The second volume, "Mirgorod," was equally successful, all the more so, as it introduced, together with the pure merriment which had characterized the earlier tales, and the realism which was his specialty, so to speak, a new element--pathos; "laughter piercing through a mist of tears." In this style "Old-fashioned Gentry"[20] and "How Ivan Ivanovitch Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovitch" are famous examples.

Success always turned Gogol's head, and he immediately aspired to some undertaking far beyond his powers.

In this case, for instance, despising, as usual, what he could do best, he planned a huge work, in nine volumes, on the history of the Middle Ages.

Fortunately, his preparatory studies in the history of Little Russia led him to write his splendid epic, which is a composition of the highest art, "Taras Bulba," and diverted him from his ill-digested project.
He began to recognize that literary work was not merely a pastime, but his moral duty; and the first result of this conviction was his great play "The Inspector," finished in April, 1836.

The authorities refused to produce it, but the Emperor Nicholas I.heard about it, read it, and gave imperative orders that it should be put on the stage, upholding Gogol with rapturous delight.