Alain Rene Le Sage, a French author, born at Sarzeau, Brittany, May 8, 1668, died in Boulogne, Nov. 17, 1747. An only son, and an orphan at 14 years of age, his uncle, to whom he was intrusted, sent him to be educated in the Jesuits' college at Vannes, and meantime dissipated the little property which had been left to him. He became a favorite at the college, after leaving which he seems to have held for several years an office in the collection of the taxes in Brittany. In 1692 he went to Paris to pursue his studies in philosophy and law, made his way into the best society, is said to have been offered the hand and fortune of a lady of quality, which he declined, and in 1694 married Marie Elisabeth Huyard, the daughter of a citizen. He was admitted an advocate, but preferred to seek resources in literature, and made from a Latin version a translation of the letters of Aristae-netus (Paris, 1695), which had little success. There are few traces of him for several years, till the abbe de Lyonne became his patron, gave him a pension of 600 livres, and led him to study and admire Spanish literature.

He translated three plays (1700-'2) from Roxas and Lope de Vega, none of which were successful, and his Nouvelles aventures de l'admirable Don Quichotte (2 vols., 1704-'6), from Avella-neda's continuation of Cervantes, were also unnoticed. In 1707 he translated from Calderon the comedy Don Cesar Ursin, which failed at the Theatre Francais; but a slight piece of his own, entitled Crispin rival de son maitre, had a brilliant success, and gave the first proof of his genius. His romance Le diable boiteux, a satire, the idea of which was borrowed from the Spanish of Guevara, appeared in the same year, and immediately passed through two editions. He availed himself of his experience among the farmers of the revenue in his next play, Turcaret, to attack the corruptions and ignoble vices of financiers. This powerful body is said to have offered him 100,000 livres to suppress it, and was able to prevent its representation for more than a year. It had a reputation in society before it was produced on the stage, where it was received with the greatest favor, though its excellence consists only in its delineations of manners.

His next work was the novel Gil Blas de Santillane (2 vols., 1715; vol. iii., 1724; vol. iv., 1735), a series of pictures of all classes and conditions of society and of life in Spain under all its aspects. The delicate delineations of character, the nervous and effective style, the skilful blending of the manifold portraits into one comprehensive picture, are among the merits which have made this one of the most popular of novels; and it has been translated into all the languages of Europe. Its originality has been several times contested. Voltaire ventured to assert, with no reason at all, that it was taken from the Marcos de Obregon of Espinel. The Spanish Jesuit Isla asserted, what there are no facts to confirm, that it was originally written in Spanish, but was denounced and prohibited by the government, when the author fled to France with a single copy, which came after his death into the hands of Le Sage. The delay of the comedians of the Theatre Francais in producing one of his pieces caused Le Sage to abandon them, and to write light farces and comic operas for theatres of secondary rank. Either alone or with several associates he composed more than 100 comic operas, most of which were exceedingly popular.

His principal later labors were Roland l'amoureux, an imitation of the Orlando inna-morato of Boiardo (1717 - '21); an abridged translation from the Spanish of Aleman's "Guzman de Alfarache;" the Aventures de Robert, dit le chevalier de Beauchesne (1732), from materials furnished by his widow; Ilis-toire d'Estevanille Gonzales (1734), a free translation from the Spanish; Une journee des Parques (1735); Le bachelier de Salamanque (1736); and Melange amusant de saillies d'esprit et de traits historiques des plus frappants (1743). A complete edition of his works appeared in Paris in 1828, in 12 vols. Gil Blas has been translated into English by Smollett, Proctor, Smart, and Malkin, the last being a revision of Smollett. Le diable boiteux bears in English the title of the."Devil on Two Sticks," though in the most recent editions it is called "Asmodeus;" and English translations of several of his other works have appeared.