"'He does, my son,' she answered. 'The only safety of the empire depends on my resignation of the crowns into your hands. Once Pharaoh, you have Mœris at your feet, and if he prate his secret, you will then be able to despise it, and put to silence his tongue.'
"'Mother, my dear mother,' I answered, after long reflection, 'what you have told me has brought me to a decision. I shall act blindly--not knowing the nature of the power of the prince over you; but I shall act from affection and sympathy for you, in obedience to your wishes, and for the preservation of the integrity of the united kingdom. I am ready to obey you. In order to defeat Prince Mœris, and relieve your mind, I will accept the sceptre which you are desirous of placing in my feeble and inexperienced hand. I am ready to enter upon the sacred rites of initiation, and in all things will be your dutiful and obedient son. The wickedness and ambition of Mœris must be crushed.'
"When I had thus said, my mother, with a cry of joy cast herself into my arms. I bore her, almost fainting with happiness realized, to the apartments of her women, and again assuring her of my full compliance with her wishes, I took tender leave of her, and hastened to my room to reflect upon all that had passed in that extraordinary interview; and then I sought you."
Thus the Prince Remeses ended his interesting and singular statement. I knew not what to respond to him when he had done. But be sure, dear mother, there must something grow out of this, of the greatest importance to this dynasty. Who can divine the secret?
But I must here close my letter, with assurances of my fondest attachment to you, my dear mother, whom the gods guard from all mysteries and secrets, and from ambitious princes like the lord Mœris.
In the preceding letter I have made known to you the extraordinary purpose of the queen to invest, with the dignity of royalty, her son, the Prince Remeses; the singular scenes which passed between them; the mystery which enveloped her motives; and the final yielding of Remeses to her commands and earnest appeals.
It now became necessary that he should, according to the custom and laws of the realm, prepare himself for his coronation, by submitting to certain religious ceremonies, and a solemn initiation into the deeper mysteries of the temples; for though, as a prince, he was nominally, or by courtesy of the laws, the high-priest, yet not until he became king could he offer the supreme sacrifice on the altar of Osiris,--which is the highest religious act of the sacred priesthood; and it is only upon the shields of kings that the symbol of "priest" is sculptured. Thus, as chief priests, or pontiffs, the Pharaohs were the head of the hierarchy, which consolidated their political power, and gave them an influence over the minds of the people that the mere possession of the sceptre of Egypt could not have commanded; for in their king, they also behold their mediator with the gods. Yet, although absolute over his subjects, he had no power over the priesthood, except by their own consent. As one of their body he was bound, by certain most solemn and mystic vows, to the rules and regulations of their order; and in all matters of state he was pledged to the hierarchy of prince-priests, who constituted a council of advice, to which he was, by the laws (also made by a legislature composed of the hierarchs of each nome), compelled to submit his own will. All his duties are regulated by a code drawn up by the Priest of On, and subscribed by the king at his coronation. Thus the monarch is entirely under the influence and control of the priests. I will, by way of illustration, describe to you how the queen (who is also chief priestess, by virtue of her rank, and, as such, offered up a sacrifice on the altar of Osiris on the day of her coronation) has her daily duties and hours apportioned to her, by this august council of arch-hierophants: