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The Mandarins Dilemma: Made Knaves by Duty

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Doctor Martin Luther upon the Epistle of S. Paul to the Galathians first collected and gathered word by word out of his preaching. Reynolds Foundacion of Rhetorike f. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. Gentlemen a word with one of you. But one word with one of vs?

You had best couple it with somewhat, and make it a word and a blow. Sir Charles Grandison IV. They did not expect that I would be a word and a blow , as they phrase it. Trollope Michael Armstrong iv. Ruxton Adventures in Mexico xxvii. Sayers Five Red Herrings vi. Craig Germany — v. Bismarck's] relations with the Catholics were always at a word and a blow. Macready objected to Talfourd's play. Buchan Path of King iv. The Ilkhan permits few to cross his eastern marches.

Thompson Lark Rise vii. Green In Land of Afternoon ix. Mo Redundancy of Courage xii. Roberts Honours Conquest sig. We assured them upon our word of honour , they were very much mistaken. Thompson in Monthly Packet Christmas No. O'Neill Iceman Cometh i. With modifying adjective or determiner. Dubbley, who was a man of few words , nodded assent. Half a word , or a word used per antiphrasin.. Hervey Mourtray Family II. If it's about interest rates, I can mutter half a word and it's on every wire service.

Edmund Rich Myrrour of Chyrche f. Sutton Disce Vivere xxvii. Cibber Henry VI ii. Croft Young in Johnson Pref. His last words were—[etc. Jonson Tale of Tub i. Fielding Joseph Andrews II. Swinburne has in those two felicitous lines said the last word. Hill Art of Electronics ed. The latest word in simple microwave amplifiers.

Surtees Handley Cross I. But envied Lord Nigel's felicity. Did it o' purpose to see. Hamilton Siege of Pleasure ii. Day Lewis Buried Day ii. Woodward I'll go to Bed at Noon xiii. Determinations Moste Famous Vniuersities iv. Heywood Fair Maid of West: Helps Friends in Council I. In other words thought is conscious of itself.

Paris Louise Brooks ii. God hath lost one of his ten words. Trapp Clavis to Bible Exod. Why does the Spirit of God call these Words the ten Words ,.. Because they contain not only Precepts and Prohibitions, but also Promises. Robinson Diary 12 Nov. Masquerier get in a word? Gaskell Mary Barton II. Stevenson Treasure Island I. Rowse Diary 28 Mar. Scarron Whole Comical Wks. Don Rodrigo repair'd to his companion, who cou'd not get a word out of him, so much confounded he was at the unhappy Dilemma wherein he found himself.

No getting a word out of him. Rowse Diary 6 Apr. Cookson Tinker's Girl i. Cooper Epitome of Cronicles f. Ciuill Warres Fraunce ix. Destouches Married Man ii. I give you my word it was enough to curl your hair. McGahern in New Yorker 22 Mar. D'Urfey Grecian Heroine v. Marryat Children of New Forest I. Stevenson Black Arrow ii. MacManus Story Irish Race rev.

Hughes Siege Damascus v. Sterndale Life of Boy II. Besant All Sorts of Men I. Fisher for giving words to their sentiments. Foure Sonnes of Aymon iii. Preston the new-made Commander, complaining of their injurious assuming of the Government, and taking away of the Records. What quarrels have you had with people?

Do you remember their Names?.. I nam'd four or five that I had words with. Clark Diary 23 Mar. Watts Henry V, War Criminal? Jonson Bartholmew Fayre iii. Williams Sing yer Heart out for Lads i. Nicolson George V vii. I never had a word with him in his life. We've never had a word or anything. Sermonem Angelorum Nomina Corpus Cambr. Rogers Displaying Secte Heretiques sig. I will keepe my word , with thee.

I would I had your bond.. Ile not trust your word. Dancourt Country House ii. In life or death I hold my word! Blunt Fand ii , in Poet. To yield him to his wife. Cicero in Panoplie Epist. Wilson Andronicus Comnenius iii. But make no words of't; it may do him wrong. Goldsmith She stoops to Conquer iv. Let 'em stand over.

Erasmus De Contemptu Mundi xi. Vanbrugh Provok'd Wife ii. I am not the Person you desire to be alone with, upon this Occasion. Gaskell Mary Barton xxxvii. Morris Well at World's End ii. To talk more about any thing than it deserves To make an uproar. Ward David Grieve II. Hegeman for the Payment of the bread, it was with some Reluctance I did it. Evening Post 22 Feb. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Johnston, you've said just what I believe. You've put into words something I've felt all along.

Cohn Heart of World xviii. Brooke Earl of Essex v. Van Paassen Crown of Fire i.

In other idiomatic uses. Smith Flaw in Crystal x. Keenan Putting on Ritz xv. Word has it that they've all got big plans. That's the word on the street today. Straight outta Compton song in L. Word to your mother. Almost exclusively in sense A. Kerl Common School Gram. Richardson Horace's Alcaic Strophe Univ. Horowitz Voicing the Void vii. Bradley Making of Eng. Citizen Patriot Nexis 5 Aug.

Shields Larry's Party v. Bushnell God in Christ i. Keller Story of my Life xiii. Kreidler Describing Spoken Eng. Rules Greek Accents i. Garnett announced that word-endings were originally uninflected pronominal roots, with a locative signification. From that, kids can use all the rimes to make word families. Hockett Leonard Bloomfield Anthol.

Fabb Sentence Structure iv. Even in the U. Their word-lists are strikingly similar. Elmes Talking for Brit. Lieber On Vocal Sounds L. Bridgeman in Smithsonian Contrib. It is calculated for little more than the cultivation of a word-memory. The largest group difference was in a word memory task.

