Since the days of King Se-jong, who determined the length of the Korean yard-stick, that useful instrument had shrunken in some measure and its length differed in different localities. So now again the king gave strict orders about it and required all yard-sticks to be made to conform to a pattern which he gave. Previous to the days of King Myŭng-jong men of the literary degrees dressed in red, but white had gradually taken its place; and now the king ordered them to go back to the good old custom. The official grade called _Halyim_ became such an object of strife among the officials that the king was constrained to abolish it, though it has since been revived. Two of the emperors of the Sung dynasty in China have their graves on Korean soil in the vicinity of Kap-san. The duty of keeping these graves in order was now placed in the hands of the governor of Ham-gyŭng Province. The king anticipated the death of all party strife by setting up a monument at the Song-gyun-gwan in memory thereof and he ordered the people of different parties to intermarry and become good friends. During the Manchu and Japanese invasions all the musical instruments had been either destroyed or stolen, and as yet they had not been wholly replaced, but now there were found in a well at the palace a set of twenty-four metal pendants which, when struck with a hammer, gave four various musical notes. The inscriptions on them indicated that they had come down from the time of King Se-jong. This aroused the king’s interest and he set skillful men at work making various instruments, notably a small chime of bells to be used at the royal ancestral worship. Chapter XII. Gates roofed.... superstition.... sorcery interdicted.... a plebiscite.... wine-bibber executed.... a female Buddha.... growth of Roman Catholicism.... sanitation.... a senile king.... suspicions against the Crown Prince.... plot against him.... an ambitious woman.... the prince’s trial.... a painful scene.... the prince killed.... law against wine relaxed.... sacrifice.... census.... various changes.... party schism.... emancipation proclamation.... a dangerous uncle.... a new king.... literary works.... justice.... study of Christianity.... various innovations.... rumors of war....“birthplace” of Roman Catholicism in Korea.... opposition.... terrible scourge of cholera.... conspiracy.... women’s coiffure.... Roman Catholic persecution.... Roman Catholic books declared seditious.... prosperity and adversity.... a Chinese priest enters Korea.... types made.... literary works.... suggestion as to coinage.... Chinese priest asks that a Portugese embassy be sent to Korea.... the king not violently opposed to Christianity.