The Shen Pao dilutes on the delight experienced by a family on receiving the news of their son's success at the Examinations; on the feast given honour; on the wine drunk; on the guests invited and on the discussions which ensue on the merits of the essays. A bystander remarks that it often happens candidates succeed who do not merit their success, 1.—Ithasbeen knownthataman has passed who torate some characters trong. A pupil and his teacher were examined at the same time, and the pupil on the completion of work asked his quondam teacher to correct it. Fora joke the pupil then wrote on the question paper not question No. 1 (fi) ut fi, handed im his papers and left.
The pupil however passed, and afterwards became'a Hanlin. Ecbeeieenty the examiners on looking through the M.A. Essays at. Peking noticed this mistake, but they dismissed it as a joke.
2.—A rough draft badly written is allowed. An ordinary common scholar, averse to study, contrived to obtain his bachelor's degree: He then wasted his time in discipation, and instead of studying turned his attention to fortune-telling. When the time for the M.A. Examination eponached he was at a loss what to do, but happening to possess two friends of great ability, he consulted with them. They urged him to go up and agreed to assist him. The first theme given at the examination was, ' The master. in presenting the things he was charged to present wore a placid appearance," "'at his private audience he looked highly pleased." The second and third themes he had drafts of with him, which he copied, but for the first he could make nothing of it; he sat there from morn till eve racking his brains, and yet unable to write a word. He thought of handing in his ticket and leaving, but first told his friends that he did not unfortunately know the ancient style. His friends said that was a trifle and one wrote for him 300 words on the "presents," aiid the other 300 on the ''audience."
Our candidate could, however, not reduce these to symmetry, nor had his friends time to help him. There was nothing to be done therefore but to send the essays in as they were, the candidate as he left knowing he ould be an outsider. The oddity and j singular appearance of the essays, together with the ability displayed in them, pleased the examiners and they passed then, and our candidate succeede:
3.—A candidate who did not go through the last course passed. A pupil and his teacher were examined together. On the third day having finished his essay, the teacher gave it to his pupil to hand in, who placed it carefully in his breast pocket together with his own. He, however, only handed over tothe essay-receivers one essay, reporting two-and receiving two tallies. On returning home the pupil found the teacher's essay in hie pocket, but said nothing about it. To his astonishment when the list came out the teacher passed, and he was equally astounded when his pupil told him the facts. He afterwards found that the examiners found that one essay was missing from the tallies and threatened the officials with punishment if they did not find the essay. They had therefore to write out one themselves which they handed in.
4.—A candidate the terete no essay at all passed. Before the examination he dreamed that his father appeared to him and told him that he assuredly would pass this time, but that he must send in blank papers. On entering the hall he felt so dull and stupid he could write nothing, and went out noticing his name not on the bh list: so similarly on the 2nd and 3rd days. Yet he passed after all! It turned out that a certain officer had been appointed a receiver of essays outside the curtain, instead of a reader of them inside. Disgusted at a treatment which cast a slur on his abilities he determined in revenge to write an essay on any blank essay which was handed in: he also did the same on the second and third days, and thus a man who wrote no essay at all passed A candidatenccer entered the Beamination Hall at all and yet passed A certain bachelor had been rejected at the test examination for M. A. and could not: up. He then made the acquaintance of a rich young man whom he toadied and flattered, and with whom he spent day and hights in drinking and dissipation, Theyoung swell went in forthe examination, When the list came out the rich man had passed, but so also had the bachelor friend. Both were astounded, the bachelor had noticed his things had been disturbed but nothing was however lost. It then turned out the young swell had stolen the bachelor's B. A. testamur and given it to a man he bribed to write essays for him to enable him to enter the hall. Being a man of date wrote not only an essay for the young rear energy and ability the bought candi-
swell, but also for the bachelor. Thus a man hover entering the Hall at all passed Blue List, a list written in blue, giving the names of those who send in blank' papers.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.