Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-10-29
From The Baltimore american.
AUTHORSHIP OF GILL. BIAS

question "NVho wrote Gil Blas!' here was
no need Of the Reviewers apology Tor treating
this controversy SO gravely and so much at
length. Few OF US, will deem il a tribe to set.
tie the true parentase oil the illus'rious Bias OF
Sar,iliane, hose adventures are the delight Of
youth and age in all countries Of Chrisiendom,
and who, % which ever one he may owe his
birth. is a naturalized citizen o. the world "A
man." saws the Reviewer, "musi be held TO be
the writer OF his own books, as he is consider
ed in law the father Of his wife'S children; un~
nil ths contrary be proved; and a title page al
fords the same presumption OF authorship, as
a marriage register of pa;ernity."-We cannot
bring within ouI limits the various grounds on
which the literary paternity of lie Sage is de-
MED in this case; blt the following is the man
ner in which the manuscript, from which Gil
Bias is thought 10 be taken, is supposed TO
have come into his possession.
The Marquis de Lyonne, ambassador OF Lou
is XIV. al Madrid, was a person OF literary
taste, aud collected, while at that court, an sX-
,ensive Spanish library, Including \ number Of
manuscripts. The Able jules de Dyonne, his
son, to whom this library descended on his
death, was an intimate Trend Of lie Sage; and
allowed him the use oft while alive, and after
wards bequeathed him The above mentioned
manuscripts. 1t is from this connection with
thr Lyonne family, that lie Sage has been sup
posed To- have been attached several years To
the French embassy in Spain, and TO have there
acquired the knowledge Of Spanish literature
and manners displayed IN his works. The real
autho, is crossed, (ior it is little more than 4
guess TO have been Don Antonio de Soils, who
besides being an elegant writer, had events in
his own life similar to those related OF Gil Bias;
that is, he was secretary to a ~'icrro, and one
of The und,r stcI etaries IN the department Of
state, under Don Louis lie Hare, successor OF
O.iyares. Soils, ii is urged, might have many
reasons for not wishing TO publish a, Madrid u
novel, which describes, in 4 very free manner,
the secret, history Of the court, aud while Phil
ip ", who figures in the work, was vet on the
throne. Soils lived about the middle Of the
seventeenth century, jus, at the time that The
Marquis &c Lyonne was on his embassy; who
is supposed 10 have purchased The original, or
tSken a copy.
Tie Bachelor Of Salamanca, a work publish
ed by lie Sage, and stated by him 10 he taken
from an unpublished Spanish manuscript, is
imagined by the a~sserter. of the Spanish ORR
gin of Gil Bias, TO have been in its primitive
state, the original Of that work According
10 them, lie Sage wrought the greater portion
OF il into Gil Bias, and then publish the re-
mainder as an avowed translation, hoping by
this management TO remove the suspicious Of
those who knew him IN possess a manuscript
OF tue KIM. 4 uE >liIl!dtiS VI llS pau dlu ~
style, and the sameness of lhr time Of ac,ion,in
the two works, are deemed TO lend coLnIenance
TO this supposil:on.
The Indifference Of Soils to his work, pre-
sumed by this account, is not very common in
authors. Ii is not usual for men 10 write ro>
mauces, though they sometimes do narratives
OF real transactions. with no intention TO pub
lish; and &c this intention were restrained by
present circumstances, il had been more na,u-
raj 10 keep his manuscript till they no longer
: existed, than to place il in me power Of a for
eigncr, who might publish i, in another coun-
try sooner perhaps than prudence allowed; or,
ii he did not regard It's appearance IN another
country, why not publish il there himself, in
stead of taking a course which might, as it has
done, divorce his name forever from his work.
.Pecuniary considerations were inconsistent
with what, We are told Of The character
and the situation Of Soils. 1t is said.to have
been known that lie Sage was in possession of
the manuscript Of the Bachelor Of Salamanca.
If SCOTT was not probable lac would venture TO
publish a mansled copy of what many are
likely ,ohave seen, or nigh easily see, in the
original. Or If his possession of it were
unknowu, why publish any portion Of it as
Spanish. when he might have appropriated the
whole as easily as a partS AS to lie Sage's say
ing that the Bachelor was taken from an un>
published Spanish manuscript, his is a com-
mon trick If writer's every where; Horace Wal
pole published the Castle Of Otranto as a
= tran station from an Italian manuscript. which,
however, every one knows wat not written by
an Italian.
The acquaintance with Spanish manners ros.
ssssed BY lie Sage is deemed impossible in
one who had never been in Spain. Lis doubt
less very minute, and some of the instances of
i, mentioned by the Spanish critics are curious
enough. But besides that it seems hard tina,
an authors very merit should be converted 10
am argument against him, there does not seem
90 exist all the difficulty that is supposed. 1t
would not be easy, indeed for a Frepchman to
write a story strictly oriental, who had never
been in the east but for him 10 copy pretty faith
fully sithou having been there himself, the
manners of a neighboring kingdom with which