On this favourite word-order of Milton see Hymn Nat. That is to say, they are used for the abstraction of articulatory contact and possibly also of movement from suitably selected words taken as whole utterances. They were made to show the effect of pronunciation of whole word[s] rather than of isolated speech sounds. Brainstorm possible definitions for each word part. Morley First Sketch Eng. Havard Crucified Mind ii. Pitman in Phonetic Jrnl. Browning's verse] a sort of spiritual harmony, which overrules the mere word-sound. Youmans Culture Demanded by Mod. Wagner Making Grade v.

Richards Meaning of Meaning ii. Aristophanes Acharnians in tr. Koffka Growth of Mind v. Commissioners Paris Universal Expos. Goldberg Wonder of Words xx. Ridley Certein Godly Conf. Belton Beribboned Bomb vi. When wreathed into form and thoughts by word artists. Peabody Connection between Sci. Voltaire] now regard him as a mere word-juggler. Hood's] powers of humour.. Malcolm Muggeridge] is the best word merchant of our time.

We sell language for a living. He was not a word-musician. His ear was satisfied with the approximate word. Shelley] was must have agreed with Edmund Burke when he said that [etc. Had their heads fild with coosning fantasies. The site has a space for reader comments, which has to be monitored closely and was removed several times when comments turned into back-and-forth word battles.

Dixon Land of Morning ix. Carolina Nexis 23 Jan. That world-class word wrangle warmed me up well for last Wednesday's public information session on Divine Strake at the Grand America Hotel. Rossiter Growth of Sci. Jaegar Kid's Slips i. Jackson True Evangelical Temper iii. Tennant Anster Fair vi. In her poetry, Crystal Bacon seeks to invoke feelings with word clad imagery that evokes a compelling authority by way of mind inspired, mythos influenced, thoughtfully emotional reader response. Kipling in London Mag. Fuller Holy State i. Dropt the new Word,.. Tennant John Baliol v.

Dakota Daily Tribune 23 Apr. Trench Notes Miracles xxxii. More and more, I think people are word bearers I think that's our mission in life We're vessels for the word. Is not a situation of betweenity , As some word-coiners are dispos'd to call't. The word hunter finds that it goes back to the Anglo-Saxon word yfesdrype. Many of these fearless word-hunters [etc.

Fatsis Word Freak xxii. Nasta Writing across Worlds v. Gregory Pastoral Care Hatton xv. Bond Loving Subject v. Weston Moral Aphorisms p. Calvin Psalmes of Dauid with Comm. Poems Several Hands V. Brewer Approach to Print x. Indeed, word-breaking is among the most serious of the problems people have communicating with each other, say relationship coaches and best-selling authors Susie and Otto Collins of Chillicothe, Ohio, who wrote Communication Magic and Creating Relationship Trust, among other books. Brathwait Smoaking Age in tr.

I hope you pardon word coining. A laissez-faire and careless usage of the language with the facile excuse of word-coining. Lowell Dante in Prose Wks. Gogarty Mourning became Mrs. This probably explains why one so word-compelling had few terms of invective or of scorn. Hart Fort-royal of Script. So let your story be told. Take this word-keeping credo to the highest degree.

Watts Scribe, Pharisee i. Strickland Lives Queens of Eng. Lawrence Women in Love xxiii. I am not taken in by your word-twisting. Mercury Nexis 26 Oct. Tuttle Arcana of Nature II. Crawford Thirsting After God iii. Morton Encounter against M. Parsons returneth to his word-bate. This morbid inability we will style, in order to have the shortest possible names at our disposition, word-deafness and word-blindness. Fuller Holy State iii. Pribichevich World without End ii.

Monitor Nexis 20 Apr. Jerome in Bible Wycliffite, E. Savage Author to be Lett sig. I regretted your word-catching spirit. Brooks Naggletons vi. Draper Stratford to Dogberry ii. Modulus Category ; one which modifies, either any word of the vocabulary, or any word already allocated to a delimited class, e.

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Aspects Learning Disabilities I. Lodge on the relative value of Latin words on the basis of frequency of occurrence in the Latin authors read. Teaching British Council 12 1. Coe House of Sleep iv. She is also word deaf and cannot speak. Nashe Christs Teares f. Bush Notes on Bk. Study Conversion of Adjs. Plomp Intelligent Ear v. Wilson Hieroglyphs vi. Blackley Word Gossip xv. They are the word-grubbers of literature, exalting the text above the thought expressed by the text. Hopkins Nonprofit Law Dict. This process, to my colleagues' dismay, has caused me to become a word-grubber.

Gilbert's libretti for the fourteen Savoy Operas. Weekly Times 29 Aug. Substitute letters for stars. It can be done in five easy steps without using any unusual words. The mean word-length is 6. I am afraid he is meat for your masters. Meat for our masters!

Are you yet to learn that the best of your larder is not too good for the renowned Gil Blas of Santillane? Go where he will, he is fit to table with princes. I felt myself a little hurt at it, and said to Corcuelo with some degree of hauteur: Produce this trout of yours, and I will take the consequences. The landlord, who had got just what he wanted, set himself to work, and served it up in high order. But at last he was obliged to lay down his arms for fear of accidents; as his magazine was crammed to the very throat.

Having eat and drank his fill, he bethought him of putting a finishing hand to the farce. Master Gil Blas, said he, as he rose from the table, I am too well pleased with my princely entertainment to leave you without a word of advice, of which you seem to stand in much need. From this time forward be on your guard against extravagant praise. Do not trust men till you know them. You may meet with many another man, who, like me, may amuse himself at your expense, and perhaps carry the joke a little further. But do not you be taken in a second time, to believe yourself; on the word of such fellows, the eighth wonder of the world.

With this sting in the tail of his farewell speech he very coolly took his leave. I was as much alive to so ridiculous a circumstance, as I have ever been in after-life to the most severe mortifications. I did not know how to reconcile myself to the idea of having been so egregiously taken in, or, in fact, to lowering of my pride.

Then he only wanted to pump my landlord! To have suffered such knaves as these to turn thee into ridicule! A pretty story they will make of this! It is sure to travel back to Oviedo; and will give our friends a hopeful prospect of thy success in life. The family will be quite delighted to think what a blessed harvest all their pious advice has produced. There was no occasion to preach up morals to thee; for verily thou hast more of the dupe than the sharper in thy composition.

