle an annuity of two thousand crowns on you: go to my

solicitor, and let him draw the deed. We have been about it: the

treasurer has signed and sealed; my first quarter is paid in

advance...

I wished Fabricio joy on the unhappy fate of "The Count of Saldagna;"

and probably most authors would have envied his failure more than all

the success that ever succeeded. You are in the right, continued he,

to prefer my fortune to my fame. What a lucky peal of disapprobation

in double choir! If the public had chosen to ring the changes on my

merits rather than my misdeeds, what would they have done for my

pocket? A mere paltry nothing. The common pay of the theatre might

have kept me from starving; but the wind of popular malice has blown

me a comfortable pension, engrossed on safe and legal parchment.

_CHAPTER XI._

_SANTILLANE GIVES SCIPIO A SITUATION; THE LATTER SETS OUT FOR NEW

SPAIN._

My secretary could not look at the unexpected good luck of Nunez the

poet without envy; he talked of nothing else for a week. The whims

of that baggage, fortune, said he, are most unaccountable: she

delights to turn her lottery wheel into the lap of a sorry author,

while she deals out her disappointments like a step-mother to the

race of good ones. I should have no objection, though, if she would

throw me up a prize in one of her vertical progresses. That is

likely enough to happen, said I, and sooner than you imagine. Here

you are in her temple; for it is scarcely too presumptuous to call

the house of a prime minister the temple of fortune, where favors are

conferred by wholesale, and votaries grow fat on the spoils of her

altar. That is very true, sir, answered he; but we must have

patience, and wait till the happy moment comes. Take my advice while

it is worth having, Scipio, replied I, and make your mind easy:

perhaps you are on the eve of some good appointment. And so it

turned out; for within a few days an opportunity offered of employing

him advantageously in my lord duke's service; and I did not suffer

the happy moment to pass by.

I was engaged in chat one morning with Don Raymond Caporis, the prime

minister's steward, and our conversation turned on the sources of his

excellency's income. My lord, said he, enjoys the commanderies of

all the military orders, yielding a revenue of forty thousand crowns

a year; and he is only obliged to wear the cross of Alcantara.

Moreover, his three offices of great chamberlain, master of the

horse, and high chancellor of the Indies, bring him in an income of

two hundred thousand crowns; and yet all this is nothing in

comparison of the immense sums which he receives through other

transatlantic channels; but you will be puzzled to guess how. When

vessels clear out from Seville or Lisbon for those parts of the

world, he ships wine, oil, grain, and other articles, the produce of

his own estate; and his consignments are duty free. With that

perquisite in his pocket, he sells his merchandise for four times its

current price in Spain, and then lays out the money in spices,

coloring materials, and other things which cost next to nothing in

the new world, and are sold very dear in Europe. Already has he

realized some millions by this traffic, without detracting from the

dues of his royal master.

You will easily account for it, continued he, that the people

concerned in carrying on this trade return with great fortunes in

their pockets; for my lord thinks it but reasonable that they should

divide their diligence between his business and their own.

That shrewd son of chance and opportunity, of whom we are speaking,

overheard our conversation, and could not help interrupting Don

Raymond to the following purport: Upon my word, Signor Caporis, I

should like to be one of those people; for I am fond of travelling,

and have long wished to see Mexico. Your inclinations as a tourist

shall soon be gratified, said the steward, if Signor de Santillane

will not stand in the way of your wishes. However particular I may

think it my duty to be about the persons whom I send to the West

Indies in that capacity,--and they are all of my appointment,--you

shall be placed on the list at all adventures, if your master wishes

it. You will confer on me a particular favor, said I to Don Raymond;

be so good as to do it in kindness to me. Scipio is a young fellow

much in my good graces, very capable in business, and will be found

irreproachable in his conduct. In a word, I would as soon answer for

him as myself.

That being the case, replied Caporis, he has only to repair

immediately to Seville: the ships are to sail for South America in a

month. I shall give him a letter at his departure for a man who will

put him in the way of making a fortune, without the slightest

interference in his excellency's dues and profits, which ought to be

held sacred by him.

Scipio, delighted with his berth, was in haste to set out for

Seville, with a thousand crowns, with which I furnished him, to make

purchases of wine and oil in Andalusia, and enable him to trade on

his own bottom in the West Indies. And yet, overjoyed as he was to

make a voyage, and as he hoped his fortune therewithal, he could not

part from me without tears; and the separation raised the waters even

from my dry fountains.

_CHAPTER XII._

_DON ALPHONSO DE LEYVA COMES TO MADRID; THE MOTIVE OF HIS JOURNEY A

SEVERE AFFLICTION TO GIL BLAS, AND A CAUSE OF REJOICING SUBSEQUENT

THEREON._

No sooner had I parted with Scipio than one of the minister's pages

brought me a note conceived in the following terms: "If Signor de

Santillane will take the trouble of calling at the sign of Saint

Gabriel, in the street of Toledo, he will there see a friend who is

not indifferent to him."

Who can this nameless friend possibly be? said I to myself. What can

be the meaning of all this mystery? Obviously to occasion me the

pleasure of a surprise. I attended the summons immediately, and on

my arrival at the place appointed, was not a little astonished to

find Don Alphonso de Leyva there. Is it possible! exclaimed I: you

here, my lord? Yes, my dear Gil Blas, answered he with a close

compression of my hand in his, it is Don Alphonso himself. Well! but

what brings you to Madrid? said I. You will be not a little

startled, rejoined he, and no less vexed at the occasion of my

journey. They have taken my government of Valencia from me, and the

prime minister has sent for me to give an account of my conduct. For

a whole quarter of an hour I was like a man stupefied; then,

recovering the powers of speech, Of what, said I, are you accused? I

know nothing at all about it, answered he; but my disgrace is

probably owing to a visit paid about three weeks ago to the Cardinal

Duke of Lerma, who was banished about a month since to his seat at

Denia.

Yes, indeed! cried I in a pet, you may well attribute your misfortune

to that imprudent visit: there is no occasion to look out for causes

and effects elsewhere; but give me leave to say that you have not

acted with your usual good sense, in claiming acquaintance with that

favorite out of favor. The leap is taken, and the neck broken, said

he; and I have nothing to do but to make the best of a bad bargain: I

shall retire with my family to our paternal estate at Leyva, where

the remnant of my days will glide away in peace and obscurity. What

taunts and teases me is the requisition of appearing before a haughty

minister, who may receive me with all the insolence of office. How

humiliating to the pride of a Spaniard! And yet it is a measure of

necessity; but before the degrading ceremony took place, I wanted to

talk it over with you. Sir, said I, do not announce your arrival to

the minister, till I have ascertained the nature of the reports to

your discredit, for there are few evils without a remedy. Whatever

may be your alleged crimes, you will give me leave, if you please, to

act in the affair as gratitude and friendship shall dictate. With

this assurance, I left him at his inn, and promised to let him hear

from me soon.

As I had taken no active part in state affairs since the two

memorials, in which my eloquence was so signally displayed, I went to

look for Carnero, with a view to inquire whether Don Alphonso's

government was really taken from him. He answered in the

affirmative, but professed not to know the reason. Finding how

things stood, I determined to apply at head-quarters, and to learn

the grounds of grievance from his lordship's own mouth.

My spirits were really harassed, so that there was no need of putting

on the trappings and the suits of woe, to attract my lord duke's

notice. What is the matter, Santillane? said he as soon as he saw

me. I perceive a marked unhappiness on your countenance, and tears

just ready to trickle down your cheeks. Has any one behaved ill to

you? Tell me, and you shall have your revenge. My lord, answered I

in a melancholy tone, even though my grief would seek to hide itself,

it must have vent: my despair is past endurance. The report goes

that Don Alphonso is no longer governor of Valencia; a severer stroke

could not have been inflicted on me. What say you, Gil Blas? replied

the minister in astonishment: what interest can you take in this Don

Alphonso and his government? On this question, I detailed at length

my obligations to the lords of Leyva, and modestly stated my own

interference with the Duke of Lerma, to obtain the appointment for my

friend.

When his excellency had heard me through with the most polite and

kind attention, he spoke thus: Make yourself easy, Gil Blas. Besides

my entire ignorance of what you have just told me, I must own that I

considered Don Alphonso as the cardinal's creature. Only put

yourself in my place: was not the visit to his eminence a most

suspicious circumstance? Yet I am willing to believe that, owing his

preferment to that minister, he might have remembered him in his

adversity from a motive of pure gratitude. I am sorry for having

displaced a man who owed his elevation to you; but if I have pulled

down your handiwork I can build it up again. I mean to do still more

than the Duke of Lerma for you. Your friend Don Alphonso was only

governor of Valencia; I appoint him viceroy of Arragon: you may send

him word so yourself, and order him hither to take the oaths.

At these words, my feelings changed from extreme grief to an excess

of joy, which completely caricatured the mediocrity of common sense,

and made me utter an incoherent rhapsody of thanks: but the want of

method in the madness of my discourse was not taken amiss; and on my

hinting that Don Alphonso was already at Madrid, he told me that I

might present him this very day. I ran to the sign of Saint Gabriel,

and communicated my own raptures to Don Cæsar's son, by informing him

of his new appointment. He could not believe what I told him, but

found it a hard matter to persuade himself that the prime minister,

though likely enough to be very well disposed towards me, should

extend his friendship so far as to dispose of viceroyalties at my

instance. I carried him with me to my lord duke, who received him

very affably, complimented him on his uniform good conduct in his

government of Valencia, and finished by saying that the king,

considering him as qualified for a higher station, had named him for

the viceroyalty of Arragon. Besides, added he, your family is of a

rank not to disparage the dignity of the office, so that the

Arragonese nobility will have no plea for excepting against the

choice of the court.

His excellency made no mention of me, and the public was kept in the

dark as to my share in the business; indeed, this prudent silence was

lucky both for Don Alphonso and the minister, since the tongues of

defamers would have been busy in taking to pieces the pretensions of

a viceroy who owed his preferment to my patronage.

As soon as Don Cæsar's son could speak with certainty of his new

honors, he sent off an express for Valencia with the information to

his father and Seraphina, who soon arrived in Madrid. Their first

object was to find me out, and ply me thick and threefold with

acknowledgments. What a proud and affecting sight for me, to behold

the three persons in the world nearest my heart, vying with each

other in their testimonies of affection and gratitude! The pleasure

my zeal seemed personally to give them was equal to the dignity

conferred on their house by the post of viceroy. They even talked

with me on a footing of equality, and scarcely remembered my original

distance or servitude in the fervor of their present feelings. But

not to dwell on unnecessary topics, Don Alphonso, having taken the

oaths and returned thanks, left Madrid with his family, to take up

his abode at Saragossa. He made his public entry with appropriate

magnificence; and the Arragonese caused it to appear, by their

cordial reception, that I had a very pretty knack at picking out a

viceroy.

_CHAPTER XIII._

_GIL BLAS MEETS DON GASTON DE GOGOLLOS AND DON ANDREW DE TORDESILLAS

AT THE DRAWING-ROOM, AND ADJOURNS WITH THEM TO A MORE CONVENIENT

PLACE. THE STORY OF DON GASTON AND DONNA HELENA DE GALISTEO

CONCLUDED. SANTILLANE RENDERS SOME SERVICE TO TORDESILLAS._

I was up to the hilts in joy at having so marvellously metamorphosed

an ex-governor into a viceroy; the lords of Leyva themselves were not

primed and loaded so near to bursting. But very soon I had another

opportunity of employing my credit in the beaten track of friendship;

and there is the more occasion to quote these instances, that my

readers may clearly discern with how different a man they are in

company, from that graceless Gil Blas, who, under the former

ministry, carried on a shameless traffic in the honors and emoluments

of the state.

