the king never expressed sorrow for this act of cruelty. It is also significant that the Princess never tried to carry out her plan of having her husband become king. The horror of this scene seems to have turned her mind away from its purpose. At any rate she drops from the page of history without being given an opportunity to atone even in part for the terrible crime for which she was largely to blame. The king still looked upon his grandson as the heir to the throne, but he made him disown his dead father and take his uncle as father. He likewise made the boy solemnly promise never to change his mind in this. We see from this that the king continued to the very end to think that the Prince was guilty and his deed justifiable. The year 1764 found an octogenarian on the throne. From this time on, the king was exceedingly feeble, but he clung to life with a tenacity that was amazing, and was destined to encumber the throne for a full decade still. His increasing weakness made it necessary for his physicians to prescribe a little wine. He acquiesced, and from this time the laws against the use of wine were relaxed somewhat. Its use was soon resumed in connection with the ancestral worship, but only at the importunity of the princess. These declining years are by no means barren of interesting events. The annual sacrifice in behalf of the country had always been made at Pi-băk Mountain in Ham-gyŭng Province, but it was told the king that as Păk tu Mountain stood at the head of the country and dominated the whole, as it were, the sacrifice should be made on or near that mountain, So it was decreed that from that time on the sacrifice should be performed at Un-ch‘on Mang-dŭk-p‘yŭng, eight _li_ beyond Kap san and in full view of the great Păk-tu-san or “Mountain of the White Head.” And it was further decreed that those who took part in the service should be secluded for four days before the event, should bathe often and put on clean clothes and forego all commerce with women. In 1767 the king ordered a full census of the country. It was found to contain 1,679,865 houses, containing 7,006,248 people. In other words there had been an increase of over 800,000 since the year 1657. He also ordered the making of a new rain gauge. The first one is said to have been made by King Se-jong. He did away with the punishment that consists in beating the tops of the feet until, frequently, the toes drop off. On account of the danger of ship wreck in rounding the corner of Whang-hă Province the king ordered the discontinuance of annual naval tactics at Chang-nyŭn, excepting for the boats regularly stationed there. He built a palace in Chŭn-ju in Chŭl-la Province and had sacrifices offered there, for although Ham-gyŭng Province is said to be the birthplace of the line, the family really originated in the south. The king also revived the ancient custom of having a bell hang in the palace gateway, to be struck by anyone who had a grievance to lay before the king.