"Le Manteau" (as well as the "Revizor," "Inspector-General ") was the outgrowth of his one year's experience in the government offices ; and the fulfilment of a desire to avenge his life of a galley slave while there. These works were his first blows aimed at the administrative power. Gogol had always had a desire to write for the stage ; and produced several satirical comedies ; but none of them, except the " Revizor," had any success. The plot of the piece is quite simple. The functionaries of a provincial government office are expecting the arrival of an inspector, who was supposed to come incognito to examine their books and accounts. A traveller chances to alight at the inn, whom they all suppose to be the dreaded officer of justice. Their guilty con- sciences make them terribly anxious. Each one attacks the supposed judge, to plead his own cause, and denounce a colleague, slipping into the man's hand a generous supply of propitiatory roubles. Amazed at first, the stranger is, how- ever, astute enough to accept the situation and pocket the money. The confusion increases, until comes the crash of the final thunderbolt, when the real commissioner arrives upon the scene.
The intention of the piece is clearly marked. The venality and arbitrariness of the administration are exposed to view. Gogol says, in his " Confessions of an Author": "In the 'Revizor,'
