castes, no privileged classes, no nobility of birth; but a general
equality under an absolute chief. The public administration is entirely in
the hands of the emperor, who is assisted by his mandarins, both military
and civil. They are admitted to this rank only after severe examinations,
and from them the members of the different councils of the empire are
selected. Among these the Board of Control, or the all-examining Court,
and the Court of History and Literature deserve particular mention, as
being more closely related to the subject of this work. The duty of this
board consists in examining all the official acts of the government, and
in preventing the enacting of those measures which they may deem
detrimental to the best interests of the country. They can even reprove
the personal acts of the emperor, an office which has afforded many
occasions for the display of eloquence. The courage of some of the members
of this board has been indeed sublime, giving to their words wonderful
power.

The Court of History and Literature superintends public education,
examines those who aspire to the degree of mandarins, and decides on the
pecuniary subsidies, which the government usually grants for defraying the
expenses of the publication of great works on history and science.

8. INVENTION OF PRINTING.--At the close of the sixth century B.C. it was
ordained that various texts in circulation should be engraved on wood to
be printed and published. At first comparatively little use seems to have
been made of the invention, which only reached its full development in the
eleventh century, when movable types were first invented by a Chinese
blacksmith, who printed books with them nearly five hundred years before
Gutenberg appeared.

In the third century B.C., one of the emperors conceived the mad scheme of