Les Huguenots (first performed in Paris in 1836) and Robert, i.e., Robert the Devil (first performed in Paris in 1831), were performed by Meyerbeer (1791–1864).

… Write... about the "Inspector General"... Painfully experiencing the rumors caused by the play in society, Gogol was at first irritated at the mere mention of his comedy; From the spring of 1836 to the spring of 1837, The Government Inspector was performed in St. Petersburg 26 times (see V. Gippius. "Gogol in Letters and Memoirs". Moscow, 1931, p. 158, note. 2).

I'm scared to think of all my maranias. Wed. in a letter to Zhukovsky dated June 28/16, 1836: "What is all that I have written so far? It seems to me as if I am unfolding an old student's notebook" (see No 19*).

… Modern fame does not cost a penny. A few years earlier, Gogol had thought otherwise; in his letter to Pogodin dated February 20, 1833, we read: "I do not know why I am now so thirsty for modern glory."

Pushkin's poem "The Commander" was published in the 3rd, and the story "The Captain's Daughter" in the 4th book of the "Sovremennik" for 1836.

Ivan Grigorievich - Pashchenko; see note. to No 27*.

N. Kukolnik's "Art Newspaper" began to be published in St. Petersburg in August 1836.

Konstantin Mikhailovich Bazili (1809–1884), Gogol's comrade at the Nizhyn Gymnasium, later a prominent diplomat. He is known as the author of a number of works on the East. His article "The Bosphorus" mentioned in the letter was published in the "Son of the Fatherland" for 1836 and was included in a separate edition "The Bosphorus and New Essays on Constantinople", 2 parts, St. Petersburg. 1836.

Mokritsky, Apollon Nikolayevich (1811–1871) — Gogol's younger comrade at the Nizhyn gymnasium, class of 1830, later academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts.

Danchenko — see note. to No 27*.

The Komarovs are apparently Alexander Alexandrovich, a teacher of literature, a close acquaintance of N. Y. Prokopovich, and his cousin A. S. Komarov (see I. I. Panaev. "Literary Memoirs", ed. "Academia", Leningrad, 1928).

Kraevsky began to publish literary additions to "The Russian Invalid" in 1837, and Gogol protested against the inclusion of his name in the list of contributors to this publication.

Kushakevich, Stephin – judging by the context, Prokopovich's corps colleagues.

Lukashevich, Platon Akimovich — one of Gogol's comrades at the Nizhyn gymnasium.