as his vocation, and devoted
himself wholly to literature. At the close of 1831 the first volume of
'Tales from a Farm-House' appeared, and had an immense success. The
second volume, 'Mirgorod, followed, with equal success. It contained a
new element: the merriment of the first volume had been pure, unmixed;
in the second volume he had developed not only the realism but that
special trait of his genius, "laughter piercing through a mist of
tears," of which 'Old-Fashioned Gentry' and 'How the Two Ivans
Quarreled' offer celebrated examples. But success always flew to
Gogol's head: he immediately began to despise these products of his true
vocation, and to plan grandiose projects far beyond his powers of
education and entirely outside the range of his talent. Now, for
instance, he undertook a colossal work in nine volumes on the history of
the Middle Ages. Happily, he abandoned that, after his studies of
Little-Russian history incidental thereto had resulted in his epic of
the highest art, 'Taras Bulba.'

The first outcome of his recognition that literary work was his moral
duty, not a mere pastime, was his great play 'The Inspector.' It was
produced in April, 1836. The authorities steadfastly opposed its
production; but the Emperor Nicholas I. heard of it, read it, ordered it
produced, and upheld Gogol in enthusiastic delight. Officials,
merchants, police, literary people, everybody, attacked the author. They
had laughed at his pathos; now they raged at his comedy, refused to
recognize their own portraits, and still tried to have the play
prohibited. Gogol's health and spirits were profoundly affected by this
unexpected enmity. He fled abroad, and returned to Russia thereafter
only at intervals for brief visits, and chiefly to Moscow, where most of
his faithful friends lived. He traveled much, but spent most of his time
in Rome, where his lavish charities kept him always poor, even after the
complete success of 'The Inspector' and of the first part of 'Dead
Souls' would have enabled him to exist in comfort. He was accustomed to
say that he could only see Russia clearly when he was far from her, and
in a measure he proved this by his inimitable first volume of 'Dead
Souls.' Herein he justified Pushkin's expectations in giving him that
subject which would enable him to paint, in types, the classes and
localities of his fatherland. But this long residence in Rome was fatal
to his mind and health, and eventually extinguished