Ready to tear my eyes out or bite my fingers off from spite and vexation, I locked myself up in my chamber and went to bed, but not to sleep; of which I had not got a wink when the muleteer came to tell me, that he only waited for me to set out on his journey. I got up as expeditiously as I could; and while I was dressing Corcuelo put in his appearance, with a little bill in his hand; — a slight memorandum of the trout!

Having been fleeced most shamefully for a supper, which stuck in my stomach though I had scarcely come in for a morsel of it, I joined the muleteer with my baggage, giving to as many devils as there are saints in the calendar, the parasite, the landlord, and the inn. I WAS not the only passenger. There were two young gentlemen of Pegnaflor; a little chorister of Mondognedo, who was travelling about the country, and a young tradesman of Astorga, returning home from Verco with his new-married wife. We soon got acquainted, and exchanged the usual confidence of travellers, telling one another whence we came and whither we were going.

The bride was young enough; but so dark-complexioned, with so little of what a man likes to look at in a woman, that I did not think her worth the trouble. But she had youth and a good crummy person on her side, and the muleteer, being rather less nice in his taste, was resolved to try if he could not get into her good graces. This pretty project occupied his ingenuity during the whole day; but he deferred the execution till we should get to Cacabelos, the last place where we were to stop on the road.

We were ushered into a private room, and got our supper snugly: I have been robbed. Here had I a hundred pistoles in my purse! But I will have them back again. I am going for a magistrate; and those gentry will not take a joke upon such serious subjects. You will all be put to the rack, unless you confess, and give back the money. The fellow played his part very naturally, and burst out of the room, leaving us in a terrible fright. We had none of us the least suspicion of the trick, and being all strangers, were afraid of one another.

I looked askance at the little chorister, and he, perhaps, had no better opinion of me. Besides, we were all a pack of greenhorns, and were quite unacquainted with the routine of business on these occasions. We were fools enough to believe that the torture would be the very first stage of our examination. With this dread upon our spirits, we all made for the door. Some effected their escape into the street, others into the garden: The young tradesman of Astorga had as great an objection to bone-twisting as the rest of us: The patrol, who happened to be passing by the inn at the time, and knew that the neighbourhood required a little looking after, took the liberty of just asking the cause of the disturbance.

The landlord, who was trying if he could not sing in the kitchen louder than she could scream in the parlour, and swore he heard no music but his own, was at last obliged to introduce the myrmidons of the police to the distressed lady, just in time to rescue her from the necessity of a surrender at discretion. The head officer, a coarse fellow, without an atom of feeling for the tender passion, no sooner saw the game that was playing, than he gave the amorous muleteer five or six blows with the butt end of his halberd, representing to him the indecency of his conduct in terms quite as offensive to modesty as the naughty propensity which had called forth his virtuous indignation.

Neither did he stop here; but laid hold of the culprit, and carried plaintiff and defendant before the magistrate. The former, with her charms all heightened by the discomposure of her dress, went eagerly to try their effect in obtaining justice for the outrage they had sustained. His Worship heard at least one party; and after solemn deliberation pronounced the offence to be of a most heinous nature.

He ordered him to be stripped, and to receive a competent number of lashes in his presence. The conclusion of the sentence was, that if the Endymion of our Asturian Diana was not forthcoming the next day, a couple of guards should escort the disconsolate goddess to the town of Astorga, at the expense of this mule-driving Acteon. For my part, being probably more terrified than the rest of the party, I got into the fields, scampering over hedge and ditch, through enclosures and across commons, till I found myself hard by a forest.

I was just going for concealment to ensconce myself in the very heart of the thicket, when two men on horseback rode across me, crying, Who goes there? As my alarm prevented me from giving them an immediate answer, they came to close quarters, and holding each of them a pistol to my throat, required me to give an account of myself; who I was, whence I came, what business I had in that forest, and above all, not to tell a lie about it. Their rough interrogatives were, according to my notion, little better than the rack with which our friend the muleteer had offered to treat us.

I represented myself however as a young man on my way from Oviedo to Salamanca; told the story of our late fright, and faithfully attributed my running away in such a hurry to the dread of a worse exercise under the torture. They burst into an immoderate fit of laughter at my simplicity; and one of them said: Take heart, my little friend; come along with us, and do not be afraid; we will put you in a place where the devil shall not find you.

At these words, he took me up behind him, and we darted into the forest. I did not know what to think of this odd meeting; yet on the whole I could not well be worse off than before. If these gentry, thought I to myself, had been thieves, they would have robbed, and perhaps murdered me. Depend on it, they are a couple of good honest country gentlemen in this neighbourhood, who, seeing me frightened, have taken compassion on me, and mean to carry me home with them and make me comfortable.

But these visions did not last long. After turning and winding backward and forward in deep silence, we found ourselves at the foot of a hill, where we dismounted. This is our abode, said one of these sequestered gentlemen. I looked about in all directions, but the deuce a bit of either house or cottage: The two men in the mean time raised a great wooden trap, covered with earth and briars, to conceal the entrance of a long shelving passage under-ground, to which from habits the poor beasts took very kindly of their own accord.

Their masters kept tight hold of me, and let the trap down after them. Thus was the worthy nephew of my uncle Perez caught, just for all the world as you would catch a rat. I NOW knew into what company I had fallen; and I leave it to any one to judge whether the discovery must not have rid me of my former fear.

A dread more mighty and more just now seized my faculties. Money and life, all given up for lost! With the air of a victim on his passage to the altar did I walk, more dead than alive, between my two conductors, who finding that I trembled, frightened me so much the more by telling me not to be afraid. When we had gone two hundred paces, winding down a declivity all the way, we got into a stable lighted by two large iron lamps suspended from the vault above. There was a good store of straw, and several casks of hay and corn with room enough for twenty horses: An old Negro, who seemed for his years in pretty good case, was tying them to the rack where they were to feed.