One day I was waiting in the king's antechamber, in conversation with

some noblemen, who, knowing me to stand well with the prime minister,

were not ashamed of taking me by the hand. In the crowd was Don

Gaston de Cogollos, whom I had left a prisoner in the tower of

Segovia. He was with Don Andrew de Tordesillas, the warden. I

readily quitted my company to go and renew my acquaintance with my

two friends. If they were astonished at the sight of me, I was no

less so to find them here. After mutual greetings, Don Gaston said,

Signor de Santillane, we have many inquiries to make of each other,

and this place affords little opportunity for private intercourse;

allow me to request your company where we may open our hearts freely.

I made no objection; we pushed our way through the crowd, and left

the palace. Don Gaston's carriage was ready waiting in the street:

we all three got into it, and drove to the great market-place, where

the bull-fights are exhibited. There Cogollos lived in a very

handsome house.

Signor Gil Blas, said Don Andrew on our entrance, at your departure

from Segovia you seemed to have conceived a thorough hatred against

the court, and to have formed a settled purpose of abandoning it

forever. Such was, in fact, my design, answered I; nor were my

sentiments at all changed during the lifetime of the late king; but

when the prince his son came to the throne, I had a mind to see

whether the new monarch would know me again. He did so, and received

me favorably, with a strong recommendation to the prime minister, who

admitted me to his friendship, and took me more into his confidence

than ever did the Duke of Lerma. This, Signor Don Andrew, is my

story. And now tell me whether you still hold your office in the

tower of Segovia. No, indeed, answered he; my lord duke has removed

me, and put another in my room. He probably considered me as

entirely devoted to his predecessor. And I, said Don Gaston, was set

at liberty for the contrary reason; the prime minister was no sooner

informed that my imprisonment was by the Duke of Lerma's order, than

he ordered me to be released. The present business, Signor Gil Blas,

is to relate the subsequent particulars of my adventures.

The first thing I did, continued he, after thanking Don Andrew for

his kind attentions during my confinement, was to repair to Madrid.

I presented myself before the Count Duke of Olivarez, who said, You

need not be apprehensive of any blemish on your character in

consequence of your late misfortune; you are honorably acquitted:

nay, your innocence is so much the more satisfactorily established,

as the Marquis of Villareal, with whom you were supposed to be

implicated, was not guilty. Though a Portuguese, and related to the

Duke of Braganza, he is less in his interests than in those of the

king my master. That connection, therefore, ought not to have been

imputed to you as a crime; but, to repair your wrongs, the king has

given you a lieutenant's commission in the Spanish guards. This I

accepted, begging it as a favor of his excellency to allow me, before

I joined my regiment, to go and see my aunt, Donna Eleonora de

Laxarilla, at Coria. The minister gave me leave of absence for a

month, and I departed with only one servant.

We had got beyond Colmenar, and were threading a narrow pass between

two mountains, when we came within sight of a gentleman defending

himself bravely against three men, who all fell upon him together. I

did not hesitate about going to his aid, but hastened forward and

planted myself by his side. I remarked, while we were fighting, that

our enemies were masked, and that we had to do with expert swordsmen.

But we triumphed over the united advantages of their skill and

disparity. I ran one of the three through the body; he fell from his

horse, and the two others immediately betook themselves to flight.

The victory indeed was scarcely less fatal to us than to the wretch

whom I had killed, for we were both dangerously wounded. But

conceive my surprise, when I discovered the gentleman to be Combados,

the husband of Donna Helena. He was no less astonished at

recognizing me as his defender. Ah, Don Gaston! exclaimed he, was it

you, then, who came to my assistance? When you took my part so

generously, you little thought it was the person who had snatched

your mistress from you. I really did not know it, answered I; but

though I had, do you think I could have wavered about doing as I have

done? Can you entertain so ill an opinion of me as to believe my

soul so sordid? No, no, replied he; I think better of you; and

should I die of my wounds, it will be my prayer that yours may not

disable you from profiting by my death. Combados, said I, though I

have not yet forgotten Donna Helena, know that I do not pant after

the possession of her charms at the expense of your life; so far from

it, that I congratulate myself on having contributed to your rescue

from assassination, since by so doing I have performed an acceptable

service to your wife.

While we were communing together, my servant dismounted, and drawing

near to the gentleman stretched at his length, took off his mask,

when Combados, with sensations of gratitude for his deliverance,

distinctly traced the features. It is Caprara, exclaimed he; that

treacherous cousin, who, in mere disgust at having missed a rich

inheritance which he had unjustly disputed with me, has long since

cherished a murderous design against my life, and fixed on this day

to put it in execution; but heaven has turned him over to its

determined vengeance, and made him the victim of his own attempt.

While this conversation was going on, our blood was flowing at the

same rate, and we were becoming more exhausted every minute.

Nevertheless, disabled as we were, we had strength enough to reach

the town of Villarejo, which lies within a gunshot or two from the

field of battle. At the very first house of call we sent for

surgeons. The most expert came at our summons. He examined our

wounds, and reported them as dangerous. After taking off the

bandages and dressing them a second time, he pronounced those of Don

Blas to be mortal. Of mine he thought more favorably, and the event

corresponded with his prognostic.

Combados, finding himself consigned to the grave, thought only of due

preparation for a most serious event. He sent an express to his

wife, with an account of what had happened, particularizing his

present sad condition. Donna Helena soon arrived at Villarejo. Her

mind was drawn different ways by two opposite occasions of

distress--the hazard of her husband's life, and the fear of feeling

the revival of a half extinguished flame at the sight of me. This

sight occasioned her to experience a terrible agitation. Madam, said

Don Blas when she appeared in his presence, you are come just in time

to receive my farewell. I am at the point of death, and I consider

my fate as a punishment from heaven for having taken you from Don

Gaston by a feint: far from murmuring at it, I exhort you with my

last breath to restore to him a heart which I had stolen from him.

Donna Helena answered him only by her tears; and indeed it was the

best answer she could make; for she had neither forgotten her first

love, nor the artifices whereby she had been influenced to renounce

her plighted faith.

It happened, as the surgeon had anticipated, that in less than three

days Combados died of his wounds, while mine, on the contrary, wore

the appearance of convalescence. The young widow, whom no earthly

considerations could detach from the care of transporting her late

husband's remains to Coria, that they might be deposited with due

honors in the family vault, left Villarejo on her return, after

inquiring, merely as a matter of course, how I was going on. As soon

as I was well enough to be removed, I bent my course to Coria, where

my recovery was soon ascertained. My aunt, Donna Eleonora, and Don

George de Galisteo, were determined that my marriage with Helena

should take place forthwith, lest some new caprice of fortune should

part us once more. The ceremony was privately performed, on account

of the late melancholy event, and within a few days I returned to

Madrid with Donna Helena. As my leave of absence had expired, I was

afraid lest the minister should have superseded me in my lieutenancy;

but he had not filled up the vacancy, and received my apologies very

graciously.

Thus am I, continued Cogollos, lieutenant of the Spanish guards, and

my situation is exactly to my mind. The circle of my friends is

respectable and pleasant, and I live at my ease among them. Would I

could say as much! exclaimed Don Andrew; but I am very far from being

satisfied with my lot: I have lost my appointment, which was not

without its advantages, and have no friends of sufficient interest to

procure me a better berth. Excuse me, Signor Don Andrew, cried I,

with a sort of upbraiding smile, you have a friend in me who may

chance to be better than no friend at all. I have told you already

that I am a greater favorite with my lord duke than with the Duke of

Lerma; and will you tell me to my face that you have no interest at

court? Have you not already experienced the contrary? Recollect

that, through the Archbishop of Grenada's powerful recommendation, I

procured you a nomination for Mexico, where you would have made your

fortune, if love had not stepped in and marred it at Alicant. My

means are now more extensive, since I have the ear of the prime

minister. I give myself up to you then, replied Tordesillas; but do

not send me into New Spain, though the first appointment in the

colonies were at your disposal.

Here we were interrupted by Donna Helena, who came into the room, and

improved even upon the visions of my fancy by the reality of her

charms. Cogollos introduced me as the companion who had solaced the

tedious hours of his imprisonment. Yes, madam, said I to Donna

Helena, my conversation did indeed soothe his sorrows, for it turned

on you. The compliment was not thrown away, and I took my leave with

repeated congratulations. With respect to Tordesillas, I assured him

that within a week he should know how far my power, as well as will,

extended.

Nor were these mere words. On the very next day, the opportunity

occurred. Santillane, said his excellency, the place of governor in

the royal prison of Valladolid is vacant: it is worth more than three

hundred pistoles a year, and is yours if you will accept of it. Not

if it were worth ten thousand ducats, answered I, for it would carry

me away from your lordship. But, replied the minister, you may fill

it by deputy, and only visit occasionally. That is as it may be,

rejoined I; but I shall only accept it on condition of resigning in

favor of Don Andrew de Tordesillas, a brave and loyal gentleman; I

should like to give him this place in acknowledgment of his kindness

to me in the tower of Segovia.

[Illustration: Gil Blas accepting appointment]

This plea made the minister laugh heartily, and say, As far as I see,

Gil Blas, you mean to make yourself a general patron. Even so be it,

my friend; the vacancy is yours for Tordesillas; but tell me

unfeignedly what fellow-feeling you have in the business, for you are

not such a fool as to throw away your interest for nothing. My lord,

answered I, Don Andrew charged me nothing for all his acts of

friendship; and should not a man repay his obligations? You are

become highly moral and self-mortified, replied his excellency;

rather more so than under the last administration. Precisely so,

rejoined I; then evil communication corrupted my principles; bargain

and sale were the order of the day, and I conformed to the

established practice: now, all preferment is allotted on the footing

of a meritorious free gift, and my integrity shall not be the last to

fall in with the fashion.

_CHAPTER XIV._

_SANTILLANE'S VISIT TO POET NUNEZ; THE COMPANY AND CONVERSATION._

One day, after dinner, a fancy seized me to go and see the poet of

the Asturias, feeling a sort of curiosity to know on what floor he

lodged. I repaired to the house of Signor Don Bertrand Gomez del

Ribero, and asked for Nunez. He does not live here now, said the

porter, but over the way, in apartments at the back of the house. I

went thither, and, crossing a small court, entered an unfurnished

parlor, where my friend Fabricio was sitting at table, doing the

honors to five or six guests from the hamlet and liberty of Parnassus.

They were at the latter end of a feast, and of course at the

beginning of an affray; but as soon as they perceived me, a dead

silence succeeded to their obstreperous argumentation. Nunez rose

from his seat with much pomp and circumstance of politeness to

receive me, saying, Gentlemen, Signor de Santillane! He does me the

honor to visit me under this humble roof; as the favorite of the

prime minister, you will all join with me in tendering your humble

services. At this introduction, the worshipful company got up and

made their best bows; for my rank could not fail of procuring me

respect from the manufacturers of dedications. Though I was neither

hungry nor thirsty, it was impossible not to sit down and drink a

toast in such society.

My presence appearing to be a restraint, Gentlemen, said I, it should

seem that I have interrupted your conversation: resume it, or you

drive me away. My learned friends, said Fabricio, were discussing

the "Iphigenia" of Euripides. The bachelor, Melchior de Villégas, a

clever man of the first rank in the republic of letters, resumed the

topic by asking Don Jacinto de Romerate which was the point of

interest in that tragedy. Don Jacinto ascribed it to the imminent

danger of Iphigenia. The bachelor contended, offering to prove his

proposition by all the evidence admissible at the bar of logic or

criticism, that the danger of a trumpery girl had nothing to do with

the real sympathy of that affecting piece. What has to do with it

then? bawled the old licentiate Gabriel of Leon, indignantly. It

turns with the wind, replied the bachelor.

