one time Corean
Ambassador to the Mikado's Court, and in a very short time mastered the
Japanese language to perfection; while with Chinese he was as familiar as
with his own tongue. I myself noticed with what facility he picked up
English words, and, having taken it into his head that he wished to learn
the English language, he set about it, and was able to understand, read,
and speak a little, in a very short time--in fact, in a few days. Not
only is he talented, but also endowed with a wonderful courage and
independence, which superiority over the narrow-minded officials and
intriguers who, for the most part, surround the King, has often led him
into scrapes with His Majesty of Cho-sen. As he jocosely said to me, it
was a marvel to him that his head was still on his shoulders. It was too
good, and some one else might wish to have it. He was an ardent reformer
and a great admirer of Western ways. His great ambition was to visit
England and America, of which he had heard a great deal. Strangely, on
the very morning which succeeded the afternoon on which I had this
conversation with him I received an intimation to the effect that he had,
by order of the King, and for some trivial breach of etiquette, been sent
by way of punishment to one of the most distant provinces in the kingdom.

The most noteworthy point of the Corean Court etiquette is probably this,
that the King is on no account allowed to touch any other metals than
gold and silver; for which reason his drinking-cup is made of a solid
block of gold, while other articles, again, are of silver.

The native name by which the King calls himself is Im-gun (king,
sovereign). He has a very valuable library of Chinese manuscripts and
printed books in the palace compound, but those books are hardly ever
opened or looked at nowadays, except by some rare student of noble rank.
Archery and falconry are occupations which are deemed far more worthy of
attention by the nobility than that of worrying their heads with attempts
to interpret the mysteries of antiquated Chinese characters.

The falcon is held in much veneration among the nobler classes, and a
special retainer--a falconer--is usually kept to wait on the precious
bird. The latter is taken out on the man's arm, with his head covered by
a gaudy little hood. This hood is quickly removed whenever an opportunity
arises to send him off after some unfortunate bird. Then, mounting aloft,
and spreading his wings and whirli