We went out of the stable. By the melancholy light of some other lamps, which only served to dress up horror in its native colours, we arrived at a kitchen where an old harridan was broiling some steaks on the coals, and getting supper ready. The kitchen furniture was better than might be expected, and the pantry provided in a very plentiful manner.

Considerably on the wrong side of sixty! Time had indeed given it the fairer tint of grey; but a lock of more youthful hue, interspersed at intervals, produced all the variegated effect of the admired autumnal shades. To say nothing of an olive complexion, she had an enormous chin turning up, an immense nose turning down, with a mouth in the middle, modestly retiring inwards, to make room for its encroaching neighbours. Red eyes are no beauty in any animal but a ferret; — hers were purple. Here, dame Leonard, said one of the horsemen as he presented me to this angelic imp of darkness, we have brought you a young lad.

Then looking round, and observing me to be miserably pale, Pluck up your spirits, my friend; you shall come to no harm. We want a scullion, and have met with you. You are a lucky dog! We had a boy who died about a fortnight ago: He was rather too delicate for his place. You seem a good stout fellow, and may live a week or two longer. We find you in bed and board, coal and candle; but as for day-light, you will never see that again. Your leisure hours will pass off very agreeably with Leonard, who is really a very good creature, and tolerably tender-hearted; you will have all your little comforts about you.

I flatter myself you have not got among beggars. He took me into a cellar, where I saw a great number of bottles and earthen pots full of excellent wine. He then made me cross several rooms. In some were pieces of cloth piled up; in others, stuffs and silks. After that, I followed him into a great hall illuminated by three copper lustres, and serving as a gallery between the other rooms. Here he put fresh questions to me; asking my name; — why I left Oviedo; — and when I had satisfied his curiosity: Well, Gil Blas, said he, since your only motive for quitting your native place was to get into something snug and eligible, to be sure you must have been born to good luck, or you would not have fallen into our hands.

I tell you once for all, you will live here on the fat of the land, and may souse over head and ears in ready money. Besides, you are in a place of perfect safety. The officers of the holy brotherhood might pass through the forest a hundred times without discovering our subterraneous abode. The entrance is only known to myself and my comrades. You may perhaps ask how it came to be contrived, without being perceived by the inhabitants in the neighbourhood. But you are to understand, my friend, that it was made long ago, and is no work of ours. After the Moors had made themselves masters of Granada, of Arragon, and nearly the whole of Spain, the Christians, rather than submit to the tyranny of infidels, betook themselves to flight, and lay concealed in this country, in Biscay, and in the Asturias, whither the brave Don Pelagio had withdrawn himself.

They lived in a state of exile, on the mountains, or in the woods, dispersed in little knots. Some took up their residences in natural caves, others in artificial dwellings under-ground, like this we are in. In process of time, when by the blessing of Providence they had driven their enemies out of Spain, they returned to the towns.

From that time forth their retreats have served as a rendezvous for the gentlemen of our profession. It is true that several of them have been discovered and destroyed by the holy brotherhood: Captain Rolando, at your service! I am the leader of the band; and the man you saw with me is one of my troopers. JUST as Captain Rolando had finished his speech six new faces made their appearance in the hall; the lieutenant and five privates returning home with their booty.

They were hauling in two great baskets full of sugar, cinnamon, pepper, figs, almonds, and raisins. The lieutenant gave an account of their proceedings to the captain, and told him they had taken these articles, as well as the sumpter-mule, from a grocer of Benavento.

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A large table was set out in the hall. They sent me back to the kitchen, where dame Leonarda told me what I had to do. I made the best of a bad bargain, finding the luck ran against me; and, swallowing my grievances, set myself to wait on my noble masters. I cleaned my plate, set out my sideboard, and brought up my wine. As soon as I announced dinner to be on table, consisting of two good black peppery ragouts for the first course, this high and mighty company took their seats.

They fell too most voraciously. My place was to wait; and I handed about the glasses with so butler-like an air, as to be not a little complimented on my dexterity. The chief entertained them with a short sketch of my story, and praised my parts. But I had recovered from my mania by this time, and could listen to my own panegyric with the humility of an anchorite or the contempt of a philosopher. They all seemed to take a liking to me, and to think I had dropped from the clouds on purpose to be their cup-bearer. My predecessor was a fool to me.

Since his death, the illustrious Leonarda had the honour of presenting nectar to these gods of the lower regions. But she was now degraded, and I had the felicity of being installed in her office. Thus, old Hebe being a little the worse for wear, young Ganymede tripped up her heels. A substantial joint of meat after the ragouts at length blunted the edge of their appetites. Eating and drinking went together: Well done, my lads! All talkers and no listeners. One begins a long story, another cuts a joke; here a fellow bawls, there a fellow sings; and they all seem to be at cross purposes.

At last Rolando, tired of a concert in which he could hardly hear the sound of his own voice, let them know that he was maestro di capella, and brought them into better tune. Gentlemen, said he, I have a question to put. Instead of stunning one another with this infernal din, had we not better enjoy a little rational conversation?

A thought is just come into my head. There would be no harm in knowing who and who are together. Let us exchange confidence: The lieutenant and the rest, like true heroes of romance, accepted the challenge with the utmost courtesy, and the captain told the first story to the following effect: The day of my birth was celebrated in the family by rejoicings without end. My father, no chicken, thought it a considerable feat to have got an heir, and my mother was kind enough to suckle me herself.

My maternal grandfather was still living: Of course I was idolized by these three persons; never out of their arms. My early years were passed in the most childish amusements, for fear of hurting my health by application. It will not do, said my father, to hammer much learning into children till time has ripened their understanding.