The whole company burst into a shout of laughter at this assertion,

which they were far from considering as serious; and I myself thought

that Melchior had only launched it by way of adding the zest of wit

to the severity of critical discussion. But I was out in my

calculation respecting the character of that eminent scholar: he had

not a grain of sprightliness or pleasantry in his whole composition.

Laugh as you please, gentlemen, replied he, very coolly; I maintain

that there is no circumstance but the wind, unless it be the

weathercock, to interest, to strike, to rouse the passions of the

spectator. Figure to yourselves a multitudinous army assembled for

the purpose of laying siege to Troy; take into the account the eager

haste of the officers and common men to carry their enterprise into

execution, that they may return with their best legs foremost into

Greece, where they have left everything most dear to them--their

household gods, their wives and their children: all this while a

mischievous wind from the wrong quarter keeps them port-bound at

Aulis, and, as it were, drives a nail into the very head of the

expedition; so that, till better weather, it was impossible to go and

lay siege to Priam's town. Wind and weather, therefore, make up the

interest of this tragedy. My good wishes are with the Greeks; my

whole faculties are wrapped up in the success of their design; the

sailing of their fleet is with me the only hinge of the fable, and I

look at the danger of Iphigenia with somewhat of a self-interested

complacency, because by her death the winding up of the story into a

brisk and favorable gale was likely to be accelerated.

As soon as Villégas had finished his criticism, the laugh burst out

more than ever at his expense. Nunez was sly enough to side with

him, that a fairer scope and broader mark might be presented to the

shafts of malicious wit which were let fly from all the quarters in

the shipman's card at this poster of the sea and land. But the

bachelor, eying them all with sublime indifference and supreme

contempt, gave them to understand how low in the list of the ignorant

and vulgar they ranked in his estimation. Every moment did I expect

to see these vaporing spirits kindle into a blaze, and wage war

against the hairy honors of each other's brainless skulls; but the

joke was not carried to that length: they confined their hostilities

to opprobrious epithets, and took their leave when they had eaten and

drunk as much as they could get.

After their departure, I asked Fabricio why he had separated himself

from his treasurer, and whether they had quarrelled. Quarrelled!

answered he: Heaven defend me from such a misfortune! I am on better

terms than ever with Signor Don Bertrand, who gave his consent to my

living apart from him: here, therefore, I receive my friends, and

take my pleasure with them unmolested. You know very well that I am

not of a temper to lay up treasures for those who are to come after

me; and as it happens luckily, I am now in circumstances to give my

little classical entertainments every day. I am delighted at it, ny

dear Nunez, replied I, and once more wish you joy on the success of

your last tragedy: the great Lope, by his eight hundred dramatic

pieces, never made a quarter of the money which you have got by the

damnation of your "Count de Saldagna."

BOOK THE TWELFTH.

_CHAPTER I._

_GIL BLAS SENT TO TOLEDO BY THE MINISTER. THE PURPOSE OF HIS JOURNEY

AND ITS SUCCESS._

For nearly a month his excellency had been saying to me every day,

Santillane, the time is approaching when I shall call your choicest

powers of address into action; but the time that was coming never

came. It is a long lane, however, where there is no turning; and his

excellency at length spoke to me nearly as follows: They say that

there is, in the company of comedians at Toledo, a young actress of

much note for her personal and professional fascinations; it is

affirmed that she dances and sings like all the Muses and Graces put

together, and that the whole theatre rings with applause at her

performance: to these perfections is added matchless and irresistible

beauty. Such a star should only shine within the circle of a court.

The king has a taste for the stage, for music, and for dancing; nor

must he be debarred from the pleasure of seeing and hearing such a

prodigy. I have determined on sending you to Toledo, that you may

judge for yourself whether she really is so extraordinary an actress:

on your feeling of her merit my measures shall be taken; for I have

unlimited confidence in your discernment.

I undertook to bring his lordship a good account of this business,

and made my arrangements for setting out with one servant, but not in

the minister's livery, by way of conducting matters more warily; and

that precaution relished well with his excellency. On my arrival at

Toledo, I had scarcely alighted at the inn, when the landlord, taking

me for some country gentleman, said, Please your honor, you are

probably come to be present at the august ceremony of an Auto da Fé

to-morrow. I answered in the affirmative, the more completely to

mislead him and keep my own counsel. You will see, replied he, one

of the prettiest processions you ever saw in your life: there are

said to be more than a hundred prisoners, and ten of them are to be

roasted.

In good truth, next morning, before sunrise, I heard all the bells in

the town peal merrily; and the design of their bob-majors was to

acquaint the people that the pastime was about to begin. Curious to

see what sort of a recreation it was, I dressed in a hurry, and

posted to the scene of action. All about that quarter, and along the

streets where the procession was to pass, were scaffolds, on one of

which I purchased a standing. The Dominicans walked first, preceded

by the banner of the inquisition. These Christian fathers were

immediately followed by the hapless victims of the holy office

selected for this day's burnt-offering. These devoted wretches

walked one by one, with their head and feet bare, each of them with a

taper in his hand, and a fiery, not baptismal godfather by his side.

Some had large yellow scapularies, worked with crosses of St. Andrew

in red; others wore sugar-loaf caps of paper, illustrated with flames

and diabolical figures of all sorts by way of emblem.

As I looked narrowly at these objects of religious gaze, with a

compassion in my heart which might have been construed criminal, had

it run over from my eyes, I fancied that the reverend Father Hilary

and his companion brother Ambrose were among those who figured in the

sugar-loaf caps. They passed too near for me to be deceived. What

do I see? thought I inwardly. Heaven, wearied out with the wicked

lives of these two scoundrels, has given them up to the justice of

the inquisition! My whole frame trembled at the thought, and my

spirits were scarcely equal to support me from fainting. My

connection with these knaves, the adventure at Xelva, all our pranks

in partnership rushed upon my memory, and I did not know how

sufficiently to thank God for having preserved me from St. Andrew's

crosses and the painted devils on the paper caps.

When the ceremony was over, I returned to the inn with my heart

sickening at the dreadful sight; but painful impressions soon wear

away, and I thought only of my commission and its due accomplishment.

I waited with impatience for play-time, as the moment and scene of my

commencing operations. On the opening of the doors I repaired to the

theatre, and took my seat next to a knight of Alcantara. We soon got

into chat. Sir, said I, the players here have been represented to me

in very favorable terms: may I give credit to general report? The

company is not contemptible, replied the knight: they have some

first-rate performers; among the rest, the peerless Lucretia, an

actress of fourteen, who will astonish you; and she plays one of her

best parts to-night.

On the drawing up of the curtain, two actresses came on, with every

advantage of dress and stage effect; but neither of them could

possibly be the object of my search. At length Lucretia made her

appearance at the back scene, and walked forwards amidst a thunder of

applause. Ah! this is she, indeed! thought I; and a delicate

specimen of loveliness, as I am a sinner! In her very first speech

she proved herself a child of nature, with energy and conception far

above her years; and the approbation of a provincial audience was

confirmed by my metropolitan judgment. The knight was happy to find

I liked her, and assured me that if I had heard her sing, my ears

might have rejoiced to the sorrow of my heart. Her dancing, too, he

represented as not less formidable to the free will of lordly man. I

inquired what youth, blessed as the immortal gods, had the exquisite

happiness of bringing himself to beggary for so sweet a girl. She is

under no avowed protection, said he; and scandal has not coupled her

name with private license; but Lucretia must take care of herself,

for she is under the wing of her aunt Estella; and there is not an

actress in the company so warmly fledged for hatching the tender

passions into life.

At the name of Estella, I inquired with some eagerness who she was.

One of our best performers, said my informant. She does not play

to-night, to our great loss, for her cast is that of abigails, and

she humors them to perfection. A little too broad, perhaps, but that

is a fault on the right side. From the features of the description,

there could be no doubt but this must be Laura; that lady so

notorious in these memoirs, whom I left at Grenada.

To make assurance doubly sure, I went behind the scenes after the

play. There she was, in the green-room, flirting with some men of

fashion, who probably endured the aunt for the sake of the niece; I

came up to pay my devotions; but whim, or perhaps revenge for my

cutting and running from Grenada, determined her to put on the

stranger, and receive my compliments with so discouraging a coldness

as to throw me into some little confusion. Instead of laughing it

off, I was fool enough to be angry, and withdrew in a choleric

determination to return next day. Laura shall smart for this! said

I; her niece shall not appear at court; I will tell the minister that

she dances like a she bear, has formed her bravura between the scream

of a pea-hen and the cackle of a goose, acts like a puppet, and

comprehends like an idiot.

Such was my scheme of revenge, but it proved abortive. Just as I was

going out of town, a foot-boy brought me the following note: "Forget

and forgive, and follow the bearer." I obeyed, and found Laura at

her dressing-table in very elegant apartments near the theatre.

She rose to welcome me, saying, Signor Gil Blas, you have every

reason to be offended at your reception behind the scenes, which was

out of character between such old friends; but I really was most

abominably disconcerted. Just as you came up, one of our gentlemen

had brought me some scandalous stories about my niece, whose honor

has always been dearer to me than my own. On coming to myself, I

immediately sent my servant to find you out, with the intention of

making you amends to-day. You have done so already, my dear Laura,

said I; let us therefore talk over old times. You may remember that

I left you in a very ticklish predicament, when conscience and the

fear of punishment drove me so precipitately from Grenada. How did

you get off with your Portuguese lover? Easily enough, answered

Laura: do not you know that in those cases men are mere fools, and

acquit us women without even calling for our defence?

I faced the Marquis of Marialva out that you were my very brother,

and drew upon my impudence for the support of my credit. Do you not

see, said I to my Portuguese dupe, that this is all the contrivance

of jealousy and rage? My rival, Narcissa, infuriated at my

possession of a heart which she had vainly attempted to gain, has

bribed the candle-snuffer to assert that he has seen me as Arsenia's

waiting-woman at Madrid. It is an abominable falsehood; the widow of

Don Antonio Coello has always been too high in her notions to be the

hanger-on of a theatrical mistress. Besides, what completely

disproves the whole allegation is my brother's precipitate retreat:

if he were here, it would be a subject of evidence; but Narcissa must

have devised some stratagem to get him out of the way.

These reasons, continued Laura, were not the most convincing in the

world, but they did very well for the marquis; and that good, easy

nobleman continued his confidence till his return to Portugal. This

happened soon after your departure; and Zapata's wife had the

pleasure of seeing me lose what she could not win. After this, I

staid some years longer at Grenada, till the company was broken up in

consequence of some squabbles, which will take place in mimic as well

as in real life: some went to Seville, others to Cordova; and I came

to Toledo, where I have been for these ten years with my niece

Lucretia, whose performance you must have seen last night.

This was too much to be taken gravely. Laura inquired why I laughed.

Can that be a question? said I. You have neither brother nor sister,

one or other of which is a necessary ingredient in an aunt. Besides,

when I calculate in my mind the lapse of time since our last

separation, and compare that period with the age of your niece, it is

more than possible that your relationship may be in a nearer degree of

kin.

I understand you, replied Don Antonio's widow, with something like a

moral tinge of red in her cheek; you are an accurate chronologist!

