Comparison reveals the fact that the Korean consonants are mere simplifications of the Sanscrit consonants. On the other hand there are no similarities between the Korean and Sanscrit vowels. King Se-jong’s genius lay in his recognition of the fact that the vowel lies at the basis of articulate speech, and in this he was in advance of every other purely Asiatic alphabet. Each syllable was made up of the “mother and child” the mother being the vowel and the child being the consonant. If we examine the ancient seal character of China with a view to ascertaining the source from which the Koreans drew their symbols for the vowels we shall find at a glance that they consist in the simplest strokes of those ideographs. Every Korean vowel is found among the simpler radicals of the Chinese. What more need be added to prove that the statements of the Korean histories are correct? In this work the king made use of the two distinguished scholars Sin Suk-ju and Sŭng Sam-mun. Thirteen times the latter was sent with others to Liao-tung to consult with a celebrated Chinese scholar Whang Ch’an, who was in banishment in that place. For the prosecution of this literary plan and the work growing out of it the king erected a separate building in the palace enclosure. There he caused to be compiled and printed the dictionary of the Korean language in the new alphabet which was called the _ön-mun_. This celebrated dictionary is called the Hun-min Chöng-eum. King Se-jong died in 1450 and was succeeded by his son Hyŭn whose posthumous title is Mun-jong Kong-sun Tă-wang. His brief reign of two years is a good sample of what Confucianism will do for a man if carried to excess. Upon his father’s death he refused to be comforted and neglected the necessary precautions for preserving his health. Long nights he lay out in the cold thinking that by so doing he was showing respect for the memory of his father. Such excesses joined with the lack of a proper diet soon made it clear that his health was permanently undermined. This was a source of great anxiety to the officials and to the people, for the heir to the throne was a young boy, and the king’s brother, Prince Su-yang, was a powerful and ambitious man. The king himself entertained grave fears for his son and shortly before he died he called together the leading officials and made them solemnly promise to uphold the boy through every vicissitude. Then he turned to the wall and died. Chapter II.