This article focuses on the conversation about the «abilities» and «inclinations» of servitors and the ways of dealing with them administratively in post-Petrine Russia. The case of the Noble Cadet Corps (established in 1731) is used to explore the ways in which the increasing attention paid by the government to the diversity of abilities and inclinations among its (elite) subjects led to the development of increasingly sophisticated methods of monitoring and evaluating them. By mid-century, however, the very
possibility of discussing such intangible “natural” qualities as abilities and inclinations also gave the nobles the language to assert their own autonomy within the framework of state service.