While he waited for this ripening, the season went by. I could neither read nor write: My father taught me a thousand different games. I became perfectly acquainted with cards, was no stranger to dice, and my grandfather set me the example of drawing the long bow, while he entertained me with his military exploits. He sung the same songs repeatedly one after another every day; so that when, after saying ten or twelve lines after him for three months together, I got to boggle through them without missing, the whole family were in raptures at my memory.

Neither was my wit thought to be at all less extraordinary; for I was suffered to talk at random, and took care to put in my oar in the most impertinent manner possible. O the pretty little dear! I played all sorts of dirty and indecent tricks before them with impunity; everything was excusable in so fine a boy: Going on in this manner, I was already in my twelfth year without ever having a master.

It was high time; but then he was to teach me by fair means: This arrangement did me but little good; for sometimes I laughed when my tutor scolded: The poor devil got nothing by denying it. My word was always taken before his, and he came off with the character of a cruel rascal. One day I scratched myself with my own nails, and set up a howl as if I had been flogged. My mother ran, and turned the master out of doors, though he vowed and protested he had never lifted a finger against me.

Thus did I get rid of all my tutors, till at last I met with one to my mind. He was a bachelor of Alcala. This was the master for a young man of fashion. Women, wine, and gaming, were his principal amusements. It was impossible to be in better hands. He hit the right nail on the head: They had no reason to repent. He perfected me betimes in the knowledge of the world. By dint of taking me about to all his haunts, he gave such a finish to my education, that barring literature and science, I be came an universal scholar.

As soon as he saw that I could go alone in the high road to ruin he went to qualify others for the same journey. During my childhood I had lived at home just as I liked, and did not sufficiently consider, that now I was beginning to be responsible for my own actions.

My father and mother were a standing jest. Yet they were themselves thrown into convulsions at my sallies; and the more ridiculous they were made by them, the more waggish they thought me. In the mean time I got into all manner of scrapes with some young fellows of my own kidney; and, as our relations kept us rather too short of cash for the exigencies of so loose a life, we each of us made free with whatever we could lay our hands on in our own families.

Finding this would not raise the supplies, we began to pick pockets in the streets at night.

As ill luck would have it, our exploits came to the knowledge of the police. A warrant was out against us; but some good-natured friend, thinking it a pity we should be nipped in the bud, gave us a caution. We took to our heels, and rose in our vocation to the rank of highwaymen. From that time forth, gentlemen, with a blessing on my endeavours, I have gone on till I am almost the father of the profession, in spite of the dangers to which it is exposed.

Here the captain ended, and it came to the turn of the lieutenant. My father was a butcher at Toledo. In my childhood, they whipped me in emulation of one another; I came in for a thousand lashes of a day! The slightest fault was followed up by the severest punishment. In vain did I beg for mercy with tears in my eyes, and protest that I was sorry for what I had done. They never excused me, and nine times out of ten flogged me for nothing. The favours I received at their hands gave me such a disgust, that I quitted their house before I had completed my fourteenth year, took the Arragon road, and begged my way to Saragossa.

There I associated with vagrants, who led a merry life enough. They taught me to counterfeit blindness and lameness, to dress up an artificial wound in each of my legs, and to adopt many other methods of imposing on the credulity of the charitable and humane. In the morning, like actors at rehearsal, we cast our characters, and settled the business of the comedy. We had each our exits and our entrances; till in the evening the curtain dropped, and we regaled at the expense of the dupes we had deluded in the day.

Wearied, however, with the company of these wretches, and wishing to live in more worshipful society, I entered into partnership with a gang of sharpers. These fellows taught me some good tricks: We each of us provided for ourselves, and left the devil to take the hindmost. So that you see, gentlemen, I was very much obliged to my relations for their bad behaviour; for if they had treated me a little more kindly, I might have been a blackguard butcher at this moment, instead of having the honour to be your lieutenant.

Gentlemen, — interrupted a hopeful young freebooter who sat between the captain and the lieutenant, — the stories we have just heard are neither so complicated nor so curious as mine. I peeped into existence by means of a country woman in the neighbourhood of Seville. Three weeks after she had set me down in this system, a nurse child was offered her. You are to understand she was yet in her prime, comely in her person, and had a good breast of milk. The young suckling had noble blood in him, and was an only son.

My mother accepted the proposal with all her heart, and went to fetch the child. It was entrusted to her care. She had no sooner brought it home, than, fancying a resemblance, she conceived the idea of substituting me for the brat of high birth, in the hope of drawing a handsome commission at some future time for this motherly office in behalf of her infant. My father, whose morals were on a level with those of clodhoppers in general, lent himself very willingly to the cheat: They may say what they will of instinct and the force of blood!

They had not the slightest suspicion of the trick; and were eternally dandling me till I was seven years old. As it was their intention to make me a finished gentleman, they gave me masters of all kinds; but I had very little taste for their lessons, and above all, I detested the sciences. I had at any time rather play with the servants or the stable boys, and was a complete kitchen genius. But tossing up for heads or tails was not my ruling passion. Before seventeen I had an itch for getting drunk. I played the devil among the chamber-maids; but my prime favourite was a kitchen girl, who had infinite merit in my eyes.

She was a great bloated horse-god-mother, whose good case and easy morals suited me exactly. I boarded her with so little circumspection that Don Rodrigo took notice of it. He took me to task pretty sharply; twitted me with my low taste; and, for fear the presence of my charmer should counteract his sage counsels, showed the goddess of my devotions the outside of the door.

This proceeding was rather offensive; and I determined to be even with him. But this was not all. I carried her among her relations, where I married her according to the rites of the church, as much from the personal motive of mortifying Herrera, as from the patriotic enthusiasm of encouraging our young nobility to mend the breed. Three months after marriage, I heard that Don Rodrigo had gone the way of all flesh.

The intelligence was not lost upon me. I was at Seville in a twinkling, to administer in due form and order to his effects; but the tables were turned. My mother had paid the debt of nature, and in her last agonies had been so much off her guard as to confess the whole affair to the curate of the village and other competent witnesses. The young cut-purse having finished his story, another told us that he was the son of a merchant at Burgos; that, in his youth, prompted more by piety than wit, he had taken the religious habit and professed in a very strict order, and that a few years afterwards he had apostatized.