There is no garbling facts in defiance of your memory. Well then!

Lucretia is my daughter by the Marquis of Marialva: it was extremely

wrong, but I cannot conceal it from you. The confession must indeed

be a shock to your modesty, said I, after telling me yourself what

pranks you played with the hospital steward at Zamora. I must tell

you moreover that Lucretia is an article of so superior a quality, as

to render you a public benefactor by having thrown her into the

market. It were to be wished that the stolen embraces of all your

fraternity might be blessed with fruitfulness, if they could secure

to themselves a patent for breeding after your sample.

Should any sarcastic reader, comparing this passage with some

circumstances related while I was the marquis's secretary, suspect me

of being entitled to dispute the honors of paternity with that

nobleman, I blush to say that my claims are entirely out of the

question.

I laid open my principal adventures to Laura in my turn, as well as

the present state of my affairs. She listened with interest, and

said, Friend Santillane, you seem to play a principal part on the

stage of the world, and I congratulate you most heartily. Should

Lucretia be engaged at Madrid, I flatter myself she will find a

powerful protector in Signor de Santillane. Doubt it not, answered

I: your daughter may have her engagement whenever you please: I can

promise you that, without presuming too much on my interest. I take

you at your word, replied Laura, and would set out to-morrow, were I

not under articles to this company. An order from court will cut the

knot of any articles, rejoined I; and that I take upon myself: you

shall have it within a week. It is an act of chivalry to rescue

Lucretia from Toledo: such a pretty little actress belongs to the

royal court, as parcel of the manor.

Lucretia came into the room just as I was talking of her. The

goddess Hebe herself never looked better in her best days: it was

nature in the bud, exhaling the sweets of her earliest bloom, but

promising a more luxuriant waste of treasure. She was just up; and

her natural beauty, without the aid of art, communicated the most

rapturous sensations. Come, niece, said her mother, thank the

gentleman for all his kindness to us: he is an old friend of mine,

who ranks high at court, and undertakes to get us both an engagement

at the theatre royal. The little girl seemed to be much pleased, and

made me a low courtesy, saying, with an enchanting smile, I most

humbly thank you for your obliging intention; but, by taking me from

a partial audience, are you certain that I shall not be looked down

upon by that of Madrid? I may but lose by the exchange. I remember

hearing my aunt say that she has seen players most favorably received

in one town, and hissed off the stage in another: this absolutely

frightens me; beware, therefore, of exposing me to the derision of

the court, and yourself to its reproaches. Lovely Lucretia, answered

I, we have neither of us anything to fear; I am rather apprehensive,

lest, by the havoc you will make among hearts, you should excite

rivalships and kindle discord among the courtiers. My niece's fears,

said Laura, are better founded than yours; but I hope they will both

prove vain: however feeble may be Lucretia's charms of person, her

talents as an actress are at least above mediocrity.

We continued the conversation for some time; and I could gather, from

Lucretia's share in it, that she was a girl of superior talents. On

taking leave, I assured them that they should immediately receive a

summons to Madrid.

_CHAPTER II._

_SANTILLANE MAKES HIS REPORT TO THE MINISTER, WHO COMMISSIONS HIM TO

SEND FOR LUCRETIA. THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THAT ACTRESS BEFORE THE

COURT._

On my return, I found my lord duke impatient to be informed of my

success. Have you seen her? said he: is she worth transplanting? My

lord, answered I, fame, which generally runs beyond all discretion in

its report of beauty, has erred on the side of parsimony in its

estimate of the matchless young Lucretia; she is all that youthful

poets fancy when they feign, for personal attractions, and all that

veteran managers seek when they sign articles, in scenic

qualifications.

Is it possible? exclaimed the minister with a satisfaction which

involuntarily peeped out at his eyes, and made me think he had some

selfish hankerings after the article of my marketing at Toledo; is it

possible? and is she really so charming a creature? When you see

her, replied I, you will own that any verbal picture of her

perfections must be altogether inadequate to their due description.

His excellency then requiring a minute account of my journey, I gave

him all the particulars, not excepting Laura's story, and Lucretia's

parentage. His lordship was delighted at the latter circumstance,

and enjoined me, with a cordial compliment on my skill in such

delicate negotiations, to finish as auspiciously as I had begun my

undertaking.

I went to look for Carnero, and told him that it was his excellency's

pleasure he should make out an order for the admission of Estella and

Lucretia, actresses from the Toledo theatre, into his majesty's

company. Say you so, Signor de Santillane? answered Carnero with a

sarcastic leer; you shall not be kept long in suspense, since you

take so marked an interest in the fortunes of these two ladies. He

expedited the order in my presence, and within a week the mother and

daughter sent me notice of their arrival. I immediately hastened to

their lodging near the theatre, and after an interchange of thanks on

their part, and assurances of continued support on mine, left them

with my best wishes for a brilliant career of success.

Their names were announced in the bills as two new actresses, engaged

by the special mandate of the court. They made their first

appearance in a play which they had been accustomed to perform in at

Toledo with loud and unanimous applause.

Novelty is the very life and soul of theatrical entertainments. The

house was uncommonly crowded, and I, of course, was among the

audience. I was rather frightened before the curtain drew up.

Prejudiced as I was in favor of the candidates, my alarm was in

proportion to my interest. But when once they were fairly on the

boards, the din of welcome quieted all my apprehensions. Estella was

considered as a first-rate actress in comic parts, and Lucretia as a

female Roscius in heroines and love-sick damsels. But the love which

she feigned herself she really kindled in the hearts of the

spectators. Some admired the beauty of her eyes, others were touched

with the plaintive sweetness of her voice, and all, bowing to the

triumph of youth, vivacity, and elegance, went away in raptures with

her person.

My lord duke, who took an uncommon interest in this theatrical event,

was at the play that evening. I saw him leave his box at the end of

the piece with evident approbation of our new performers. Curious to

know whether they equalled his expectations, I followed him home, and

into his closet, saying, Well, my lord, is your excellency well

pleased with little Marialva? My excellency, answered he with a sly

smile, must be very difficult to be pleased, not to confirm the

public voice: yes, indeed, my good friend, I am enraptured with your

Lucretia, and firmly believe that the king will not see her without

emotion.

_CHAPTER III._

_LUCRETIA'S POPULARITY; HER APPEARANCE BEFORE THE KING; HIS PASSION,

AND ITS CONSEQUENCES._

Great was the noise about the court on this double acquisition to the

theatre; it became the topic of conversation next day at the king's

levee. The young Lucretia was most in the mouths of the nobility,

who described her so feelingly, that his majesty could not but imbibe

the impression, though he was too polite to express his interest

either in words or by looks.

To make amends for that restraint, he questioned the minister as soon

as he was alone with him, who stated the success of a young actress

from Toledo on the evening before. Her name, added he, is Lucretia;

and it is really a pity that ladies of her profession should ever

have been christened by any less chaste appellative. She is an

acquaintance of Santillane, who spoke so highly of her, that I

thought it right to engage her for your majesty's company. The king

smiled at the mention of my name, recollecting, perhaps, through what

channel he became acquainted with Catalina, and foreboding a like

assistance on the present occasion. Count, said he to the minister,

I mean to see this Lucretia act to-morrow, and will thank you to let

her know it.

I was, of course, sent with this intelligence to the two actresses.

Great news! said I to Laura, whom I saw first: you will have the

sovereign of the Spanish monarchy among your audience to-morrow, as

the minister has desired me to inform you. I cannot doubt but you

will both of you do your best to prove yourselves worthy of a royal

command; but I would advise you to choose a piece with music and

dancing, that all Lucretia's accomplishments may be displayed at one

view. We will take your counsel, answered Laura, and it shall not be

our faults if his majesty is disappointed. That can scarcely happen,

said I, seeing Lucretia come into the room in an undress, which

showed her person to more advantage than all the wardrobe of the

theatre: he will be the more delighted with your lovely niece,

because dancing and music are his principal pleasures: he may even be

tempted to throw her the handkerchief. I do not at all wish, replied

Laura, that he should be that way inclined; all-powerful monarch as

he is, he might not find the accomplishment of his desires so easy.

Lucretia, though brought up behind the scenes, is not without

virtuous principles; whatever pleasure she may take in applause and

professional reputation, she had much rather preserve the character

of a good girl than establish that of a great actress.

Aunt, said little Marialva, joining in the conversation, why conjure

up monsters only to lay them again? I shall never be at a loss to

repel the king's advances, because his taste is too refined to stoop

so low. But, charming Lucretia, said I, if such a thing should

happen, would you be cruel enough to let him languish like a common

lover? Why not? answered she. Setting virtue aside, my vanity would

be more flattered by my own resistance than by the tribute of his

affection. I was not a little surprised to hear a pupil of Laura's

school talk so properly, and to find that with so free an education

she imbibed such unusual principles of morality.

The king, impatient to see Lucretia, went to the play next evening.

The piece was got up with music and dancing, to show our young

actress off to the best advantage. My eyes were fixed on his

majesty; but he completely eluded my penetration by an obstinate

gravity. On the following day, the minister said, Santillane, I have

just been with the king, who has been talking about Lucretia with so

much animation, that I doubt not but he is smitten; and, as I told

him that you had sent for her from Toledo, he expressed a wish to

confer with you in private on the subject: orders are given for your

admittance; run, and bring me back an account of what passes.

I flew to the palace, and found the king alone. He was walking up

and down, in much apparent perplexity. He put several questions to

me about Lucretia, made me relate her history, and then asked whether

the little jade had not been tampering with chastity already. I

boldly assured him to the contrary, though such pledges were somewhat

hazardous in general; but mine was taken, and gave the prince much

pleasure. If so, replied he, I select you for my agent with

Lucretia; let her become acquainted with her triumph from your lips.

He then put a box of jewels into my hand, worth fifty thousand

crowns, with a message begging her acceptance of them, and promising

more substantial proofs of his affection.

Before I went on this errand, I reported progress to my lord duke.

That minister, I thought, would be more vexed than rejoiced at it;

supposing that he had his own views of gallantry towards Lucretia,

and would learn with regret the rivalship of his master; but I was

mistaken. Far from appearing chagrined, his joy was so excessive

that it would ooze out at his tongue in words which were not quite

lost on the hearer. "Indeed, friend Philip! then I have you in my

clutches: while your pleasures lead you, your business must be left

to me!" This side speech explained to me the plot--an amorous

prince, and a long-headed minister! My orders were to execute my

commission as speedily as possible, with the assurance that the first

lord in the land would be proud to stand in my shoes. Besides, there

was no pimp of rank, as in the former case, to seize the profit and

leave the infamy with me; the honor and emolument were now

exclusively my own.

Thus did his excellency relish the ingredients of panderism to my

palate; and I tasted them with the greediness, but not without the

qualms, of an epicure; for since my imprisonment I had become

regenerate, and did not take pride in dirty work, because my employer

washed his hands in perfumed water. But though conscience was awake,

interest was not asleep. I was no longer a villain for the fun of

it; but my compliance would confirm my footing with the minister, and

him it was my duty, at all events, to please.

My first appeal was to Laura in private. I opened the negotiation

delicately, and presented my credentials in the form of the

jewel-box. The lady was thrown off her guard by the display. Signor

Gil Blas, cried she, you are one of my oldest friends, and I must not

play the hypocrite: straitlaced morals are inconsistent with the

discipline of my sect. Nothing can be more delightful to me than a

conquest, which throws such a game into our hands. But, between

ourselves, I am afraid Lucretia is not so enlightened as we are;

though a daughter of Thalia, she has taken the better-behaved

goddesses for her schoolmistresses, and given a rebuff to two young

noblemen of amiable manners and large fortunes. They were not kings,

you will say; and truly we may hope that Lucretia's virtue will be

too undisciplined to stand a royal siege; but you must remember the

event is hazardous, and I shall not interpose my authority to compel

her. If, far from thinking herself honored by the fleeting passion

of the king, she should revolt from his advances with disdain, let

not our illustrious sovereign be offended at her reserve. But do you

come back hither to-morrow, and carry back either the jewels or a

return of affection.

