эспаньолка (hist.), the imperial, a pointed beard growing below the lower lip.
Торжок, an old town in Tver Province (now Kalinin Region, Russian Federation).
Пожарские котлеты, chicken rissoles.
половой (arch.), servant in an inn.
осьмушка (восьмушка) (arch.), octavo (8 vo.; one-eighth of a paper sheet).
А що се таке у вас, пане? (Ukr.) What’s that you have, sir?
Зимний дворец, winter résidence of the Russian tsars in St. Petersburg. Zhukovsky iived in the Winter Palace as tutor of the Crown prince.
Валуев, Pyotr Alexandrovich Valuyev (1814–1890), Russian statesman and writer; governtnent minister, later chairman of the Committee of Ministers.
Девичье поле, area in Moscow’s Southwest, in the bend of the Moskva River.
Редкин, Pyotr Grigoryevich Redkin (1808–1891), jurist and specialist in the history of philosophy; professor at Moscow University, later head of St. Petersburg University.
Свербеева, Yekaterina Alexandrovna Sverbeyeva (d. 1892), wife of D. Sverbeyev, a rich landowner, retired diplomat and man of letters; the Sverbeyevs had a literary salon in Moscow.
Боткин, Nikolai Petrovich Botkin (1813–1869), brother of the writer V. Botkin and the distinguished physician S. Botkin, Professor of St. Petersburg’s Medical Academy.
Боткин, Vasily Petrovich Botkin (1811–1869), Russian critic and writer, member of N. Stankevich's circle; he was a friend of V. Belinsky.
невидимая рука, here: Providence, divine guidance.
Панов, Vasily Alexeyevich Panov (1819–1849), writer of the Slavophile trend; a relative of the Aksakovs.
Ганау, Hanau, German town on the Main.
Языков, Nikolai Mikhailovich Yazykov (1803–1846), Russian poet; he was a friend of both Pushkin and Gogol.
Chapter 6
барыш (coll.), profit, gain.
ценз, qualification; here, a property qualification of owning a certain number of serf peasants.
qui pro quo (Lat.), кви про кво, smth. for, or in the place of, smth. else.
перипетия, peripeteia, a sudden or unexpected reversai of circumstances or a situation.
миллионщик (coll.), millionaire.
приказчик, here hist.:.steward; head, manager of a landed estate.
небречь (arch.), to disregard something, to neglect one’s duties.
без пошатки (coll.), stable, steady (from пошатнуть, to incline to one side).
кувшинное рыло, "pitcher mug"; Gogol uses this expression to describe a hideous face of which the nose is the dominant feature.
праздношатайка (arch.), idler, loafer.
негоция (arch.), commercial transaction.
кулак (arch.), a grabber who is also a thrifty and prudent person.
го́ренка (arch., dim. of