Note 4 — Chapter XL · PERSECUTION AND MARTYRDOM—1801–1834.

Or, as the natives say, “she proceeded to pull down the blinds.” This phrase, which is highly suggestive of American street slang, refers to the curtain of bamboo which veils the sovereign of Chō-sen; as in Old Japan the mikado was thus screened from the vulgar, and even noble, gaze during state councils. Whoever, therefore, is “behind the curtain,” is on the throne. ↑