e. Having, perhaps,
against her master's orders, made a hole through the paper window, and
been peeping at the passers-by in the street, after months, or even years
of drudgery and sleepless nights thinking of her ideal--for Corean women
are passionate, and much given to fanciful affections--she at last
chances to see the man of her heart, and manages, through the well-paid
agency of some faithful servant, to enter into communication with him. If
the man in question happens to be a high official or a nobleman, what
happens generally is that the lady's husband either gets suddenly packed
off by order of the King to some distant province, or is sent upon some
travelling employment which probably necessitates his leaving his wife
behind for several years, during which period, under the old-fashioned
excuse of news received of the husband's death, or the plea of poverty,
she very likely becomes the concubine of the man she loves. In Corean
literature, there are many stories of the burning affections of the fair
sex, some being said to have committed crimes, and even suicide, to be
near the man they loved.

To a European mind, certainly, the native way of arranging marriages does
not seem very likely to make the contracting parties happy, for neither
the tastes nor respective temperaments of the young couple are regarded.
Still, taking everything into consideration, it is marvellous how little
unhappiness--comparatively--there is in a Corean household. Besides, it
must not be supposed that, slave though she be, the Corean woman never
gets things her own way. On the contrary, she does, and that as often as
she likes. Among the upper classes, especially those about the Court,
half the trouble in the kingdom is caused by the women, not openly,
indeed, but in a clever underhand way through their _enerve_ husbands,
whom, instead of being the governors, they rule and lead by the nose.
Promotions, punishments, and beheadings are generally the consequence of
the work of some female fiend. There is probably no place in the world in
which intrigue is so rampant as in the Corean Capital. The Queen herself
is said to exercise an enormous influence over the King, and, according
to Corean reports, it is really she, and not the King, that rules
Cho-sen. She is never either seen or heard of; and yet all the officials
are frightened out of their lives if they think they have incurred her
displeasure. For no plausible reason whatever men are s