[31] Dvoryánskaye Gnyezdó, an untranslatable title. A Nest of Nobles or Courtiers or Gentlemen fairly expresses it.
[32] “In 1863 Ivan Sergéyevitch bought a plat of land at Baden Baden, built a house on it, and lived there until 1870.”—Polevoï.
[33] Nov, the Russian title, means merely new,—one of the words, by the way, showing the affinity of Russian with Latin, English, and the other Indo-European languages,—and is suggestive not only of new land, but of new people and new ideas.—N. H. D.
[34] His generosity was more than princely; not even the palpable impositions of his impecunious countrymen caused him to clasp his ever-open purse. It is related that a Russian family residing in Paris made frequent applications to this abundant fountain. Turgénief saw through their wiles, but let the stream still flow. The little daughter of the family showed some musical talent, and Turgénief undertook her education. It happened that there was a very exclusive school in Paris; and one fine day the ambitious mother came and besought their Mæcenas to use his influence to have the young girl admitted where no foreigner was allowed. Turgénief was at last a little nettled, and in epigrammatic Russian he said, “Make her either a candle for the Lord, or an ash-scraper for the Devil” (Bogu svyétchu ili Tchortu katchergu).—N. H. D.
[35] Tchto Dyélat, a translation of which is published by T. Y. Crowell & Co., under the title A Vital Question.
[36] Písemsky described this same generation in his great story, Liudi Sorokovuikh Godof (People of the Forties).—N. H. D.
[37] Also under the title Un Bulgare.—N. H. D.
[38] It was reported, and believed by some, that the Russian government paid Turgénief fifty thousand rubles for Virgin Soil.—N. H. D.
[39] Yuliana Betrishef in Dead Souls is not a portrait: she is a luminous apparition.—Author’s note.
[40] A Russian proverb says, “Alone as a finger.”—Translator’s note, quoted by author.