The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, Alain René le Sage [most read books .txt] 📗
- Author: Alain René le Sage
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my secretary, they advised me to go to Madrid and offer my
congratulations to the new king, as one of his former
acquaintances, with the merit of having rendered him even such
services, as the great are apt to reward more willingly than some
which are performed with cleaner hands. For my part, said Don
Alphonso, I have no doubt but they will be liberally
acknowledged. Philip the Fourth is bound in honour to pay the
Prince of Spain’s debts. I consider the affair just in the same
light as you do, said Don Caesar; and Santillane’s visit to court
will doubtless prove the occasion of his arriving at the very
first employments.
In good truth, my noble friends, exclaimed I, you do not consider
what you are talking about. It should seem, were one to give ear
to the soothing words of you both, as if I had nothing to do but
to shew my face at Madrid, and receive the key of office, or some
foreign government for my pains; but you are egregiously
mistaken. I am, on the contrary, well persuaded that the king
would pass me over as a stranger, were I to throw myself in his
way. I will make the experiment if you wish it, merely for the
sake of undeceiving you. The lords of Leyva took me at my word,
so that I could not help promising them to set out without loss
of time for Madrid. No sooner did my secretary perceive my mind
fully made up to the prosecution of this journey, than his
ecstasies were wound up to the highest pitch: he was satisfied
within himself that if I did but present my excellent person
before the new monarch, he would immediately single me out from
the crowd of political candidates, and weigh me down under a load
of dignities and emoluments. On the strength of these
conjectures, puffing himself out and amusing his fancy with the
most splendid extravagances of device, he raised me up to the
first offices of the state, and pushed forward his own preferment
in the path of my exaltation.
I therefore made my arrangements for returning to court, without
the most distant intention of again sacrificing at the shrine of
fortune, but merely to convince Don Caesar and his son of their
error, in imagining that I was at all likely to ingratiate myself
with the sovereign. It is true that there was some little lurking
vanity at the bottom of all my philosophy, sprouting up in the
shape of a desire to ascertain whether my royal master would
throw away a thought on me, now in the spring time of his new and
blushing honours. Led out of that course solely by that tempter,
curiosity, without a dream of hope, or any practical contrivance
for tuning the new reign to my own individual advantage, I set
out for Madrid with Scipio, consigning the management of my
household to Beatrice, who was well skilled in all the arts of
domestic economy.
CH. II. — Gil Blas arrives in Madrid, and makes his appearance
at court: the king is blessed with a better memory than most of
his courtiers, and recommends him to the notice of his prime
minister. Consequences of that recommendation.
WE got to Madrid in less than eight days, Don Alphonso having
given us two of his best horses, that we might lose no time on
the road. We alighted at a ready-furnished lodging, where I had
lived formerly, kept by Vincent Ferrero, my old landlord, who was
uncommonly glad to see me again.
As this man prided himself on being in the secret of whatever was
going forward either in court or city, I asked him after the best
news. There is plenty of it, whether best or worst, answered he.
Since the death of Philip the Third, the friends and partisans of
the Cardinal Duke of Lerma have been moving heaven and earth to
support his Eminence on the pinnacle of ministerial authority,
but their efforts have been ineffectual: the Count of Olivarez
has carried the day, in spite of all their industry. It is
alleged that Spain will be no loser by the exchange, and that the
present premier is possessed of a genius so extensive, a mind so
capacious, that he would be competent to wield the machine of
universal government. New brooms, they say, sweep clean! But, at
all events, you may take this for certain, that the public is
fully impressed with a very favourable opinion of his capacity:
we shall see by and by whether the Duke of Lerma’s situation is
well or ill filled up. Ferrero, having got his tongue into the
right train for wagging, gave me all the particulars of all the
changes which had taken place at court since the Count of
Olivarez had taken his seat at the helm of the state vessel.
Two days after my arrival at Madrid, I repaired to the royal
palace after my dinner, and threw myself in the king’s way as he
was crossing the lobby to his closet; but his notice was not at
all attracted by my appearance. Next day, I returned to the same
place, but with no better success. On the third day he looked me
full in the face as he passed by, but the stare was perfectly
vacant, as far as my interest or my vanity was concerned. This
being the case, I resolved in my own mind what was proper to be
done: You see, said I to Scipio, who accompanied me, that the
king is grown out of my recollection; or if his memory is not
become more frail with the elevation of his circumstances, he has
some private reasons for not choosing to renew the acquaintance.
