BOOK 1
CH. I. -- The birth and education of Gil Blas. CH. II -- Gil Blas' alarm on his road to Pegnaflor; his adventures on his arrival in that town; and the character of the men with whom he supped. CH. III. -- The muleteer's temptation on the road; its consequences, and the situation of Gil Blas between Scylla and Charybdis. CH. IV. -- Description of the subterraneous dwelling and its contents. CH. V. -- The arrival of the banditti in the subterraneous retreat, with an account of their pleasant conversation. CH. VI. -- The attempt of Gil Blas to escape, and its success. CH. VII. -- Gil Blas, not being able to do what he likes, does what he can. CH. VIII. -- Gil Blas goes out with the gang, and performs an exploit on the highway. CH. IX. -- A more serious incident. CH. X. -- The lady's treatment from the robbers. The event of the great design, conceived by Gil Blas. CH. XI -- The history of Donna Mencia de Mosquera. CH. XII. -- A disagreeable interruption. CH. XIII. -- The lucky means by which Gil Blas escaped from prison, and his travels afterwards. CH XIV. -- Donna Mencia's reception of him at Burgos. CH. XV. -- Gil Blas dresses himself to more advantage, and receives a second present from the lady. His equipage on setting out from Burgos. CH. XVI. -- Showing that prosperity will slip through a man's fingers. CH. XVII. -- The measures Gil Blas took after the adventure of the ready-furnished lodging.BOOK 2
CH. I. -- Fabricio introduces Gil Blas to the Licentiate Sédillo, and procures him a reception. The domestic economy of that clergyman. Picture of his housekeeper. CH. II. -- The canon's illness; his treatment; the consequence; the legacy to Gil Blas. CH. III. -- Gil Blas enters into Doctor Sangrado's service, and becomes a famous practitioner. CH. IV. -- Gil Blas goes on practising physic with equal success and ability. Adventure of the recovered ring. CH. V. -- Sequel of the foregoing adventure. Gil Blas retires from practice, and from the neighbourhood of Valladolid. CH. VI. -- His route from Valladolid, with a description of his fellow-traveller. CH. VII. -- The journeyman barber's story. CH. VIII. -- The meeting of Gil Blas and his companion with a man soaking crusts of bread at a spring, and the particulars of their conversation. CH. IX. -- The meeting of Diego with his family; their circumstances in life; great rejoicings on the occasion; the parting scene between him and Gil Blas.BOOK 3
CH. I. -- The arrival of Gil Blas at Madrid. His first place there. CH. II. -- The astonishment of Gil Blas at meeting Captain Rolando in Madrid, and that robber's curious narrative. CH. III -- Gil Blas is dismissed by Don Bernard de Castil Blazo, and enters into the service of a beau. CH. IV. -- Gil Blas gets into company with his fellows; they shew him a ready road to the reputation of wit, and impose on him a singular oath. CH. V. -- Gil Blas becomes the darling of the fair sex, and makes an interesting acquaintance. CH. VI. -- The Prince's company of comedians. CH. VII. -- History of Don Pompeyo de Castro. CH. VIII. -- An accident, in consequence of which Gil Blas was obliged to look out for another place. CH. IX. -- A new service, after the death of Don Matthias de Silva. CH. X. -- Much such another as the foregoing. CH. XI. -- A theatrical life and an author's life CH. XII. -- Gil Blas acquires a relish for the theatre, and takes a full swing of its pleasures, but soon becomes disgusted.BOOK 4
CH. I. -- Gil Blas not being able to reconcile himself to the morals of the actresses, quits Arsenia, and gets into a more reputable service. CH. II. -- Aurora's reception of Gil Blas. Their conversation. CH. III. -- A great change at Don Vincent's. Aurora's strange resolution. CH. IV. -- The Fatal Marriage; a Novel. CH. V. -- The behaviour of Aurora de Guzman on her arrival at Salamanca. CH. VII -- Gil Blas leaves his place and goes into the service of Don Gonzales Pacheco. CH. VIII. -- The Marchioness of Chaves: her character, and that of her company. CH. IX. -- An incident that parted Gil Blas and the Marchioness of Chaves. The subsequent destination of the former. CH. X. -- The history of Don Alphonso and the fair Seraphina. CH. XI. -- The old hermit turns out an extraordinary genius, and Gil Blas finds himself among his former acquaintance.BOOK 5
CH. I. -- History of Don Raphael. CH. II -- Don Raphael's consultation with his company, and their adventures as they were preparing to leave the wood.BOOK 6
CH. I. -- The fate of Gil Blas and his Companions after they took leave of the Count de Polan. One of Ambrose's notable contrivances set off by the manner of its execution. CH. II -- The determination of Don Alphonso and Gil Blas after this adventure.BOOK 7
