The Inspector - 'General: a Russian Comedy. By Nikolai V. Gogol. Translated
from the original by Arthur A. Sykes. (Walter Scott.)—The plot of Gogol's comedy is simple in the .extreme. The officials of a Russian town, a corrupt and oppressive set—this is taken for granted, it would seem—are terrified by the approaching visit of an inspector. When they are in this mood a stranger presents himself, is mistaken for the expected arrival, and avails himself of the mistake to swindle his entertainers right and left. When he has departed, the real inspector arrives- What happens afterwards we are left to guess, for the last scene is in dumb-show. The play is amusing, but hardly so good as to anount for the declaration of one critic that "Russia possesses only one comedy—the Revivir [the Russian equivalent for " In-
spector-General"]—which quite fulfils the requirements of dra- matic art."
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