I had no doubt but Laura would tutor Lucretia in the school of

time-serving morality, and depended much on her instruction. It was

therefore no small surprise to find that Laura worked as much against

wind and tide to launch her daughter into the tradewind of evil, as

other maternal pilots to set the sails of theirs in the contrary

monsoon of good; and what is still more unaccountable, Lucretia,

after tasting of royal delights, was so completely surfeited with the

banquet as to throw herself at once into the arms of the church,

where she professed, fell sick, and died of grief. Laura,

disconsolate for the loss of her daughter, and the part she herself

had acted in the tragedy, retired into a convent of female penitents,

and did penance for the unhallowed pleasures of her former life. The

king was affected by his sudden loss, but soon found comfort in some

other pursuit. The premier talked little on the subject, but thought

so much the more, as the reader will easily believe.

_CHAPTER IV._

_SANTILLANE IN A NEW OFFICE._

My feelings were all alive to Lucretia's ill fate, and my own infamy

in having contributed to it. The royal wants of the lover were no

excuse for my taking the post of cheapener, and I determined to

resign the staff of office in that department, entreating the

minister to employ me in some other. He was charmed with my nice

sense of honor, and promised to comply with my scruples, laying open

his inmost heart in the following speech:--

Some years before I was in office, chance threw me across a lady of

such shape and beauty as induced me to trace her home. I learned

that she was a Genoese, by name Donna Margarita Spinola, supporting

herself at Madrid on the income arising from her beauty. It was

reported that Don Francisco de Valéasar, an officer about the court,

a rich man, an old man, and a married man, laid out his money very

freely on this hazardous speculation. These rumors ought to have

deterred me; but they only whetted my desires to share with Valéasar.

To gain my end, I had recourse to a female broker of tenderness, who

adjusted the terms of a private interview with the Genoese; and the

price current being settled, the traffic was frequently repeated; it

was an open market for my rival and me, or possibly for many other

bidders.

Let that be as it may, a choice boy was in the fulness of time

produced to the club, and the mother complimented every member

individually in private with the credit: but we were each of us too

modest to acknowledge a bantling which had so probable a claim upon a

better father; so that the Genoese was compelled to maintain him on

the profits of her profession: this she did for eighteen years, and

dying at the end of that period, has left her son without a farthing,

and, what is worse, without an idea or an accomplishment.

Such, continued his lordship, is the confidence I meant to repose in

you, and I shall now lay open the great design I have formed to draw

this unfortunate child from his obscurity, reverse the color of his

fate, raise him to the highest honors, and acknowledge him as my son.

At so extravagant a project it was impossible not to be open-mouthed.

What, sir, exclaimed I, can your excellency have adopted so strange a

resolution? Excuse my freedom; but my zeal cannot restrain itself.

You will be of my mind, replied he with eagerness, when I shall have

explained to you my motives. I have no mind that my estates should

descend in the collateral line. You will tell me, that I am not so

old as to despair of having children by Madame d'Olivarez. But every

one is best judge of his own condition: know therefore that there is

not a receipt in the whole extent of chemistry which I have not

tried, but without effect, to appear once again in the character of a

father. Wherefore, since fortune, stepping in to cover the defects

of nature, presents me with a child whose parent after all I may

actually be, he is mine by adoption; that is a settled point.

When I found the minister determined, I no longer argued against his

resolution, as knowing him to be a man who would rather do a foolish

act of his own than adopt a wise suggestion of another. It only

remains now, added he, to educate Don Henry Philip de Guzman; for by

that name I intend him to be known in the world, till the time

arrives when he may aspire to higher dignities. You, my dear

Santillane, I have chosen to superintend his conduct: I have full

confidence in your talents and friendship, to regulate his household,

direct his studies, and make him an accomplished gentleman. I would

willingly have declined the office, as never having exercised the

craft of a pedagogue, which required much more genius and solidity

than mine; but he shut my mouth by saying it was his absolute

determination that I should be tutor to this adopted son, whom he

designed for the first offices of the monarchy. As a bribe for my

compliance, his lordship increased my little income with a pension of

a thousand crowns on the commandery of Mambra.

_CHAPTER V._

_THE SON OF THE GENOESE IS ACKNOWLEDGED BY A LEGAL INSTRUMENT, AND

NAMED DON HENRY PHILIP DE GUZMAN-SANTILLANE ESTABLISHES HIS

HOUSEHOLD, AND ARRANGES THE COURSE OF HIS STUDIES._

The act of adoption was soon legalized with the king's consent and

good pleasure. Don Henry Philip de Guzman, as this descendant from a

committee of fathers was named, became acknowledged successor to the

earldom of Olivarez and the duchy of San Lucar. The minister, to

give the act all possible publicity, communicated it through Carnero

to the ambassadors and grandees of Spain, who were somewhat startled.

The jokers of Madrid were not insensible to the ridicule, and the

satirical poets made their harvest of so fine a subject for their pen.

I asked my lord duke where my pupil was. Here in town, answered he,

with an aunt from whom I shall remove him as soon as you have got a

house ready. This I did immediately, and furnished it magnificently.

When my establishment was complete in servants and officers, his

excellency sent for this equivocal production, this spurious offset

from the renowned stock of the Guzmans. The lad was tall and

personable. Don Henry, said his lordship, pointing to me, this

gentleman is to be your tutor, and introduce you into the world; he

has my entire confidence, and an unlimited authority over you. After

much good advice, and many compliments to me, the minister retired,

and I took Don Henry home.

As soon as we got thither, I introduced him to his household, and

explained the nature of each individual's employment. He did not

seem at all disconcerted at the change of circumstances, but received

the obeisances of his dependants as if he had been a lord by nature,

and not by chance. He was not without mother-wit, but ignorant in a

deplorable degree; he could scarcely read and write. I gave him

masters for the Latin grammar, geography, history, and fencing. A

dancing-master of course was not forgotten; but in an affair of the

first consequence, selection was difficult, for there were more

eminent professors of that art in Madrid than of all the languages

and sciences put together.

While I was pondering on this difficulty, a man gaudily dressed came

into the court-yard and inquired for me. I went down, supposing him

to be at least a knight of some military or privileged order. Signor

de Santillane, said he, with a profusion of bows which anticipated

his line in life, I am come to offer you my services as Don Henry's

governor. My name is Martin Ligero, and I have, thank heaven, some

reputation in the world. I have no occasion to canvass for scholars;

that is all very well for petty dancing-masters! My custom is to

wait till I am sent for; but being a sort of appendage to the house

of Guzman, and having taught its various branches for a long period,

I thought it a point of respect to wait on you first. I perceive,

answered I, that you are just the man we want. What are your terms?

Four double pistoles a month, answered he, and I give but two lessons

a week. Four doubloons a month! cried I; that is an exorbitant

price. Exorbitant! rejoined he with astonishment; why, it is not

more than eight times as much as you would give to a mathematical

master or a Greek professor.

There was no resisting so ludicrous a comparison of merit; I laughed

outright, and asked Signor Ligero whether he really thought his

talents worth more than those of the first proficients in learning

and science. Most assuredly, said he; at least, if you measure our

pretensions by their respective utility. What sort of machines may

those be which are fashioned under their hands? Jointless puppets,

unlicked cubs, open-mouthed and impenetrable shellfish; but our

lessons supple and render pliant the intractable stiffness of their

component parts, and bring them insensibly into shape: in short, we

communicate to them a graceful motion, a polite address, the carriage

of good company, and the outward marks of elevated rank.

I could not but give way to such cogent arguments in favor of the

dancing-master's occupation, and engaged him about Don Henry's

person, without haggling as to terms, since those specified were only

at the rate established by the leading professors of the art.

_CHAPTER VI._

_SCIPIO'S RETURN FROM NEW SPAIN. GIL BLAS PLACES HIM ABOUT DON

HENRY'S PERSON. THAT YOUNG NOBLEMAN'S COURSE OF STUDY. HIS CAREER

OF HONOR, AND HIS FATHER'S MATRIMONIAL SPECULATION ON HIS BEHALF. A

PATENT OF NOBILITY CONFERRED ON GIL BLAS AGAINST HIS WILL._

I had not yet half arranged Don Henry's household, when Scipio

returned from Mexico. He brought with him three thousand ducats in

cash, and merchandise to double the amount. I wish you joy, said I;

the foundation of your fortune is laid; and if you prefer a snug

berth at Madrid to the risk of going back, you have only to tell me

so. There is no question about that, said the son of Cosclina: a

genteel situation at home is far preferable to a second voyage.

After relating the birth and adventures of the little adopted Guzman,

and my own appointment as tutor, I offered him the situation of upper

servant to this babe of chance: Scipio, who could have devised

nothing better for himself, readily accepted the office, and within

the small space of three or four days got the length of his new

master's foot.

I had taken it for granted that the verb-grinders and

concord-manufacturers to whom I had given the plant of this Genoese

bastard would lose stock and block, under the idea that he was of an

intractable and profitless age; but my forebodings were completely

reversed. He not only comprehended, but easily retained the lessons

of his masters, and they were very well satisfied with him. I was in

an enormous hurry to greet the ears of my lord duke with this

intelligence, and he received it with abundant joy. Santillane,

exclaimed he with delight, you give me new life by the assurance of

Don Henry's capacity and application: it runs in the blood of the

Guzmans; and I am the more confirmed in his being unquestionably my

own, because I am just as fond of him as if Madame d'Olivarez herself

had lain in of the brat in due form under this very roof. The voice

of nature, you perceive, will make itself heard. I thought it

unnecessary to give his lordship any opinion on that subject; but

with a delicate deference to his credulity, left him to enjoy his

fancied paternity in peace, whether well or ill founded.

Though all the Guzmans held this clod of newly turned up nobility in

utter scorn, they were politic enough to smooth over the corrugations

of their contempt; nay, some of them even affected to languish for

his good opinion; the ambassadors and principal nobility then at

Madrid waited on him with all the ceremony appertaining to the rank

of a legitimate son. The minister, intoxicated with the fumes of

incense offered to his idol, began to build a temple worthy of the

worship. The cross of Alcantara was the foundation, with a

commandery of ten thousand crowns. The next step was to a high

office in the royal household, and the completion of the whole was

matrimony. Wishing to connect him with a family of the first rank,

he picked out Donna Johanna de Velasco, daughter to the Duke of

Castile, and had influence enough to accomplish the alliance, though

against the will of the duke and of all his kindred.

Some days before the nuptial ceremony, his lordship put some papers

into my hand, saying, Here, Gil Blas, is a patent of nobility which I

have procured as the reward of your services. My lord, answered I,

in much astonishment, your excellency knows very well that I am the

son of an usher and a duenna: it would be caricaturing the peerage to

confer it on me; and besides, of all the boons in his majesty's power

to bestow, it is that which I deserve and desire the least. Your

birth, replied the minister, is a slight objection. You have been

employed on affairs of state under the Duke of Lerma's administration

and under mine: besides, added he with a smile, have you not rendered

some things to Cæsar which Cæsar is bound, on the honor of a prince,

to render back in another shape? To deal candidly, Santillane, you

will make just as good a lord as the best of them; nay, more than

that, your high office about my son is incompatible with plebeian

rank, and therefore have I procured you to be created. Since your

excellency will have it so, replied I, there is no more to be said.