In short, the eight robbers told their tale one after another, and when I had heard them all, I did not wonder that the destinies had brought them together. The conversation now took a different turn. They brought several schemes upon the carpet for the next campaign; and after having laid down their plan of operations, rose from table and went to bed. They lighted their night candles, and withdrew to their apartments. I attended Captain Rolando to his.

While I was fiddling about him as he undressed: Gil Blas, said he, you see how we live! We are always merry; hatred and envy have no footing here; we have not the least difference, but hang together just like monks. You are sure, my good lad, to lead a pleasant life here; for I do not think you are fool enough to make any bones about consorting with gentlemen of the road.

In what does ours differ from many a more reputable trade? Conquerors, for instance, make free with the territories of their neighbours. People of fashion borrow and do not pay. Bankers, treasurers, brokers, clerks, and traders of all kinds, wholesale and retail, give ample liberty to their wants to overdraw on their consciences. I shall not mention the hangers-on of the law; we all know how it goes with them. At the same time it must be allowed that they have more humanity than we have; for as it is often our vocation to take away the life of the innocent for plunder, it is sometimes theirs for fee and reward to save the guilty.

AFTER the captain of the banditti had thus apologized for adopting such a line of life, he went to bed. For my part, I returned to the hall, where I cleared the table, and set everything to rights. Then I went to the kitchen, where Domingo, the old negro, and dame Leonarda had been expecting me at supper. Though entirely without appetite, I had the good manners to sit down with them. Not a morsel could I eat; and, as I scarcely felt more miserable than I looked, this pair so justly formed to meet by nature, undertook to give me a little comfort.

Why do you take on so, my good lad? You are young, and seem a little soft; you would have a fine kettle of fish of it in the busy world. You might have fallen into bad hands, and then your morals would have been corrupted; whereas here your innocence is insured to its full value. Dame Leonarda is in the right, put in the old negro gravely, the world is but a troublesome place. Be thankful, my friend, for being so early relieved from the dangers, the difficulties, and the afflictions of this miserable life. I bore this prosing very quietly, because I should have got no good by putting myself in a passion about it.

At length Domingo, after playing a good knife and fork, and getting gloriously muddled, took himself off to the stable. Leonarda, by the glimmering of a lamp, showed me the way to a vault which served as a last home to those of the corps who died a natural death. Here I stumbled upon something more like a grave than a bed.

This is your room, said she. Your predecessor lay here as long as he was among us, and here he lies to this day. He suffered himself to be hurried out of life in his prime: With this kind advice, she left me with the lamp for my companion and returned to the kitchen. I threw myself on the little bed, not so much for rest as meditation. Beside this, as if it were not enough to be buried alive at eighteen, my misery is to be aggravated by being in the service of a banditti; by passing the day with highwaymen, and the night in a charnelhouse.

These reflections, which seemed to me very dismal, and were indeed no better than they seemed, set me crying most bitterly. I could not conceive what cursed maggot my uncle had got in his head to send me to Salamanca; repented running away from Cacabelos, and would have compounded for the torture.

But, considering how vain it was to shut the door when the steed was stolen, I determined, instead of lamenting the past, to hit upon some expedient for making my escape. The cut-throats are asleep; cooky and the black will be snoring ere long. Why cannot I, by the help of this lamp, find the passage by which I descended into these infernal regions? I am afraid, indeed, my strength is not equal to lifting the trap at the entrance. However, let us see. Faint heart never won fair lady. Despair will lend me new force, and who knows but I may succeed? Thus was the train laid for a grand attempt.

I got up as soon as Leonarda and Domingo were likely to be asleep. With the lamp in my hand, I stole out of the vault, putting up my prayers to all the spirits in paradise, and ten miles round. It was with no small difficulty that I threaded all the windings of this new labyrinth. At length I found myself at the stable door, and perceived the passage which was the object of my search.

Pushing on I made my way towards the trap with a light pair of heels and a beating heart: I looked rather foolish at the occurrence of this new difficulty, which I had not been aware of at my entrance, because the grate was then open. However, I tried what I could do by fumbling at the bars. Then for a peep at the lock; or whether it could not be forced! I set up such a shrill alarum, that the den of Cacus rang with it; when looking round, who should it be but the old negro in his shirt, holding a dark lanthorn in one hand, and the instrument of my punishment in the other.

I heard you all the while. You thought you should find the grate open, did not you? You may take it for granted, my friend, that henceforth it will always be shut. When we keep any one here against his will, he must be a cleverer fellow than you to make his escape. In the mean time, at the howl I had set up two or three of the robbers waked suddenly; and not knowing but the holy brotherhood might be falling upon them, they got up and called their comrades. Without the loss of a moment all were on the alert.

Swords and carabines were put in requisition, and the whole posse advanced forward almost in a state of nature to the place where I was parleying with Domingo. But as soon as they learned the cause of the uproar, their alarm resolved itself into a peal of laughter. How now, Gil Blas, said the apostate son of the church, you have not been a good six hours with us, and are you tired of our company already? You must have a great objection to retirement.

Why, what would you do if you were a Carthusian friar? Get along with you, and go to bed. With this hint he retired, and the rest of the party went back to their rooms. The old negro, taking credit to himself for his vigilance, returned to his stable; and I found my way back to my charnel-house, where I passed the remainder of the night in weeping and wailing. FOR the first few days I thought I should have given up the ghost for very spite and vexation. The lingering life I led was nearly akin to death itself; but in the end my good genius whispered me to play the hypocrite, I aimed at looking a little more cheerful; began to laugh and sing, though it was some times on the wrong side of my mouth; in a word, I put so good a face on the matter, that Leonarda and Domingo were completely taken in.