CH. I. -- The tender attachment between Gil Blas and Dame Lorenza Sephora. CH. II. -- What happened to Gil Blas after his retreat from the castle of Leyva; shewing that those who are crossed in love are not always the most miserable of mankind. CH. III. -- Gil Blas becomes the Archbishop's favourite, and the channel of all his favours. CH. IV. -- The Archbishop is afflicted with a stroke of apoplexy. How Gil Blas gets into a dilemma, and how he gets out. CH. V. -- The course which Gil Blas took after the archbishop had given him his dismissal. His accidental meeting with the licentiate who was so deeply in his debt, and a picture of gratitude in the person of a parson. CH. VI. -- Gil Blas goes to the play at Grenada. His surprise at seeing one of the actresses, and what happened thereupon. CH. VII. -- Laura's Story. CH. VIII. -- The reception of Gil Blas among the players at Grenada; and another old acquaintance picked up in the green-room. CH. IX. -- An extraordinary companion at supper; and an account of their conversation. CH. X. -- The Marquis de Marialva gives a commission to Gil Blas. That faithful secretary acquits himself of it as shall be related. CH. XI. -- A thunderbolt to Gil Blas. CH. XII. -- Gil Blas takes lodgings in a ready-furnished house. He gets acquainted with Captain Chinchilla. That officer's character and business at Madrid. CH. XIII. -- Gil Blas comes across his dear friend Fabricio at court. Great ecstacy on both sides. They adjourn together, and compare notes; but their conversation is too curious to be anticipated. CH. XIV. -- Fabricio finds a situation for Gil Blas in the establishment of Count Galiano, a Sicilian nobleman. CH. XV. -- The employment of Gil Blas in Don Galiano's household. CH. XVI. -- An accident happens to the Count de Galiano's monkey; his lordship's affliction on that occasion. The illness of Gil Blas, and its consequences.BOOK 8
CH. I. -- Gil Blas scrapes an acquaintance of some value, and finds wherewithal to make him amends for the Count de Galiano's ingratitude. Don Valerio de Luna's story. CH. II. -- Gil Blas is introduced to the Duke of Lerma, who admits him among the number of his secretaries, and requires a specimen of his talents, with which he is well satisfied. CH. III. -- All is not gold that glitters. Some uneasiness resulting from the discovery of that principle in philosophy, and its practical application to existing circumstances. CH. IV. -- Gil Blas becomes a favourite with the Duke of Lerma, and the confidant of an important secret. CH. V. -- The joys, the honours, and the miseries of a court life, in the person of Gil Blas. CH. VI. -- Gil Blas gives the Duke of Lerma a hint of his wretched condition. That minister deals with him accordingly. CH. VII. -- A good use made of the fifteen hundred ducats. A first introduction to the trade of office, and an account of the profit accruing therefrom. CH. VIII. -- History of Don Roger de Rada. CH. IX. -- Gil Blas makes a large fortune in a short time, and behaves like other wealthy upstarts. CH. X. -- The morals of Gil Blas become at court much as if they had never been at all. A commission from the Count de Lemos, which, like most court commissions, implies an intrigue. CH. XI. -- The Prince of Spain's secret visit, and presents to Catalina. CH. XII. -- Catalina's real condition a worry and alarm to Gil Blas. His precautions for his own ease and quiet. CH. XIII. -- Gil Blas goes on personating the great man. He hears news of his family: a touch of nature on the occasion. A grand quarrel with Fabricio.BOOK 9
CH. I. -- Scipio's scheme of marriage for Gil Blas. The match, a rich goldsmith's daughter. Circumstances connected with this speculation. CH. II. -- In the progress of political vacancies, Gil Blas recollects that there is such a man in the world as Don Alphonso de Leyva; and renders him a service from motives of vanity. CH. III. -- Preparations for the marriage of Gil Blas. A spoke in the wheel of Hymen. CH. IV. -- The treatment of Gil Blas in the tower of Segovia. The cause of his imprisonment. CH. V. -- His reflections before he went to sleep that night, and the noise that waked him. CH. VI -- History of Don Gaston de Cogollos and Donna Helena de Galisteo. CH. VII. -- Scipio finds Gil Blas out in the tower of Segovia, and brings him a budget of news. CH. VIII. -- Scipio's first journey to Madrid: its object and success. Gil Blas falls sick. The consequence of his illness. CH. IX. -- Scipio's second journey to Madrid. Gil Blas is set at liberty on certain conditions. Their departure from the tower of Segovia, and conversation on their journey. CH. X. -- Their doings at Madrid. The rencounter of Gil Blas in the street, and its consequences.BOOK 10