So, saying no more, I put my new-blown honors in my pocket, and

walked off.

[Illustration: Gil Blas receiving patent of nobiity]

Now can I make any Joan a lady! said I to myself when I had got into

the street: but it was not the handiwork of my parents that made me a

gentleman. I may add a foot of honor to my name whenever I please;

and if any of my acquaintance should snuff or snigger when they call

me Don, I may suck my teeth, lean upon my elbow, and draw out my

credentials of heraldry. But let us see what they contain, and how

the corporeal particles, which have accrued during my artificial

contact with the court, are distinguished by genealogical metaphysics

from the native clay of my original extraction. The instrument ran

thus in substance: That the king, in acknowledgment of my zeal in

more than one instance for his service and the good of the state, had

been graciously pleased to confer this mark of distinction on me. I

may safely say that the recollection of the act for which I was

promoted effectually kept down my pride. Neither did the bashfulness

of low birth ever forsake me, so that nobility to me was like a hair

shirt to a penitent: I determined therefore to lock up the evidences

of my shame in a private drawer, instead of blazoning them to dazzle

the eyes of the foolish and corrupt.

_CHAPTER VII._

_AN ACCIDENTAL MEETING BETWEEN GIL BLAS AND FABRICIO. THEIR LAST

CONVERSATION TOGETHER, AND A WORD TO THE WISE FROM NUNEZ._

The poet of the Asturias, as the reader, if he thought of him, may

have remarked, was very negligent in his intercourse with me. It was

not to be expected that my employments would leave me time to go and

look after him. I had not seen him since the critical discussion

touching the Iphigenia of Euripides, when chance threw me across him,

as he came out of a printing-house. I accosted him, saying, So! so!

Master Nunez, you have got among the printers: this looks as if we

were threatened with some new production.

You may indeed prepare yourselves for such an event, answered he: I

have a pamphlet just ready for publication which is likely to make

some noise in the literary world. There can be no question about its

merit, replied I; but I cannot conceive why you waste your time in

writing pamphlets: it should seem as if such squibs and rockets were

scarcely worth the powder expended in their manufacture. It is very

true, rejoined Fabricio: and I am well aware that none but the most

vulgar gazers are caught by such holiday fireworks; however, this

single one has escaped me, and I must own that it is a child of

necessity. Hunger, as you know, will bring the wolf out of the

forest.

What! exclaimed I, is it the author of the "Count of Saldagna" who

holds this language? A man with an annuity of two thousand crowns?

Gently, my friend, interrupted Nunez: I am no longer a pensioned

poet. The affairs of the treasurer Don Bertrand are all at sixes and

sevens: he has been at the gaming table, and played with the public

money: an extent has issued, and my rent-charge is gone posthaste to

the devil. That is a sad affair, said I; but may not matters come

round again in that quarter? No chance of it, answered he: Signor

Gomez del Ribero, in plight as destitute as that of his poor bard, is

sunk forever; nor can he, as they say, by any possible contrivance be

set afloat again.

In that case, my good friend, replied I, we must look out for some

post which may make you amends for the loss of your annuity. I will

ease your conscience on that score, said he: though you should offer

me the wealth of the Indies as a salary in one of your offices, I

would reject the boon: clerkships are no object to a partner in the

firm of the Muses; a literary berth or absolute starvation for your

humble servant! If you must have it plump, I was born to live and

die a poet, and the man whose destiny is hanging will never be

drowned.

But do not suppose, continued he, that we are altogether forlorn and

destitute: besides that we accommodate the requisites of independence

to our finances, we do not look far beyond our noses in calculating

the average of our fortunes. It is insinuated that we often dine

with the most abstemious orders of the religious; but our sanctity in

this particular is too credulously imputed. There is not one of my

brother wits, without excepting the calculators of almanacs, who has

not a plate laid for him at some substantial table: for my own part,

I have the run of two good houses. To the master of one I have

dedicated a romance; and he is the first commissioner of taxes who

was ever associated with the Muses: the other is a rich tradesman in

Madrid, whose lust is to get wits about him; he is not nice in his

choice, and this town furnishes abundance to those who value wit more

by quantity than quality.

Then I no longer feel for you, said I to the poet of the Asturias,

since you are satisfied in your condition. But be that as it may, I

assure you once more, that you have a friend in Gil Blas, however you

may slight him: if you want my purse, come and take it: it will not

fail you at a pinch; and you must not stand between me and my sincere

friendship.

By that burst of sentiment, exclaimed Nunez, I know and thank my

friend Santillane: in return, let me give you a salutary caution.

While my lord duke is in his meridian, and you are all in all with

him, reap, bind, and gather in your harvest: when the sun sets, the

gleaners are sent home. I asked Fabricio whether his suspicions were

surely founded, and he returned me this answer: My information comes

from an old knight of Calatrava, who pokes his nose into secrets of

all sorts; his authority passes current at Madrid, much as that of

the Pythian news-mongers did through Greece; and thus his oracle was

pronounced in my hearing: My lord duke has a host of enemies in

battle array against him; he reckons too securely upon his influence

with the king; for his majesty, as the report goes, begins to take in

hostile representations with patience. I thanked Nunez for his

friendly warning, but without much faith in his prediction: my

master's authority seemed rooted in the court, like the

tempest-scoffing firmness of an oak in the native soil of the forest.

_CHAPTER VIII._

_GIL BLAS FINDS THAT FABRICIO'S HINT WAS NOT WITHOUT FOUNDATION. THE

KING'S JOURNEY TO SARAGOSSA._

The poet of the Asturias was no bad politician. There was a court

plot against the duke, with the queen at the bottom; but their plans

were too deeply laid to bubble at the surface. During the space of a

whole year, my simplicity was insensible to the brewing of the

tempest.

The revolt of the Catalans, with France at their back, and the ill

success of the war for their suppression, excited the murmurs of the

people, and whetted their tongues against government. A council was

held in the royal presence, and the Marquis de Grana, the emperor's

ambassador, was specially requested to assist. The subject in debate

was whether the king should remain in Castile, or go and take the

command of his troops in Arragon. The minister spoke first, and gave

it as his opinion that his majesty should not quit the seat of

government. All the members supported his arguments, with the

exception of the Marquis de Grana, whose whole heart was with the

house of Austria, and the sentiments of his soul on the tip of his

tongue, after the homely honesty of his nation. He argued so

forcibly against the minister, that the king embraced his opinion

from conviction, though contrary to the vote of council, and fixed

the day when he would set out for the army.

This was the first time that ever the sovereign had differed from his

favorite, and the latter considered it as an inexpiable affront.

Just as the minister was withdrawing to his closet, there to bite

upon the bridle, he espied me, called me in, and told me with much

discomposure what had passed in debate: Yes, Santillane, observed he,

the king, who for the last twenty years has spoken only through my

mouth, and seen with my eyes, is now to be wheedled over by Grana;

and that on the score of zeal for the house of Austria, as if that

German had a more Austrian soul in his body than myself.

Hence it is easy to perceive, continued the minister, that there is a

strong party against me, with the queen at the head. Heaven forbid

it, said I. Has not the queen for upwards of twelve years been

accustomed to your paramount authority, and have you not taught the

king the knack of not consulting her? The desire of making a

campaign may for once have enlisted his majesty on the side of the

Marquis de Grana. Say rather that the king, argued my lord duke,

will be surrounded by his principal officers when in camp; and then

the disaffected will find their opportunity for poisoning him against

my administration. But they overreach themselves; for I shall

completely insulate the prince from all their approaches; and so he

did, in a manner which, for example, deserves not to be passed over.

The day of the king's departure being arrived, the monarch, leaving

the queen regent, proceeded for Saragossa by way of Aranjuez; a

delightful residence, where he whiled away three weeks. Cuença was

the next stage, where the minister detained him still longer by a

succession of amusements. A hunting party was contrived at Molina in

Arragon, and hence there was no choice of road but to Saragossa. The

army was near at hand, and the king was preparing to review it: but

his keeper sickened him of the project, by making him believe that he

would be taken by the French, who were in force in the neighborhood,

so that he was cowed by a groundless apprehension, and consented to

be a prisoner in his own court. The minister, from an affectionate

regard to his safety, secluded him from all approach; so that the

principal nobility, who had equipped themselves at enormous charges

to be about his person, could not even procure an occasional

audience. Philip, weary of bad lodgings and worse recreation at

Saragossa, and perhaps feeling himself scarcely his own master, soon

returned to Madrid. Thus ended the royal campaign, and the care of

maintaining the honor of the Spanish colors was left to the Marquis

de los Velez, commander-in-chief.

_CHAPTER IX._

_THE REVOLUTION OF PORTUGAL, AND DISGRACE OF THE PRIME MINISTER._

A few days after the king's return, an alarming report prevailed at

Madrid, that the Portuguese, considering the Catalan revolt as an

opportunity offered them by fortune for throwing off the Spanish

yoke, had taken arms, and chosen the Duke of Braganza for their king,

with a full determination of supporting him on the throne. In this

they conceived that they did not reckon without their host, because

Spain was then embroiled in Germany, Italy, Flanders, and Catalonia.

They could not, in fact, have hit upon a crisis more favorable for

their deliverance from so galling a yoke.

It was a strange circumstance, that while both court and city were

struck with consternation at the news, my lord duke attempted to joke

with the king, and make the Duke of Braganza his butt: Philip,

however, far from falling in with this ill-timed pleasantry, assumed

a serious air, of ill omen to the minister, who felt his seat to

totter under him. The queen was now his declared enemy, and openly

accused him of having caused the revolt of Portugal by his

misconduct. The nobility in general, and especially those who had

been at Saragossa, when they saw a cloud gathering about the

minister, joined the queen's party:[*] but the decisive blow was the

return of the duchess dowager of Mantua from her government of

Portugal to Madrid, for she proved clearly to the king's conviction

that the counsels of his own cabinet produced the revolution.

[*] At length his sovereign frowns--the train of state

Mark the keen glance, and watch the sign to hate.

_Johnson's Imitation of Juvenal's Tenth Satire._

His Majesty, deeply impressed with what he had heard, was now

completely recovered from every symptom of partiality towards his

favorite. The minister, finding that his enemies were in possession

of the royal ear, wrote for permission to resign his employments, and

retire from court, since all the political mischances of the time

were ascribed to his personal delinquency. He expected a letter like

this to produce a wonderful effect, reckoning as he did upon the

prince's private friendship, which could scarcely brook a separation:

but his majesty's answer undeceived him, by laconically complying

with his ostensible wish to withdraw.

Such a sentence of banishment in the king's own handwriting came like

a thunder-storm in harvest; but though destruction to his

long-cherished hopes, he affected the serene look of constancy, and

asked me what I would do in his circumstances. I would drive before

the wind, said I; renounce the ungrateful court, and pass the

remainder of my days in peace on my own estate. You counsel wisely,

replied my master, and I shall set out for Loeches, there to finish

my career, after one more interview with his majesty, for I could

wish just to convince him that I have done what man can do to support

the heavy load of state upon my shoulders, and that it was not within

the compass of possibility to prevent the unfortunate events which

are imputed to me as a crime. It were equally reasonable to charge

the pilot with the wrecking fury of the storm, and make him

answerable for the uncontrolled power of the elements. Thus did the

minister inwardly flatter himself that he could set things to rights

again, and once more fix firm the seat which was shaking under him;

but he could not procure an audience, and was even commanded to

resign his key of private admission into his majesty's closet.

