Memorial declining the post of examiner for the Supervisory Examination (監試)讓監試試員表
云云。衡鏡擇能。本屬儒門之大手。絲綸降命。過加俗學之頑軀。豈苟貪僭越之榮。而忍受衆多之謗。敢敷危衽。仰冒聰聞。伏念臣門地孤寒。性資昏蔽。昔署名南省。頑石偶壓於鼇頭。及放榜東都。駑蹄果殿於驥後。文詞則椎朴鄙野而十體俱缺。術業則荒唐蕪廢而一經未窮。如玆已短之莫攻。又可人才之是品。以此取士。得無失賢。敢圖宸極之誤恩。遽受文場之重柄。籲天自列。伏地莫興。伏望聖上陛下諒懇迫之情。軫哀矜之念。追還訓勅。更選英賢。則物莫欺照膽之明。臣亦免汗顔之斵。臣無任云云。
And so forth. To sift talent with scale and mirror belongs of itself to the great hands of the scholarly house, yet the royal command has come down and been laid beyond measure upon a stubborn body of vulgar learning. How should I meanly covet a glory beyond my measure and bear to take upon myself the slanders of the many? I dare to spread out my anxious collar and look up and brave your bright hearing.
Prostrate I consider that your servant is of a lineage solitary and poor, and dark and blocked in nature and stuff. Long ago, when my name was hung up at the Southern Department (南省), a body like a dull stone happened to take the first place; but when it came to the posting of the lists in the Eastern Capital (東都), dull hooves fell at last behind the thousand-league coursers. My writing is plain and base and rustic, wanting in all ten of its forms; and my studies are hollow and coarse, and I have not exhausted even one of the classics.
Thus I have not even mended what is already wanting in me — and can I besides appraise the talents of men? If scholars are chosen by such a man, can it be that worthy men are not lost? Should I have dared to reckon upon a mistaken favour from the sovereign? Suddenly I have received the weighty authority of the place where writings contend. Crying out to heaven I report my own case, and prostrate on the ground I cannot rise.
Prostrate I hope that Your Sage Majesty will reckon this earnest and urgent feeling and deepen your pitying heart, and will withdraw the command of instruction you have issued and choose instead an outstanding and worthy man. Then people will not be able to deceive a discernment that shines even into the gall, and your servant too will escape being pared down until the sweat stands on his face. Your servant cannot contain, and so forth.
Interlinear notes 2
中射。
Here the words of thanks (中謝) are inserted.
中射 — the base text has 中射. Since the other twenty-one places in this volume all have 中謝, it is taken to be an error for 中謝. — Translator