19–25 January 1857

Woke at ten, chatted : Kostinka, Serezha, and Kel. The music is still not arranged. \Vent t6 Bulgakov. His father is a disgusting aristocrat. Dined at Chevalier’s with Sukhotfn, Serezha, Kashkin, Mukhanov, and Obolenski. We drank well. Went to Masha's. Obolenski arrived late at the ball. I did not dance. Many pretty women. It would have been amusing if Rostopshina hadn’t put the thumbscrew on.

A reading of Childhood at S. T. Aksakov’s, delightful ! Ball at the Narishkins’ ; I danced two quadrilles — dull. Ball at the Voyekovs’. Muromtzeva consumptively pleasant. Ostrovski’s A Lucrative Post is his best work and meets the need of portraying the world of bribery. Impossible egotism. Mengden is a remarkable woman. Evening at Sushkov’s. Tyiicheva is nice.