by M. de Neufchateau, who does not seem to perceive
that, taken together with the preceding proposition, it is fatal to his
argument:) this is the second step, and leads us to the conclusion that
the true theory of its origin must reconcile these apparent
contradictions.

A Spanish manuscript does account for this inconsistency, as it would
furnish the transcriber with the most intimate knowledge of local
habits, names, and usages; while at the same time it would not guard him
against mistakes which negligence or haste, or the difficulty of
deciphering a manuscript in a language with which the transcriber was by
no means critically acquainted, must occasion. Still less would it guard
him against errors which would almost inevitably arise from the
insertion of other Spanish novels, or the endeavour to give the work a
false claim to originality, by alluding to topics fashionable in the
city and age when the work was copied.

The method we propose to follow, is to place before the reader each
division of the argument. We shall show a most intimate knowledge with
Spanish life, clearly proving that the writer, whoever he is, is
unconscious of any merit in painting scenes with which he was habitually
familiar. Let any reader compare the facility of these unstudied
allusions with the descriptions of a different age or time, even by the
best writers of a different epoch and country, however accurate and
dramatic they may be--with _Quentin Durward_ or _Ivanhoe_, for instance;
or with Barante's _Histoire des Ducs de Bourgogne_, and they will see
the force of this remark. In spite of art, and ability, and antiquarian
knowledge, it is evident that a resemblance is industriously sought in
one case, and is spontaneous in the other; that it is looked upon as a
matter of course, and not as a title to praise, by the first class of
writers, while it is elaborately wrought out, as an artist's pretension
to eminence, in the second. If Le Sage had been the original author of
Gil Blas, he would have avoided the multiplication of circumstances,
names, and dates; or if he had thought it necessary to intersperse his
composition with them, he would have contented himself with such as were
most general and notorious; the minute, circuitous, and oblique
allusions, which it required patient examination to detect, and vast
local knowledge to appreciate, could not have fallen within his plan.

Secondly--We shall point out the mistakes, some of the