This last requisition convinced him that there was no hope, and he

now made up his mind in earnest for retirement. He looked over his

papers, and had the prudence to burn a good number; he then selected

a small household for his retreat, and publicly announced his

departure for the next day. Apprehending insult from the mob, if the

time and manner of his setting out were public, he escaped early in

the morning through the kitchens out at the back door, got into a

shabby, hired carriage, with his confessor and me, and reached in

safety the road leading to Loeches, a village on his own estate,

where his countess had founded a magnificent convent of Dominican

nuns.

_CHAPTER X._

_A DIFFICULT, BUT SUCCESSFUL WEANING FROM THE WORLD. THE MINISTER'S

EMPLOYMENTS IN HIS RETREAT._

Madame d'Olivarez staid behind her husband some few days, with the

intention of trying what her tears and entreaties might do towards

his recall; but in vain did she prostrate herself before their

majesties; the king paid not the least attention to her pleadings and

remonstrances, though artfully adapted for effect; and the queen, who

hated her mortally, took a savage pleasure in her tears. The

minister's lady, however, was not easily discouraged: she stooped so

low as to solicit their good offices from the ladies of the

bed-chamber; but the fruit of all this meanness was only the sad

conviction that it excited more contempt than pity. Heart-broken at

having degraded herself by supplications so humiliating, and yet so

unavailing, she departed to her husband, and mourned with him the

loss of a situation, which, under a reign like that of Philip the

Fourth, was little short of sovereign power.

The accounts her ladyship brought from Madrid were wormwood to the

duke. Your enemies, said she, sobbing, with the Duke of Medina Celi

at their head, are loud in the king's praises for your removal; and

the people triumph in your disgrace with an insolent joy, as if the

cloud of adversity were to be dispelled by the breath which dissolved

your administration. Madam, said my master, follow my example;

suppress your discontent; we must drive before the storm when we

cannot weather it. I did think, indeed, that my favor would only be

eclipsed with the lamp of life--a common illusion of ministers and

favorites, who forget that they breathe but at the good pleasure of

their sovereign. Was not the Duke of Lerma as much mistaken as

myself, though fondly relying on his purple, as a pledge for the

lasting tenure of his authority?

Thus did my lord duke preach patience to the partner of his cares,

while his own bosom heaved under the direct pressure of anxiety. The

frequent despatches from Don Henry, who was staying about the court

to pick up information, kept him continually on the fret. Scipio was

the messenger; for he was still about the person of that young

nobleman, though I had relinquished my post on his marriage.

Sometimes we heard of changes in the inferior departments of office,

solely for the purpose of wreaking vengeance on his creatures, and

filling up the vacancies with his enemies. Then Don Lewis de Haro

was represented as advancing in favor, and likely to be made prime

minister. But the most mortifying circumstance of all was the change

in the viceroyalty of Naples, which was taken from his friend, the

Duke de Medina de las Torres, and bestowed on the High Admiral of

Castile, who was his bitterest enemy. For this there was no other

motive but the pleasure of giving pain to a fallen favorite.

For the first three months, his lordship gave himself up in his

solitude a prey to disappointment and regret; but his confessor, a

holy and pious Dominican, supporting his religious zeal with manly

eloquence, succeeded in pouring the balm of consolation into his

soul. By continually representing to him, with apostolic energy,

that his eternal salvation was now the only object worth his care, he

weaned him gradually from the uses of this world. His excellency was

no longer panting for news from Madrid, but learning a new and

important lesson, how to die. Madame d'Olivarez too, making a virtue

of necessity, sought refuge for herself in the maternal guardianship

of her convent, where Providence had reared up, for her edification

in faith and good works, a sisterhood of holy maidens, whose

spiritual discourses fed her soul, as if with manna in the

wilderness. My master's peace within his own bosom advanced, as he

withdrew more backward from sublunary things. The employment of his

day was thus laid out: almost the whole morning was devoted to

religious duties till dinner-time, and after dinner, for about two

hours, he played at different games with me and some of his

confidential domestics; he then generally retired alone into his

closet till sunset, when he walked round his garden, or rode out into

the neighborhood either with his confessor or me.

One day when I was alone with him, and was particularly struck with

his apparent self-complacency, I took the liberty of congratulating

his lordship on his complete reconciliation to retirement. Use,

however late acquired, is second nature, answered he; for though I

have all my life been accustomed to the bustle of business, I assure

you that I become every day more and more attached to this calm and

peaceful mode of life.

_CHAPTER XI._

_A CHANGE IN HIS LORDSHIP FOR THE WORSE. THE MARVELLOUS CAUSE, AND

MELANCHOLY CONSEQUENCES, OF HIS DEJECTION._

His excellency sometimes amused himself with gardening, by way of

variety. One day, as I was watching his progress, he said, jokingly,

You see, Santillane, a fallen minister can turn gardener at last.

Nature will prevail, my lord, answered I. You plant and water

something useful at Loeches, while Dionysius of Syracuse whipped

school-boys at Corinth. My master was not displeased either with the

comparison or the compliment.

We were all delighted at the castle to see our protector, rising

above the cloud of adversity, take pleasure in so novel a mode of

life: but we soon perceived an alarming change. He became gloomy,

thoughtful, and melancholy. Our parties at play were all given up,

and no efforts could succeed to divert his mind. From dinner-time

till evening he never left his closet. We thought the dreams of

vanished greatness had returned to break his rest; and in this

opinion the reverend Dominican gave the rein to his eloquence; but it

could not outstrip the course of that hypochondriac malady, which

triumphed over all opposition.

It seemed to me there was some deeper cause, which it behooved a

sincere friend to fathom. Taking advantage of our being alone

together, My lord, said I, in a tone of mingled respect and

affection, whence is it that you are no longer so cheerful as

heretofore? Has your philosophy lost ground? or has the world

recovered its allurements? Surely you would not plunge again into

that gulf where your virtue must inevitably be shipwrecked! No,

heaven be praised! replied the minister: my part at court has long

faded from my memory, and its trappings from my eyes. Indeed! why,

then, resumed I, since you have strength enough to banish false

regrets, are you so weak as to indulge a melancholy which alarms us

all? What is the matter with you, my dear master? continued I,

falling at his knees: some secret sorrow preys upon you: can you hide

it from Santillane, whose zeal, discretion, and fidelity you have so

often experienced? Why am I so unhappy as to have lost your

confidence?

You still possess it, said his lordship: but I must own, it is

reluctantly that I shall reveal the subject of my distress; yet the

importunities of such a friend are irresistible. To no one else

could I impart so singular a confidence. Yes, I am the prey of a

morbid melancholy which eats inwardly into my vitals: a spectre

haunts me every moment, arrayed in the most terrific form of

preternatural horror. In vain have I argued with myself that it is a

vision of the brain, an unreal mockery: its continual presentments

blast my sight, and unseat my reason. Though my understanding

teaches me, that in looking on this spectre I stare at vacancy, my

spirits are too weak to derive comfort from the conviction. Thus

much have you extorted from me; now judge whether the cause of my

melancholy is fit to be divulged.

With equal grief and astonishment did I listen to the strange

confession, which implied a total derangement of the nervous system.

This, my lord, said I, must proceed from injudicious abstinence. So

I thought at first, answered he; and to try the experiment, I have

been eating more than usual for some days past; but it is all to no

purpose; the phantom takes his stand as usual. It will vanish, said

I, if your excellency will only divert your mind by your accustomed

relaxations with your household. Company and gentle occupation are

the best remedies for these affections of the spirits.

In a short time after this conversation, his lordship became

seriously indisposed, and sent for two notaries from Madrid, to make

his will. Three capital physicians followed in their track, who had

the reputation of curing their patients now and then. As soon as it

was noised about the castle that these last undertakers were arrived,

the case was given up for lost; weeping and gnashing of teeth took

place universally, and the family mourning was ordered. They brought

with them their usual understrappers, an apothecary and a surgeon.[*]

The notaries were suffered to earn their fee first, after which,

death's notaries prepared to take a bond of the patient. They

practised in the school of Sangrado, and from their very first

consultation, ordered bleeding so frequently and freely, that in six

days they brought his lordship to the point of death, and on the

seventh delivered him from the terror of his sprite.

[*] Behind him sneaks

Another mortal, not unlike himself,

Of jargon full, with terms obscure o'ercharged,

Apothecary called, whose fetid hands

With power mechanic, and with charms arcane,

Apollo, god of medicine, has endued.

BRAMSTON.

After the minister's decease, a lively and sincere sorrow reigned in

the castle of Loeches. The whole household wept bitterly. Far from

deriving consolation from the certainty of being remembered in his

will, there was not a dependant who would not willingly have saved

his life by the sacrifice of the legacy. As for me, whom he most

delighted in, attached to him as I was from disinterested friendship,

my grief was more acute than that of the rest. I question whether

Antonia cost me more tears.

_CHAPTER XII._

_THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE CASTLE OF LOECHES AFTER HIS LORDSHIP'S DEATH,

AND THE COURSE WHICH SANTILLANE ADOPTED._

The minister, according to his last injunctions, was buried without

pomp and without procession in the convent, with a dirge of our

lamentations. After the funeral, Madame d'Olivarez called us

together to hear the will read, with which the household had good

reason to be satisfied. Every one had a legacy proportioned to his

claim, and none less than two thousand crowns: mine was the largest,

amounting to ten thousand pistoles, as a mark of his singular regard.

The hospitals were not forgotten, and provision was made for an

annual commemoration in several convents.

Madame d'Olivarez sent all the household to Madrid to receive their

legacies from Don Raymond Caporis, who had orders to pay them; but I

could not be of the party, in consequence of a violent fever from

distress of mind, which confined me to the castle for more than a

week. During that time, the reverend Dominican paid me all possible

attention. He had conceived a friendship for me, which was not

confined to my worldly interests, and was anxious to know how I meant

to dispose of myself on my recovery. I answered that I had not yet

made up my mind upon the subject: there were moments when my feelings

strongly prompted towards a religious vow. Precious moments!

exclaimed the Dominican, you will do well to profit by them. I

advise you as a friend to retire to our convent at Madrid, for

example; there to become a pious benefactor by the free gift of your

whole fortune, and to die in the livery of St. Dominic. Many very

questionable Christians have made amends for a life of sin by so holy

an end.

In the actual disposition of my mind, this advice was not

unpalatable; and I promised to reflect upon it. But on consulting

Scipio, who came to see me immediately after the monk, he treated the

very notion as the phantom of a distempered brain. For shame! said

he; does not your estate at Lirias offer a more eligible seclusion?

If you were delighted with it formerly, the charm will be increased

tenfold, now that the lapse of years has moderated your sense of

pleasure, and softened down your taste to the simple beauties of

nature.

It was no difficult matter to operate a change in my inclinations.

My friend, said I, you carry it decidedly against the advocate of St.

Dominic. We will go back to Lirias as soon as I am well enough to

travel. This happened shortly; for as the fever subsided, I soon

felt myself sufficiently strong to put my design in execution. We

went first to Madrid. The sight of that city gave me far other

sensations than heretofore. As I knew that almost its whole

population held in horror the memory of a minister of whom I

cherished the most affectionate remembrance, I could not feel at my

ease within its precincts. My stay was therefore limited to five or

six days, while Scipio was making the necessary arrangements for our

rustication. In the mean time, I waited on Caporis, and received my

legacy in ready money. I likewise made my arrangements with the

receivers for the regular remittance of my pensions, and settled all

my affairs in due order.

