On leaving the University Alexander Ostrovsky took up employment in legal court institutions where he had a full opportunities to observe the negative aspects of domestic and social life in those days. Recalling his years of employment in the courts, the great dramatist said, 'Had I not been in that hell, I would never have written 'A profitable spot'. Lithograph of the 'fifties showing a scene in a legal court of pre reform times. Supplied By: SCRSS - Society for Co-operation in Russian & Soviet Studies