The fourth examination begins at a later hour than the third, and while the number of the themes may be larger than before--all of them from the Four Books--time is not allowed for the completion of any of them. In addition to the classical themes, a philosophical one may be given. Besides this, there are poetical themes, to be treated in a way different from those in the preceding examinations, and much more difficult, as the lines of poetry are subject also to the rules governing the composition of antithetical couplets. The metre, whether five characters to a line, or seven, (the only varieties to choose from), is left to the option of the candidate, who, if he be a fine scholar and a rapid penman, may treat the same theme in both ways. A meal is served as at the preceding trial, and by five or six o'clock, the hall is empty. After the interval of another day, the fourth board is hung, and the number who have survived this examination is found to be a small one--perhaps twenty or thirty. A day later the final examination occurs. The theme is from the Four Books, and may be treated fully or partially according to the examiner's orders at the moment. A poem is required in the five-character metre, and also a transcript of some section of the "Sacred Edicts" of the Emperor Yung Chêng. The design of the latter is to furnish a specimen of the candidate's handwriting, in case it should be afterward needed for comparison. A meal is furnished as before, and by the middle of the afternoon the hall is cleared. The next day the board is again hung, announcing the names who have finally passed. The number is a fixed one, and it is relatively lowest where the population is most dense. In two contiguous districts, for example, which furnish on an average 500 or 600 candidates, the number of those who can pass is limited, in the one case to twenty and in the other to seventeen. In another district where there are often 2,000 candidates, _only_ thirty can pass. It thus appears that the chances of success for the average candidate, are extremely tenuous.