They thought the bird was reconciled to his cage. The robbers entertained the same notion. I looked as brisk as the beverage I poured out, and put in my oar whenever I thought I could say a good thing. My freedom, far from offending, was taken in good part. Gil Blas, quoth the captain one evening, while I was playing the buffoon, you have done well, my friend, to banish melancholy. I am delighted with your wit and humour.

Some people wear a mask at first acquaintance; I had no notion what a jovial fellow you were. My praises now seemed to run from mouth to mouth. They were all so partial to me, that, not to miss my opportunity; — Gentlemen, quoth I, allow me to tell you a piece of my mind. Since I have been your guest, a new light breaks in upon me. I have bid adieu to vulgar prejudices, and caught a ray at the fountain of your illumination. I feel that I was born to be your knight companion. I languish to make one among you, and will stand my chance of a halter with the best. All the company cried Hear!

It was then determined unanimously to give me a trial in some inferior department; afterwards to bespeak me a good desperate encounter in which I might show my prowess; and if I answered expectation to give me a high and responsible employment in the commonwealth. It was necessary therefore to go on exhibiting a copy of my countenance, and doing my best in my office of cup-bearer.

I was impatient beyond measure; for I only aspired after the honours of the sitting, to obtain the liberty of going abroad with the rest; and I was in hopes that by running the risk of getting my neck into one noose I might get it out of another. This was my only chance. The time nevertheless seemed long to wait, and I kept my eye on Domingo, with the hope of outwitting him: Orpheus as leader of the band, with a complete orchestra of performers as good as himself, could not have soothed the savage breast of this Cerberus. The truth is, by the by, that for fear of exciting his suspicion, I did not set my wits against him so much as I might have done.

He was on the look-out, and I was obliged to play the prude, or my virtue might have come into disgrace. I therefore stopped proceedings till the time of my probation should expire, to which I looked forward with impatience, just as if I was waiting for a place under government. Heaven be praised, in about six months I gained my end. The commandant Rolando addressing his regiment, said: Comrades, we must stand upon honour with Gil Blas. I have no bad opinion of our young candidate; we shall make something of him.

We will lead him on in the path of honour. The robbers applauded the sentiments of the captain with a thunder of acclamation; and to show me how much I was considered as one of the gang, from that moment they dispensed with my attendance at the side board. Dame Leonarda was reinstated in the office from which she had been discharged to make room for me. They made me change my dress, which consisted in a plain short cassock a good deal the worse for wear, and tricked me out in the spoils of a gentleman lately robbed. After this inauguration, I made my arrangements for my first campaign.

IT was past midnight in the month of September, when I issued from the subterraneous abode as one of the fraternity. I was armed, like them, with a carabine, two pistols, a sword, and a bayonet, and was mounted on a very good horse, the property of the gentleman in whose costume I appeared. I had lived so long like a mole under-ground, that the daybreak could not fail of dazzling me: We passed close by Pontferrada, and were determined to lie in ambush behind a small wood skirting the road to Leon.

There we were waiting for whatever fortune might please to throw in our way, when we espied a Dominican friar, mounted, contrary to the rubric of those pious fathers, on a shabby mule. God be praised, exclaimed the captain with a sneer, this is a noble beginning for Gil Blas. Let him go and trounce that monk: The connoisseurs were all of opinion that this commission suited my talents to a hair, and exhorted me to do my best Gentlemen, quoth I, you shall have no reason to complain.

I will strip this holy father to his birth-day suit, and give you complete right and title to his mule. No, no, said Rolando, the beast would not be worth its fodder: Hereupon I issued from the wood and pushed up to the man of God, doing penance all the time in my own breast for the sin I was committing.

I could have liked to have turned my back upon my fellows at that moment; but most of them had the advantage of better horses than mine: I could not therefore venture on so perilous an alternative; so that claiming acquaintance with the reverend father, I asked to look at his purse, and just put out the end of a pistol. He stopped short to gaze upon me; and, without seeming much frightened, said, My child, you are very young; this is an early apprenticeship to a bad trade. Father, replied I, bad as it is, I wish I had begun it sooner. My business on the high road is not to hear sermons.

Money makes my mare to go. Money said he, with a look of surprise; you have a poor opinion of Spanish charity, if you think that people of my stamp have any occasion for such trash upon their travels. Let me undeceive you. We are made welcome wherever we go, and pay for our board and lodgings by our prayers.

In short, we carry no cash with us on the road; but draw drafts upon Providence. That is all very well, replied I; yet for fear your drafts should be dishonoured, you take care to keep about you a little supply for present need. But come, father, let us make an end: At these words, which I pronounced with a determined air, the friar began to think the business grew serious.

Since needs must, said he, there is wherewithal to satisfy your craving. A word and a blow is the only rhetoric with you gentlemen. As he said this, be drew a large leathern purse from under his gown, and threw it on the ground. I then told him he might make the best of his way: While he was riding for his life, I dismounted.

The purse was none of the lightest. I mounted again, and got back to the wood, where those nice. I could hardly get my foot out of the stirrup, so eager were they to shake hands with me. Courage, Gil Blas, said Rolando; you have done wonders. I have had my eyes on you during your whole performance, and have watched your countenance. I have no hesitation in predicting that you will become in time a very accomplished highwayman.

The lieutenant and the rest chimed in with the prophecy, and assured me that I could not fail of fulfilling it hereafter. I thanked them for the elevated idea they had formed of my talents, and promised to do all in my power not to discredit their penetration. After they had lavished praises, the effect rather of their candour than of my merit, they took it into their heads to examine the booty I had brought under my convoy.

It should be fat and flourishing, continued one of them, for these good fathers do not mortify the flesh when they travel. The captain untied the purse, opened it, and took out two or three handfuls of little copper coins, an Agnus—Dei here and there, and some scapularies. At sight of so novel a prize, all the privates burst into an immoderate fit of laughter. One joke brought on another. These rascals, especially the fellow who had retired from the church to our subterraneous hermitage, began to make themselves merry on the subject.

