ABSTRACT
When I graduated from the university, it was my firm intention to become a professor there. But both my mother and my Uncle Fadeev, who was visiting us, took a dim view of my ambition: they did not think that the calling of a professor was suitable for a noble. 1 In those days such an attitude was common among those of high society who clung to old values, and my uncle was one of them. My arguments that such members of the nobility as Chicherin and Kavelin, then quite prominent, were professors, did not sway them. So, I let my uncle persuade me to accept a post—official on special assignment (chinovnik osobykh poruchenii)— with no duties or salary, in the chancellery of Governor-General Count Kotze-bue, * while at the same time preparing myself for a professorship. 4
