"Stubborn Things" (Facts? Truth? Rhymes?)

[Baker, John]

        This is usually credited to Gil Blas de Santillane (1715-1735), by Alain René Le Sage, or to his translator, Tobias Smollett, who translated it as The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane (1749).  Mandeville likely spoke French and wouldn't have had to wait for the translation; I don't know when over the 1715 to 1735 period the passage in question appeared, which I suppose would tell us whether Mandeville copied from Le Sage, or vice versa (unless they both had some earlier source).

John Baker


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Subject: Re: "Stubborn Things" (Facts? Truth? Rhymes?)


For "facts are stubborn things":
Earlier than any of the cites Barry posts is Bernard Mandeville, Bernard
Mandeville, <i>An Enquiry into the Origin of Honor, and the Usefulness of
Christianity in War</i> (1732), from Eighteenth Century Collections
Online.

Fred Shapiro


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