CH. I. -- Gil Blas sets out for the Asturias; and passes through Valladolid, where he goes to see his old master, Doctor Sangrado. By accident, he comes across Signor Manuel Ordonnez, governor of the hospital. CH. II. -- Gil Blas continues his journey, and arrives in safety at Oviedo. The condition of his family. His father's death, and its consequences. CH. III. -- Gil Blas sets out for Valencia, and arrives at Lirias; description of his seat; the particulars of his reception, and the characters of the inhabitants he found there. CH. IV. -- A journey to Valencia, and a visit to the lords of Leyva. The conversation of the gentlemen, and Seraphina's demeanour. CH. V. -- Gil Blas goes to the play, and sees a new tragedy. The success of the piece. The public taste at Valencia. CH. VI. -- Gil Blas, walking about the streets of Valencia, meets with a man of sanctity, whose pious face he has seen somewhere else. What sort of man this man of sanctity turns out to be. CH. VII. -- Gil Blas returns to his seat at Lirias. Scipio's agreeable intelligence, and a reform in the domestic arrangements. CH. VIII. -- The loves of Gil Blas and the fair Antonia. CH. IX. -- Nuptials of Gil Blas with the fair Antonia; the style and manner of the ceremony; the persons assisting thereat; and the festivities ensuing there upon. CH. X. -- The honey-moon (a very dull time for the reader as a third person) enlivened by the commencement of Scipio's story. CH. XI. -- Continuation of Scipio's story. CH. XII. -- Conclusion of Scipio's story.BOOK 11
CH. I. -- Containing the subject of the greatest joy that Gil Blas ever felt, followed up, as our greatest pleasures too generally are, by the most melancholy event of his life. Great changes at court, producing, among other important revolutions, the return of Santillane. 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. CH. III. -- The project of retirement is prevented, and Joseph Navarro brought upon the stage again, by an act of signal service. CH. IV. -- Gil Blas ingratiates himself with the Count of Olivarez. CH. V. -- The private conversation of Gil Blas with Navarro, and his first employment in the service of the Count d'Olivarez. CH. VI. The application of the three hundred pistoles, and Scipio's commission connected with them. Success of the state paper mentioned in the last chapter. CH. VII. -- Gil Blas meets with his friend Fabricio once more; the accident, place, and circumstances described; with the particulars of their conversation together. CH. VIII. -- Gil Blas gets forward progressively in his master's affections. Scipio's return to Madrid, and account of his journey. CH. IX.. -- How my lord duke married his only daughter, and to whom: with the bitter consequences of that marriage. CH. X. -- Gil Blas meets with the poet Nunez by accident, and learns that he has written a tragedy, which is on the point of being brought out at the theatre royal. The ill fortune of the piece, and the good fortune of its author. CH. XI. -- Santillane gives Scipio a situation: the latter sets out for New Spain. CH. XII. -- Don Alphonso de Leyva comes to Madrid; the motive of his journey a severe affliction to Gil Blas, and a cause of rejoicing subsequent thereon. CH. XIII. -- Gil Blas meets Don Gaston de Cogollos and Don Andrew de Tordesillas at the drawing-room, and adjourns with them to a more convenient place. The story of Don Gaston and Donna Helena de Galisteo concluded. Santillane renders some service to Tordesillas. CH. XIV. -- Santillane's visit to the poet Nunez, the company and conversation.BOOK 12
CH I. -- Gil Blas sent to Toledo by the minister. The purpose of his journey and its success. CH. II. -- Santillane makes his report to the minister, who commissions him to send for Lucretia. The first appearance of that actress before the court. CH. III. -- Lucretia's popularity; her appearance before the king; his passion, and its consequences. CH. IV. -- Santillane in a new office. CH. V. -- The son of the Genoese is acknowledged by a legal instrument, and named Don Henry Philip de Guzman. Santillane establishes his household, and arranges the course of his studies. CH. VI. -- Scipio's return from New Spain. Gil Blas places him about Don Henry's person. That young nobleman's course of study. His career of honour, and his father's matrimonial speculation on his behalf. A patent of nobility conferred on Gil Blas against his will. CH. VII. -- An accidental meeting between Gil Blas and Fabricio. Their last conversation together, and a word to the wise from Nunez. CH. IX. -- The revolution of Portugal, and disgrace of the prime minister. CH. X. -- A difficult, but successful, weaning from the world. The minister's employments in his retreat. CH. XI. -- A change in his lordship for the worse. The marvellous cause, and melancholy consequences, of his dejection. CH. XII. -- The proceedings at the Castle of Loeches after his lordship's death, and the course which Santillane adopted. CH. XIII. -- The return of Gil Blas to his seat. His joy at finding his god-daughter Seraphina marriageable; and his own second venture in the lottery of love. CH. XIV. -- A double marriage, and the conclusion of the history.
