In front of the threshold of a few cottages only is a belated family eating its late supper." Others of the tales are more exclusively national; such as "The Lost Document," "Sorotchinsky Fair," "The Enchanted Spot," and the like.

But they display the same fertility of invention, combined with skill in management, and close study of every-day customs, superstitions, and life, all of which render them invaluable, both to Russians and to foreigners.

More important are such stories as "Old-fashioned Gentry," "The Cloak" (from the volume of "St.Petersburg Tales"), wherein kindly wit is tempered with the purest, deepest pathos, while characters and customs are depicted with the greatest art and fidelity.

"The Portrait," again, is semi-fantastic, although not legendary; and the "Diary of a Madman" is unexcelled as an amusing but affecting study of a diseased mind in the ranks of petty officialdom, where the tedious, insignificant routine disperses what few wits the poor man was originally endowed with by nature.
In Gogol's greatest work, "Dead Souls," all his qualities are developed to the highest degree, though there is less pathos than in some of the short stories.

This must forever rank as a Russian classic.