In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

notes to the text The Author’s Declaration 1. “Phaedrus”: Gaius Julius Phaedrus (c. 25 bc–ad 50), author of a collection of fables in five books based on the beast stories by Aesop and others. See Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane, préface, bibliographie et notes par Maurice Bardon (Paris: Éditions Garnier Frères, 1962), 1:353 n. 1, cited throughout the notes as Bardon. 2. “Stulte nudabit animi conscientiam”: The entire passage reads: “Suspicione si quis errabit sua / Et rapiet ad se quod erit commune omnium, / Stulte nudabit animi conscientiam.” Gaius Julius Phaedrus (15 bc–ad 50) in his Fables (bk. 3, prologue, lines 45–47) claims that his fables are not aimed at anyone in particular: “If anyone should go wrong through his own suspicion and take to himself what is meant for all, he will foolishly lay bare his bad conscience” (trans. Thomas Kaminski). 3. “physicians”: The physician conducted his examination and diagnosis by listening to the patients describe their symptoms and then reasoning cause and cure. See also “surgeon” (bk. 1, chap. 10, n. 1) and “apothecary” (bk. 2, chap. 4, n. 7). Gil Blas to the Reader 1. “Two scholars, in their way from Pennasiel to Salamanca”: Salamanca is home to the University of Salamanca, which was founded by Alfonso IX of Leon in 1218. One of the famous universities of medieval Europe, Salamanca became the religious and cultural center of Spain and attracted thousands of students to its class in civil and canon law. See Smollett’s note (179). 2. “Licentiate Peter Garcias”: A licentiate has received a license to practice an art or a profession . 3. “ducats”: In circulation until the eighteenth century, ducats were “gold coin[s] of varying value, formerly used in most European countries” (OED Online). 4. “the precept of Horace, profit mingled with pleasure”: Roman poet and satirist (65–8 bc). Le Sage paraphrases Horace’s oft-quoted precept from Ars poetica 1.343 that literature should instruct and please. See Smollett’s notes (326, 363). After supporting Brutus in the civil wars, Horace was granted amnesty but forfeited his inheritance. Employed at the Treasury and Records Office, Horace wrote poetry that Virgil admired. Virgil introduced him to Maecenas, associate to Octavian Augustus, the first Roman emperor. For Maecenas, see bk. 7, chap. 13, n. 12. Book 1 Chapter 1 1. “she was no chicken”: “qui n’était plus dans sa première jeunesse” (1:1–2). A youthful person. 2. “canon”: One of the body of dignitaries or prebendaries attached to a cathedral or a collegiate church. 550 Notes to Pages 11–16 3. “horn-book”: “alphabet” (1:2). “A leaf of paper containing the alphabet . . . protected by a thin plate of translucent horn, and mounted on a tablet of wood with a projecting piece for a handle” (OED Online). 4. “breviary”: A Roman Catholic work that contains the “divine offices” (OED Online). 5. “birch”: “férule” (1:3). A bundle of birch twigs bound together for an instrument of flagellation of schoolboys (OED Online). 6. “Hibernian geniuses”: “figures Hibernoises” (1:4). Irish intellectuals, arriving in France in great numbers in the retinue of the fled James Stuart, had a reputation for being disputers (Bardon, 1:354 n. 20). 7. “bedlamites”: “Possedez” (1:4). The English refers to the inhabitants of Bedlam Hospital, where the mentally ill were shut in; figuratively, a mad person. 8. “pistoles”: Spanish gold coins worth, at the time, between sixteen and eighteen shillings; also, from the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries, various gold coins resembling the Spanish pistole (OED Online). Chapter 2 1. “royals”: A royal, or real, is a generic term for a Spanish coin. 2. “insatiable delight”: An addition by Smollett. 3. “the barrel of a carbine, in my apprehension longer than a pike”: A carbine is a firearm, shorter than a musket, used by the cavalry; a pike, formerly the main weapon of the infantrymen, is a weapon consisting of a long wooden shaft with a pointed head of metal (OED Online). 4. “portmanteau”: A case or bag for carrying heavy clothing, originally designed for horseback travel (OED Online). 5. “turn the penny”: “valoir le bouchon” (1:9). 6. “jocky”: “maquignon” (1:10). Bardon reports that this means, derogatively, “horse-seller” (1:355 n. 31). 7. “meagre day”: A day of restricted diet. 8. “link of philosophy”: “le flambeau de la Philosophie” (1:13). 9. “mirror of learning”: “sçavantissime” (1:13). 10. “Greece was of...

Share