When a prince is about to ascend the throne, the laws require that he should be instructed in all the mysteries of the religion of his empire, and initiated into the various offices of a sovereign pontiff. He is taught all that relates to the gods and other mysteries hitherto concealed from him, the services of the temple, the laws of the country, and the duties of a king, as inscribed in the ten sacerdotal books.
In order that in these things he may be properly instructed, he is enjoined to pass forty days in the temples of Osiris, Pthah, Isis, Athor, and other gods; and to remain one night, the last of all, in the temple of Thoth, before the pyramids, watching alone, praying for the blessings of the gods, and offering sacrifice and libations. This solemn vigil ended, and the sun risen, he is escorted by a grand procession of priests, who swing incense before him, and lead him to the temple of the Sun, to be crowned in the presence of all the nobles, high officers, and people of Egypt. This ceremony, as described in the royal books, is grand beyond conception.
In order, therefore, to enter upon this formal preparation, the Prince Remeses, on the third day after his interview with his mother, retired from the palace, and sought the holy solitudes of the temple of the Sun. A council of the hierarchy, assembled by the queen, had reluctantly given their consent to her abdication; but willingly yielded to the coronation of Remeses; for, however devoted a warlike nation may be to a reigning queen, the preference of the people's heart is for a king. While, therefore, the intelligence, which soon spread through Egypt, that Amense the Good was to lay down her sceptre in favor of her son, cast a shadow over their hearts, it was chased away by the light of the anticipated splendor, which the reign of a prince, a "Pharaoh," would shed upon the land of Egypt.
"As the good queen will still live, we need not grieve," said some of the artisans at work upon her obelisk; "we can rejoice in Remeses, and still honor his royal mother."
It was an affecting parting between the prince and his mother when he left the palace. I accompanied him to the vestibule of the temple. Here twelve priests, led by the high-priest, received him; and three others came forward to disrobe him of his vesture, his bonnet and sandals; while three more invested him with sacerdotal robes, a priestly tiara, and placed upon his feet the sacred sandals. Then inclosing him in their midst, as if to shut him out from the world, they moved forward into the gloomy cloisters of the temple, and disappeared with him from my gaze.