Russia’s going to war and the ministry, you see, has sent the official to find out if there’s any treason brewing.ĬHIEF OF POLICE: Where do you get that stuff? Aren’t you the smart man! Treason in a provincial town! Is this a frontier town? Why, you can gallop away from here for three years without reaching a foreign country.ĪMMOS FEDOROVICH : No, I tell you, you don’t understand. ( Sighing.) Up to this time, thanks be to God, they’ve poked into other people’s business but now it’s our turn.ĪMMOS FEDOROVICH : I think, Anton Antonovich, that in this case it’s for a subtle and more political reason. LUKA LUKICH : But why on earth, Anton Antonovich what’s this for? Why send an inspector here?ĬHIEF OF POLICE: What for? Evidently it’s fate. Now there’s a fix for you!ĪMMOS FEDOROVICH : Yes, and such an unusual fix absolutely extraordinary! There’s something up. Well, next there’s some family matters: Cousin Anna Kirilovna has come to see us with her husband Ivan Kirilovich has grown very stout, and he plays on the fiddle all the time. I advise you to take precautions, because he may arrive at any moment, if he hasn’t already, and isn’t living somewhere around now, incognito. ' ( After a pause.) Well, this is a friendly party. Knowing as I do that you, like everybody else, are liable to your little failings, because you’re a smart chap and don’t like to miss anything that fairly swims into your hands. ( Raising his fingers significantly.) I have found this out from most reliable people, although he is representing himself as a private individual. Ah, here it is! 'I hasten to inform you, by the way, that an official has arrived with instructions to inspect the whole province and especially our district. Here’s what he writes: My dear friend, godfather, and benefactor, ( He mutters in an undertone, rapidly glancing over the letter.). And now I’m going to read you a letter that I’ve received from Andrey Ivanovich Chmykhov, whom you know, Artemy Filippovich.

They came, sniffled about, and went away again.

Honest, I’ve never seen any like them: black, and awfully big. All last night I kept dreaming about two most extraordinary rats.

LUKA LUKICH : Oh, my God, and with secret instructions too!ĬHIEF OF POLICE: I had a sort of presentiment. And furthermore, with secret instructions.ĪRTEMY FILIPPOVICH : As if we didn’t have troubles enough already! SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, JUDGE, POLICE CAPTAIN,ĭISTRICT PHYSICIAN, and two SERGEANTS OF POLICEĬHIEF OF POLICE: I have invited you here, gentlemen, in order to communicate to you a most unpleasant piece of news: a government inspector is coming to visit us.ĬHIEF OF POLICE: An inspector from Petersburg, incognito. A room in the house of the CHIEF OF POLICE SCENE IĬHIEF OF POLICE, SUPERVISOR OF CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS,

The Inspector General by Nikolai Gogol