The original idea of Crispin, Rival of his Master does not belong to Lesage, but to the Spaniard Hurtado de Mendoza. In Los Empeños del mentir Mendoza depicts the cunning of an adventurer who, after having saved a gentleman from the clutches of three brigands, tries to marry the gentlemen’s sister by passing himself off as her expected fiancé.

Similarly, in Lesage, Crispin will try to marry Angélique under the very beard, one might say, of her suitor Valére. But the resemblance remains superficial. Angélique and Valere are not the principal objects of the scheme the valet Crispin and his double, the valet La Branche, are concocting. The object is the sizable dowry of the young girl: 20,000 écus. And they very nearly make off with this dowry. Their knavery fails only because of a chance revelatory meeting. But this accident is not surprising; it is foreseen because the author has duly prepared it.