On the reverse: Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova.

Gogol M. I. November 14, 1846*

76. M. I. GOGOL.

Rome. November 14 <n. st. 1846>

I cannot comprehend the reason for your silence. I thought that I would find, at least on my arrival in Rome, a letter from you, but even here I was deceived. For more than three months now I have had absolutely no news of you. I am beginning to wonder if the letters are disappearing again, because if anything happened in your house—some misfortune from which God save you—someone would notify me. I am waiting for what Naples will tell me, where I am going in a few days; Perhaps your letter is there[385]. As for myself, I will say that my health, thank God, is becoming somewhat stronger, and if all the circumstances are well arranged, then I hope at the beginning of next year to set off on the desired road to venerate the Holy Sepulchre.

Soon after this letter, or perhaps together with this letter, you will receive a small book of mine, which contains in part my own confession. I should have brought it before I left. I am sending you a printed excerpt from the will, relating to you and your sisters*. Although, thanks to the ineffable mercy of God, I am once again saved, and live, and see the light of God, nevertheless read this testament and try to fulfill (both you and the sisters) at least part of my will during my lifetime. [386] You will receive six copies, one for you and the other for the sisters. Send the third copy immediately, together with the enclosed letter, to Danilevsky, asking him to notify both you and me of its receipt immediately. Give the fourth copy to Andrey Andreevich*, if he is anywhere near you; if he is in Petersburg, then, of course, there is nothing to send. You can only tell him that one copy was for him, but you did not send it because, being in Petersburg, he probably already had it and had time to read it. [387] But, instead, give this fourth copy, together with the last two, to those holy people who prayed for me in the monasteries; Ask them to read my book and pray for me more earnestly than ever before. I need prayers even more now. Do this by all means. Under various pretexts, your sisters will beg you for an extra copy, either for themselves or for their friends. Don't give it to them: this book is not for fun or for flighty society girls; Here is a matter of the soul, and therefore it is necessary that it be read first of all by spiritual fathers and people who deal with the soul and conscience of man. Others can buy it and wait to read it. I also ask you, my good and venerable mother, to pray for me and for my journey and for the well-being of all my circumstances. At all times when I am on the road, you do not go anywhere and stay in Vasilyevka. I need you to pray for me[389] in Vasilyevka, and not elsewhere. Whoever wants to see you can come to you. Answer everyone that you find it unseemly, at the time when your son has gone to such holy worship, to go to guests and indulge in some kind of amusement. My sisters, if they do not sit down, can go to Poltava alone.

I advise my sisters to read the attached sheet of the will more firmly. And I add to them, in addition, a few more words, which I ask them to fulfill so sacredly, as if it were the last will of their brother who has already died:

"That from now on, they will increase[391] affection and affability to everyone, to a much greater degree than before. Lisa had something like flirtatiousness when she happened to talk to young men or just be with them. To get it out of your head. So that they look at all young people as a sister looks at her brother; that they should be sincere, simple-minded, talkative with them, and speak as simply as they would with me, as if they had known them all for ages. That every old and old man should be looked upon as his own and as a much-loved uncle, if not as a father; that they should serve him and show him such attention[393] and so anticipate the slightest desire<> of him, so that it would really seem to him that his nieces or grandchildren were in front of him. In a word, so that even the rumor about the hospitable treatment of every guest by the hostesses of the village of Vasilyevka would spread everywhere and so that everyone would know that there really is such a place where every guest is a brother and the person closest to the heart, regardless of what condition and rank he may be."

Here are my surplus words. In them is my soulful,[394] sincere desire, and whoever fulfills it means that he loves me, and his heart is not insensitive, and there is still a particle of true nobility in his soul. When everything is as it should be, and I am ready for the journey, I will inform you of this by letter from Naples. Until the same time, that is, until the middle of January, address all your letters to Naples, poste restante. [395] Now, for now, you can visit all the monasteries, asking prayers for me, and be everywhere according to your business. But from the middle of January I will ask you to pray for me in Vasilyevka itself. Goodbye until the next letter.

On the back: Poltava. Russie. To Her Excellency Maria Ivanovna Gogol. To Poltava. From there to the village <herevnya> Vasilevka. In Russia.

Aksakov S. T., November n. st. 1846*

77. S. T. AKSAKOV.