They said a thousand good things, such as showed at once the sharpness of their wits and the profligacy of their morals. They were all on the broad grin except myself. It was impossible to be butt and marksman too. They each of them shot their bolt at me, and the captain said: Faith, Gil Blas, I would advise you as a friend not to set your wit a second time against the church: WE lounged about the wood for the greater part of the day, without lighting on any traveller to pay toll for the friar.

At length we were beginning to wear our homeward way, as if confining the feats of the day to this laughable adventure, which furnished a plentiful fund of conversation, when we got intelligence of a carriage on the road drawn by four mules. They were coming at a hard gallop, with three outriders, who seemed to be well armed. Rolando ordered the troop to halt, and hold a council, the result of whose deliberations was to attack the enemy.

We were regularly drawn up in battle-array, and marched to meet the caravan. In spite of the applause I had gained in the wood, I felt an oozing sort of tremour come over me, with a chill in my veins and a chattering in my teeth that seemed to bode me no good. As it never rains but it pours, I was in the front of the battle, hemmed in between the captain and the lieutenant, who had given me that post of honour, that I might lose no time in learning to stand fire. Rolando, observing the low ebb of my animal spirits, looked askew at me, and muttered in a tone more resolute than courtly: Gil Blas, look sharp about you!

I give you fair notice, that if you play the recreant, I shall lodge a couple of bullets in your brain. I believed him as firmly as my catechism, and thought it high time not to neglect the hint; so that I was obliged to lay an embargo on the expression of my fears, and to think only of recommending my soul to God in silence.

While all this was going on, the carriage and horsemen drew near. They suspected what sort of gentry we were; and guessing our trade by our badge, stopped within gun-shot. They had carabines and pistols as well as ourselves.

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While they were preparing to give us a brisk reception, there jumped out of the coach a well-looking gentleman richly dressed. He mounted a led horse, and put himself at the head of his party. Though they were but four against nine, for the coachman kept his seat on the box, they advanced towards us with a confidence calculated to redouble my terror.

Yet I did not forget, though trembling in every joint, to hold myself in readiness for a shot: I shall not give the particulars of the engagement; though present, I was no eye-witness; and my fear, while it laid hold of my imagination, drew a veil over the anticipated horror of the sight. All I know about the matter is, that after a grand discharge of musquetry, I heard my companions hallooing Victory! At this shout the terror which had made a forcible entry on my senses was ejected, and I beheld the four horse men stretched lifeless on the field of battle.

On our side, we had only one man killed. This was the renegade parson, who had now filled the measure of his apostasy, and paid for jesting with scapularies and such sacred things. The lieutenant received a slight wound in the arm; but the bullet did little more than graze the skin. Master Rolando was the first at the coach-door. Within was a lady of from four to five-and-twenty, beautiful as an angel in his eyes, in spite of her sad condition.

She had fainted during the conflict, and her swoon still continued. While he was fixed like a statue on her charms, the rest of were in profound meditation on the plunder. We began by securing the horses of the defunct; for these animals, frightened at the report of our pieces, had got to a little distance, after the loss of their riders. For the mules, they had not wagged a hair, though the coachman had jumped from his box during the engagement to make his escape. We dismounted for the purpose of unharnessing and loading them with some trunks tied before and behind the carriage.

This settled, the captain ordered the lady, who had not yet recovered her faculties, to be set on horseback before the best mounted of the robbers; then, leaving the carriage and the uncased carcases by the road-side, we carried off with us the lady, the mules, and the horses.

The Event of the great design, conceived by Gil Blas. THE night had another hour to run when we arrived at our subterraneous mansion. The first thing we did was to lead our cavalry to the stable, where we were obliged to groom them ourselves, as the old negro had been confined to his bed for three days, with a violent fit of the gout, and an universal rheumatism. He had no member supple but his tongue; and that he employed in testifying his indignation by the most horrible impieties. Leaving this wretch to curse and swear by himself, we went to the kitchen to look after the lady.

So successful were our attentions, that we succeeded in recovering her from her fit. But when she had once more the use of her senses, and saw herself encompassed by strangers, she knew the extent of her misfortune, and shuddered at the thought. All that grief and despair together could present, of images the most distressing, appeared depicted in her eyes, which she lifted up to heaven, as if in reproach for the indignities she was threatened with.

Then, giving way at once to these dreadful apprehensions, she fell again into a swoon, her eyelids closed once more, and the robbers thought that death was going to snatch from them their prey. After this scientific operation, it was thought expedient to examine the baggage. Some of the trunks were filled with laces and linen, others with various articles of wearing apparel: After this investigation, the cook set out the side-board, laid the cloth, and served up supper.

Our conversation ran first on the great victory we had achieved. On this subject said Rolando, directing himself to me, Confess the truth, Gil Blas: I candidly admitted the fact; but promised to fight like a crusader after my second or third campaign. Hereupon all the company took my part, alleging the sharpness of the action in my excuse, and that it was very well for a novice, not yet accustomed to the smell of powder.

We next talked of the mules and horses just added to our subterraneous stud. It was determined to set off the next morning before day-break, and sell them at Mansilla, before there was any chance of our expedition having got wind. This resolution taken, we finished our supper, and returned to the kitchen to pay our respects to the lady.

We found her in the same condition. Nevertheless, though the dregs of life seemed almost exhausted, some of these poachers could not help casting a wicked leer at her, and giving visible signs of a motion within them, which would have broken out into overt act, had not Rolando put a spoke in their wheel by representing that they ought at least to wait till the lady had got rid of her terrors and squeamishness, and could come in for her share of the amusement.

Their respect for the captain operated as a check to the incontinence of their passions. Nothing else could have saved the lady; nor would death itself probably have secured her from violation. Again therefore did we leave this unhappy female to her melancholy fate. Rolando contented himself with charging Leonarda to take care of her, and we all separated for the night.

I had no doubt of her being a woman of quality, and thought her lot on that account so much the more piteous.

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A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 03 by Voltaire

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