[100] There are four French translations of it, beginning with one by Chappuis, in 1600, and coming down to that of Le Sage, 1732, which last has been many times reprinted. The third in the order of dates was made by Bremont, while in prison in Holland; and, out of spite against the administration of justice, from which he was suffering, he made bitter additions to the original whenever a judge or a bailiff came into his hands. See the Preface of Le Sage. It has, naturally, a considerable number of episodes. That of Sayavedra has already been noticed, as occupying a space in the work disproportionate to every thing but the anger of its author. Another--the story of Osmyn and Daraxa, which occurs early--is a pleasing specimen of those half-Moorish, half-Christian fictions that are so characteristic a portion of Spanish literature.[101] And yet another, which is placed in Spain and in the time of the Great Constable, Alvaro de Luna, is, after all, an Italian tale of Masuccio, used subsequently by Beaumont and Fletcher in “The Little French Lawyer.”[102] But, on the whole, the attention of the reader is fairly kept either upon the hero or upon the long discussions in which the hero indulges himself, and in which he draws striking, though not unfrequently exaggerated and burlesque, sketches of all classes of society in Spain, as they successively pass in review before him. At first, Aleman thought of calling his work “A Beacon-light of Life.” The name would not have been inappropriate, and it is the qualities implied under it--the sagacity, the knowledge of life and character, and the acuteness of its reflections on men and manners--that have preserved for it somewhat of its original popularity down to our own times. [101] Parte I. Lib. I. c. 8. It is related by Guzman, however, who is much too young to tell such a story. It may be noted, also, that Guzman grows very suddenly to man’s estate, after leaving Madrid and before reaching Toledo, whither he went as fast as he could to escape pursuit. [102] Beaumont and Fletcher, ed. Weber, Edinburgh, 1812, 8vo, Vol. V. p. 120. Le Sage omits it in his version, because, he says, Scarron had made it one in his collection of tales. It has, in fact, been often used, as have many other stories of the same class.