For  three  years,  which  by  a  fiction  is
reduced  to  twenty-seven  months,  the  young
Emperor  mourns  the  decease  of  his  prede-
cessor. The  exigencies  of  administration,
however,  make  it  necessary  that  he  should
confine  the  period  of  unrestrained  grief  to  a
hundred  days  ;  while  twenty-seven  days  are
considered  sufficient  for  the  expression  of  the
resrrets  of  the  concubines  of  the  third  rank.
During  the  twenty-seven  months  members  of
the  Imperial  family  are  not  supposed  to
marry  or  indulge  in  any  of  the  pleasures  of
married  life.
A  curious  punishment  was  inflicted  on  a
late  Emperor  for  an  infraction  of  this  last
rule.  Most  inopportunely  a  son  was  born  to
him  at  a  time  which  proved  that,  in  accord-
ance with  Chinese  notions,  its  existence  must
have  begun  during  the  mourning  for  the
deceased  Emperor.  The  question  then  arose
how  the  august  offender  was  to  be  dealt  with.
Banishment  would  have  been  the  sentence
naturally  passed  on  any  less  exalted  person-
age, but  as  it  was  plainly  impossible  to  send
the  Son  of  Heaven  into  exile,  it  was  deter-
mined to  banish  his  portrait  across  the
deserts  of  Mongolia  into  a  far  country.
On  a  day  of  good  omen  the  will  of  the
deceased  Emperor  is  carried,  with  much
pomp    and    circumstance,    to    the    gate    of


"Heavenly  Rest."  From  the  balcony  above
this  portal  the  contents  of  the  document  are
announced  to  the  assembled  crowd.  The
terms  of  the  testament  having  been  commu-
nicated to  the  people  of  the  capital,  it  i?|
printed  in  yellow,  and  distributed  not  only
throughout  the  empire,  but  throughout  every
region  which  owes  allegiance  to  the  Son  of
Heaven — Corea,  Mongolia,  and  Manchuria,
and  Liuchiu,  and  Annam.
