other volumes of stories and sketches, of which the immortal "Taras
Bulba" was included in one. These other tales show an astonishing
advance in power of conception and mastery of style. I do not share
the general enthusiasm for the narrative of the comically grotesque
quarrel between the two Ivans: but the three stories, "Old-fashioned
Farmers," "The Portrait," and "The Cloak," show to a high degree that
mingling of Fantasy with Reality that is so characteristic of this
author. The obsolete old pair of lovers in "Old-fashioned Farmers" is
one of the most charming and winsome things that Gogol wrote at this
period: it came straight from the depths of his immeasurable
tenderness. It appealed to that Pity which, as every one has noticed,
is a fundamental attribute of the national Russian character. In "The
Portrait," which is partly written in the minute manner of Balzac, and
partly with the imaginative fantastic horror of Poe and Hoffmann, we
have the two sides of Gogol's nature clearly reflected. Into this
strange story he has also indicated two of the great guiding
principles of his life: his intense democratic sympathies, and his
devotion to the highest ideals in Art. When the young painter forsakes
poverty and sincerity for wealth and popularity, he steadily
degenerates as an artist and eventually loses his soul. The ending of
the story, with the disappearance of the portrait, is remarkably
clever. The brief tale called "The Cloak" or "The Overcoat" has great
significance in the history of Russian fiction, for all Russian
novelists have been more or less influenced by it. Its realism is so
obviously and emphatically realistic that it becomes exaggeration, but
this does not lessen its tremendous power: then suddenly at the very
end, it leaves the ground, even the air, and soars away into the ether
of Romance.

Although these stories were translated into English by Miss Hapgood