text:  Does such an argument deserve serious refutation? That is why do not you Spaniards produce a manuscript given to one Frenchman by another at Paris in the 18th century which of course if our theory be true he had the strongest temptation to destroy? Rather may the Spaniards ask why do not _you_ produce the original manuscript of the _Bachelier de Salamanque_ which would overthrow at least one portion of our hypothesis? The object of _Gil Blas_ is to exhibit a vivid representation of the follies and vices of the successive administrations of Lerma Uzeda and Olivarez; to point out the actual state of the drama in Spain under the reign of Philip IV