I think we cannot do better than make our way back as fast as
possible for Valencia. Let us not be in too great a hurry for
that, sir, answered my secretary: you know better than myself,
having served a long apprenticeship, that there is no getting on
at court without patience and perseverance. Be indefatigable in
exhibiting your person to the prince’s regards: by dint of
forcing yourself on his observation, you will oblige him to ask
himself the question who this assiduous frequenter of his haunts
can possibly be, when memory must come to his aid, and trace the
features of his cheapener in the purchase of the lovely
Catalina’s good graces.
That Scipio might have nothing to reproach me with, I so far lent
myself to his wishes as to continue the same proceeding for the
space of three weeks; when at length it happened one day that the
monarch, noticing the frequency of my appearance, sent for me
into his presence. I went into the closet, not without some
perturbation of mind at the idea of a private interview with my
sovereign. Who are you? said he: your features are not altogether
strange to me. Where have I seen you? Please your majesty,
answered I trembling, I had the honour of escorting you one night
with the Count of Lemos to the house of … . Ah! I recollect
it perfectly, cried the prince, as if a sudden light had broke in
upon him: you were the Duke of Lerma’s secretary; and if I am not
mistaken, your name is Santillane. I have not forgotten that on
the occasion alluded to you served me with a most commendable
zeal, but received a left-handed recompense for your exertions.
Did you not get into prison at the conclusion of the adventure?
Yes, please your majesty, replied I: my confinement in the tower
of Segovia lasted six months; but your goodness was exercised in
procuring my release. That, replied he, does not cancel my debt
to my faithful servant Santillane: it is not enough to have
restored him to liberty, for I ought to make him ample amends for
the evils which he has suffered on the score of his alacrity in
my concerns.
Just as the prince was uttering these words, the Count of
Olivarez came into the closet. The nerves of favourites are
shaken by every breath, their irritability excited by every
trifle: he was as much astonished as any favourite need be at the
sight of a stranger in that place, and the king redoubled his
wondering propensities by the following recommendation — Count,
I consign this young man to your care, employ him, and let me
find that you provide for his advancement. The minister affected
to receive this order with the most gracious acquiescence, but
looked me over from head to foot, with a glance from the corner
of his eye, and was on tenterhooks to find out who had been so
strangely saddled upon him. Go, my friend, added the sovereign,
addressing himself to me, and waving his hand for me to withdraw;
the count will not fail to avail himself of your services in a
manner the most conducive to the interests of my government, and
the establishment of your own fortunes.
I immediately went out of the closet and made the best of my way
to the son of Coselina, who, being overrun with impatience to
inquire what the king had been talking about, fumbled at his
fingers’ ends, and was all over in an agitation. His first
question was, whether we were to return to Valencia or become a
part of the court. You shall form your own conclusions, answered
I; at the same time delighting him with an account word for word
of the little conversation I had just held with the monarch. My
dear master, said Scipio at once in the excess of his joy, will
you take me for your almanac-maker another time? You must
acknowledge that we were not in the wrong! the lords of Leyva and
myself have our eye-teeth about us! a journey to Madrid was the
only measure to be adopted in such a case. Already I anticipate
your appointment to an eminent post: you will turn out to be some
time or other a Calderona to the Count of Olivarez. That is by no
means the object of my ambition, observed I in return; the
employment is placed on too rugged an eminence to excite any
longings in my mind. I could wish for a good situation where
there could be no inducement to do what might go against my
conscience, and where the favours of my prince are not likely to
be bartered away for filthy lucre. Having experienced my own
unfitness for the possession of patronage, I cannot be
sufficiently on my guard against the inroads of avarice and
ambition. Never think about that, sir! replied my secretary, the
minister will give you some handsome appointment, which you may
fill without any impeachment of your integrity or independence.
Induced more by Scipio’s importunity than my own curiosity, I
repaired the following day before sunrise to the residence of the
Count d’Olivarez, having been informed that every morning,
whether in summer or winter, he gave audience by candlelight to
all comers. I ensconced myself modestly in a corner of the
saloon, and from my lurking-place took especial notice of the
count when he made his appearance; for I had marked his person
but cursorily in the king’s closet. He was above the middle
stature, and might pass for fat in a country where it is a rarity
to see any but lean subjects. His shoulders were so high, as to
look exactly as if he was hump-backed, but appearances were
slanderous; for his blade-bones, though inelegant, were a pair;
his head, which was large enough to he capacious, dropped down
upon his chest by the unwieldiness of its own weight; his hair
was black and unconscious of a curl, his face lengthened, his
complexion olive-coloured, his mouth retiring
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