The evening before our departure, I asked the son of Cosclina whether

he had received his farewell from Don Henry. Yes, answered he; we

took leave of each other this morning with mutual civility: he went

so far as to express his regret that I should quit him; but however

well satisfied he might be with me, I am by no means so with him.

Mutual content is like a river, which must have its banks on either

side. Besides, Don Henry makes but a pitiful figure at court now; he

has fallen into utter contempt; people point at him with their finger

in the streets, and call him a Genoese bastard. Judge, then, for

yourself, whether it is consistent with my character to keep up the

connection.

We left Madrid one morning at sunrise, and went for Cuença. The

following was the order of our equipment: we two in a chaise and

pair, three mules, laden with baggage and money, led by two grooms

and two stout footmen, well armed, in the rear; the grooms wore

sabres, and the postilion had a pair of pistols in his holsters. As

we were seven men in all, and six of us determined fellows, I took

the road gayly, without trembling for my legacy. In the villages

through which we passed our mules chimed their bells merrily, and the

peasants ran to their doors to see us pass, supposing it to be at

least the parade of some nobleman going to take possession of some

viceroyalty.

_CHAPTER XIII._

_THE RETURN OF GIL BLAS TO HIS SEAT. HIS JOY AT FINDING HIS

GODDAUGHTER SERAPHINA MARRIAGEABLE; AND HIS OWN SECOND VENTURE IN THE

LOTTERY OF LOVE._

We were a fortnight on our journey to Lirias, having no occasion to

make rapid stages. The sight of my own domain brought melancholy

thoughts into my mind, with the image of my lost Antonia; but better

topics of reflection came to my aid, with a full purpose to look at

things on the brighter side, and the lapse of two-and-twenty years,

which had gradually impaired the force of tender regret.

As soon as I entered the castle, Beatrice and her daughter greeted me

most cordially, while the family scene was interesting in the

extreme. When their mutual transports were over, I looked earnestly

at my goddaughter, saying, Can this be the Seraphina whom I left in

her cradle? How tall and pretty! We must make a good match for her.

What! my dear godfather, cried my little girl, with an enchanting

blush, you have but just seen me, and do you want to get rid of me at

once? No, my lovely child, replied I, we hope not to lose you by

marriage, but to find a husband for you in the neighborhood.

There is one ready to your hands, said Beatrice. Seraphina made a

conquest one day at mass. Her suitor has declared his passion, and

asked my consent. I told him that his acceptance depended on her

father and her godfather; and here you are to determine for

yourselves.

What is the character of this village lordling? said Scipio. Is he

not, like his fellows, the little tyrant of the soil, and insolent to

those who have no pedigree to boast? The furthest from it in the

world, answered Beatrice; the young man is gentle in his temper and

polished in his manners; handsome withal, and somewhat under thirty.

You paint him in flattering colors, said I to Beatrice; what is his

name? Don Juan de Jutella, replied Scipio's wife: it is not long

since he came to his inheritance: he lives on his own estate, about a

mile off, with a younger sister, of whom he takes care. I once knew

something of his family, observed I; it is one of the best in

Valencia. I care less for lineage, cried Scipio, than for the

qualities of the heart and mind; this Don Juan will exactly suit us,

if he is a good sort of man. He is belied else, said Seraphina, with

a blushing interest in our conversation; the inhabitants of Lirias,

who know him well, say all the good of him you can conceive. I

smiled at this; and her father, not less quick-sighted, saw plainly

that her heart had a share in the testimony of her tongue.

The gentleman soon heard of our arrival, and paid his respects to us

within two days. His address was pleasing and manly, so as to

prepossess us in his favor. He affected merely to welcome us home as

a neighbor. Our reception was such as not to discourage the

repetition of his visit; but not a word of Seraphina! When he was

gone, Beatrice asked us how we liked him. We could have no objection

to make, and gave it as our opinion that Seraphina could not dispose

of herself better.

The next day, Scipio and I returned the visit. We took a guide, and

luckily; for otherwise it might have puzzled us to find the place.

It was not till our actual arrival that it was visible; for the

mansion was situated at the foot of a mountain, in the middle of a

wood, whose lofty trees hid it from our view. There was an antique

and ruinous appearance about it, which spoke more for the descent

than the wealth of its proprietor. On our entrance, however, the

elegance of the interior arrangement made amends for the dilapidated

grandeur of the outer walls.

Don Juan received us in a handsome room, where he introduced his

sister Dorothea, a lady between nineteen and twenty years of age.

She was a good deal tricked out, as if she had primed and loaded

herself for conquest, in expectation of our visit. Thus presenting

all her charms in full force, she did by me much as Antonia had done

before; but I managed my raptures so discreetly, that even Scipio had

no suspicion. Our conversation turned, as on the preceding day, on

the mutual pleasure of good neighborhood. Still he did not open on

the subject of Seraphina, nor did we attempt to draw him out. During

our interview, I often cast a side glance at Dorothea, though with

all the reserve of delicate apprehension; whenever our eyes met, the

citadel of my heart was ready to surrender. To describe the object

of my love justly, as well as feelingly, her beauty was not of the

most perfect kind: her skin was of a dazzling whiteness, and her lips

united the color with the fragrance of the rose; but her features

were not so regular and well proportioned as might have been wished:

yet, altogether, she won my heart.

In short, I left the mansion of Jutella a different man from what I

was on entering it: so that, returning to Lirias with my whole soul

absorbed in Dorothea, I saw and spoke only of her. How is this,

master? said Scipio with a look of astonishment: you seem to be very

much taken with Don Juan's sister! Can you be in love with her?

Yes, my friend, answered I: to my shame be it spoken. Since the

death of Antonia, how many lovely females have passed in review

before me with indifference! and must my passions be irresistibly

kindled at this time of life? Indeed, sir, replied the son of

Cosclina, you may bless your stars, instead of squabbling with

yourself: you are not so old as to make your sacrifice at the shrine

of love a by-word; and time has not yet ploughed such furrows on your

brow as to render hopeless the desire of pleasing. When you see Don

Juan next, ask him boldly for his sister: he cannot refuse her to

you; and besides, if his views in her settlement are ambitious, how

can he do better? You have a patent of nobility in your pocket, and

upon that your posterity may ride easy; after five generations, when

pedigree herself shall be lost in the confusion of her materials, it

may exercise the diligence of learned inquiry to trace the family of

the Santillanes to the beginning of its archives, and consecrate the

fame of its founder by the indistinctness of his story.

_CHAPTER XIV._

_A DOUBLE MARRIAGE, AND THE CONCLUSION OF THE HISTORY._

By this discourse, Scipio encouraged me to declare myself, without

considering how he exposed me to the danger of a refusal. My own

resolution was taken with fear and trembling. Though I carried my

years well, and might have sunk at least ten, it did not seem

unlikely that a young beauty might turn up her nose at the disparity.

I determined, however, to bolt the question the first time I saw her

brother, who was not without his trepidations on the subject of my

goddaughter.

He returned my call the next morning, just as I had done dressing.

Signor de Santillane, said he, I wish to speak with you on some

serious business. I took him into my closet, where entering on the

subject at once, I imagine, continued he, that you are not

unacquainted with the purpose of my visit: I love Seraphina; you are

all in all with her father; I must request you therefore to intercede

and procure for me the accomplishment of my heart's desire; then

shall I have to thank you for the prime bliss of my existence.

Signor Don Juan, answered I, as you come to the point at once, you

can have no objection to my following your example: My good offices

are fully at your service, and I shall hope for yours with your

sister in return.

Don Juan was agreeably surprised. Can it be possible, exclaimed he,

that Dorothea should have made a conquest of your heart since

yesterday? It is even so, said I, and it would make me the happiest

of men if the proposal should meet with your joint approbation. You

may rely on that, replied he; though with some pretensions to family

pride, yours is not an alliance to be despised. You flatter me

highly, rejoined I; that you are not mealy-mouthed about receiving a

commoner into your pedigree is a mark of good sense; but even if

nobility had been a necessary ingredient in your sister's requisites

for a husband, we should not have quarrelled on that account. I have

worked out twenty years in the trammels of office; and the king, as a

reward of my long labors, has granted me a patent of nobility. This

high-minded gentleman read my credentials over with extreme

satisfaction, and returning them, told me that Dorothea was mine.

And Seraphina yours, exclaimed I.

Thus were the two marriages agreed on between us. The consent of the

intended brides was all that remained; for we neither of us presumed

to control the inclinations of our wards. My friend therefore

carried home my proposal to his sister, and I called Scipio,

Beatrice, and my goddaughter together, for the purpose of laying open

a similar project. Beatrice voted loudly for immediate acceptance,

and Seraphina silently. The father did not say much against it, but

boggled a little at the fortune he must give to a gentleman whose

seat required such immediate and extensive repairs. I stopped

Scipio's mouth by telling him that was my concern, and that I should

contribute four thousand pistoles to the architect's estimate.

In the evening, Don Juan came again. Your business is going

swimmingly, said I; pray heaven mine may promise as fairly. Better

it cannot, answered he; my influence was quite unnecessary to prevail

with Dorothea; your person had made its impression, and your manners

pleased her. You were afraid she might not like you; while she, with

more reason, having nothing to offer you but her heart and hand ...

What would she offer more? interrupted I, out of my wits with joy.

Since the lovely Dorothea can think of me without repugnance, I ask

no more: my fortune is ample, and the possession of her is the only

dowry I should value.

Don Juan and myself, highly delighted at having brought our views to

bear so soon, were for hastening our nuptials, and cutting off all

superfluous ceremonies. I closeted the gentleman with Seraphina's

parents; the settlements were soon agreed on, and he took his leave,

promising to return next day with Dorothea. My eager desire of

appearing agreeable in that lady's eyes occasioned me to spend three

hours at least in adjusting my dress, and communicating the air of a

lover to my person; but I could not do it so much to my mind as in my

younger days. The preparations for courtship are a pleasure to a

young man, but a serious business and hazardous speculation to one

who is beginning to be oldish. And yet it turned out better than my

hopes or deserts; for Don Juan's sister received me so graciously as

to put me in good humor with myself. I was charmed with the turn of

her mind, and foreboded that, with discreet management and much

deference, I might really get her to like me as well as anybody else.

Full of this sweet hope, I sent for the lawyers to draw up the two

contracts, and for the clergyman of Paterna to bring us better

acquainted with our mistresses.

Thus did I light the torch of Hymen for the second time, and it did

not burn blue with the brimstone of repentance. Dorothea, like a

virtuous wife, made a pleasure of her duty; in gratitude for the

pains I took to anticipate all her wishes, she soon loved me as well

as if I had been younger. Don Juan and my goddaughter were most

enthusiastic in their mutual ardor; and what was most unprecedented

of all, the two sisters-in-law loved one another sincerely. Don Juan

was a man in whom all good qualities met: my esteem for him increased

daily, and he did not repay it with ingratitude. In short, we were a

happy and united family: we could scarcely bear the interval of

separation between evening and morning. Our time was divided between

Lirias and Jutella: his excellency's pistoles made the old

battlements to raise their heads again, and the castle to resume its

lordly port.

For these three years, reader, I have led a life of unmixed bliss in

this beloved society. To perfect my satisfaction, heaven has deigned

to send me two smiling babes, whose education will be the amusement

of my declining years; and if ever husband might venture to hazard so

bold an hypothesis, I devoutly believe myself their father.

THE END.

BALLANTYNE AND HANSON, EDINBURGH

CHANDOS STREET, LONDON