490 Who wrote Gil Bias ? [Nov. 



supposes that in the original manuscript^ Galapagar was written instead 

 of Alcala, which would have been topographically coiTect. Again, in 

 proceeding from Oviedo to Lirias, he says, " We took the road to Leon, 

 and, afterwards, that of Palencia ; and, continuing our journey by easy 

 stages, we arrived on the evening of the tenth day at Segorbe, from 

 whence, on the following morning, we proceeded to Lirias, which is 

 only three leagues distant." Here are two other topographical errors : 

 the first, to suppose that, in a caleshe drawn by two mules, they could 

 have gone in ten days by easy stages to Liria ; the second, that Segorbe 

 is only three leagues from Liria. Now, these places are distant five 

 leagues from each other ; while to go from Oviedo to Liria, by easy 

 stages, would occupy at least twenty days. This is evidently an error in 

 the transcription. In speaking of Liria (written in the novel Lirias), 

 Le Sage says, that it was " un hameau de cinq ou six feux ;" and, on 

 another occasion, " qu'il ?i'ij eut neuf ou dix families." This is another 

 proof of the early composition of the work. Liria was given to Gil Bias 

 by Don Caesar de Leiva and his son Alphonso. The family of Chiva 

 possessed, during the regime of the Austrian dynasty, the fief of Chiva, 

 of which the hamlet of Liria constituted a part. Philip the Fifth of 

 Bourbon confiscated the fiefs of those who followed the Austrian faction ; 

 among others, those of Chiva, Liria, and Gercia ; and, after the victory 

 of Almanza, gained by the celebrated Marshal Duke of Berwick in 

 1707, he invested him with the confiscated fiefs of the De Chiva family, 

 and, on the 10th of October of the same year, he created him Duke de 

 Liria, and a grandee of the first class. If Le Sage had been the original 

 author of the novel, he would scarcely have spoken of Liria in 1707 as 

 a mere hamlet. He has likewise changed the family name of De Chiva 

 into Leiva — a name which never existed in Valencia. Le Sage 

 must have possessed a Spanish MS. which was incorrectly copied — a cir- 

 cumstance of daily occurrence among the French, who are remarkable 

 for their blunders in writing the names of foreign places. In the pre- 

 sent case, the ignorance of Le Sage of the history and topography of 

 Spain did not allow him to rectify the errors of the transcriber. 



Of the manner in which he became possessed of the original MS., 

 Llorente has a theory, which, in our opinion, rests upon a broad basis of 

 probability, and of which the outlines are as follows : — 



In the year ]()56, Hugues, Marquis de Lyonne, went to Madrid as 

 ambassador extraordinary of Louis the Fourteenth. The object of his 

 mission was to negotiate a peace between the two courts, and the mar- 

 riage of the French monarch with the Spanish Infanta, Maria-Theresa 

 of Austria, daughter of Philip the Fourth. 



The marquis was a nobleman of high literary taste and accomplish- 

 ments, passionately fond of the romantic literature of Spain. He col- 

 lected at considerable expence, during his residence at IVIadrid, an 

 extensive Spanish library, including a large collection of unpublished 

 manuscripts. This library, on the death of the marquis, came into the 

 possession of his third son, the Abbe Jules de Lyonne, aumonier du 

 roi, &c. &c. The abbe entertained the warmest friendship for Le Sage, 

 allowed him a yearly pension of 600 livres, taught him the Spanisli lan- 

 guage, and, at his death in 1721, he bequeathed to him the aforesaid 

 collection of manuscripts. This collection now forms part of the royal 

 library at Paris. It is from this connection with the Lyonne family, 

 that the notion of Le Sage's having been an attache to the French 

 embassy of JMadrid has arisen. The marquis was accredited to the 



