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astonishment; but seeing his visage haggard and pallid with woe, I
was alarmed. I approached him to embrace him, as he stood just
within the door, regarding me with looks of doubt and solicitude.
"Wilt thou, O Prince of Tyre, embrace a Hebrew?" he surprised me
by asking, in a voice deep and tremulous.
"Then thou knowest it all," I cried, "O my friend!" as I threw
myself into his embrace.
For a few minutes we wept in each other's arms. At length he
spoke and said—
"Yes, Sesostris, I have heard it all! Thou knowest the secret also,
says my moth——nay—I forgot—I should have said—the queen!"
Here his emotion overcame him. He leaned his noble head upon my
shoulder and continued: "Yet she is my mother, prince! She has ever
been a mother to me! I have known no other! I shall love her, while
my life lasts, above all earthly things. Pardon my grief, Sesostris!
Nature is mighty in sorrow, and will have her way! The heart, like
our Nile, will sometimes overflow, if full."
In a few moments he was composed, and said sadly—
"Knowing my history, can you regard me as before?"
"I love thee as ever, O prince—"
He interrupted me—"Call me not 'prince,' call me by my name—
that, at least, is left me! But I am a slave!"
"No—not to me! You are a descendant of kings! Are not Prince
Abraham, Isaac, and the great Prince Jacob your ancestors? I am
not an Egyptian any more than thyself," I answered him.
"True, true! I must not forget that! I thank thee, O prince, for
reminding me of this. A slave in Egypt may be a freeman in Tyre!"
"That is true also," I said. "May I ask, O Remeses, why you have
left the temples and are here; and how you heard this intelligence,
which you bear up under like a god?"
 "I am calm now; but, Sesostris, I have passed through a sirocco of
the soul! You shall hear all. Come and sit here."
I placed myself by the table opposite to him. He then began as
follows:
"I need not describe to you, O my friend, the nature of the rites
and ceremonies, nor the character of the mysteries which I have
been in contact with, for five-and-thirty days; let it be enough for
your curiosity to know, that beneath all the splendor of our
polytheism is hidden the mystery, known to the 'sons of the Lord of
heaven, of One God. This truth is guarded by the mystics, as a
mystery, not as a doctrine; and is of no value to them nor to the
world: it is as if the sun were forever shrouded in impenetrable
clouds. I have learned it only darkly; but this is not to my purpose
now, my friend: perhaps at another time we will discourse of these
things. I had passed my decreed days and nights, at all the shrines
which the laws for kings direct when, last night, I was borne across
the Nile by a company of the mystics, who left me at the entrance of
the avenue leading to the sphinx that is before Cheops and
Chephres. There twelve other ecclesiastical mystics took me in
charge. We marched together, six on each side of me, in profound
silence; till, on passing the lion facing the sphinx, their leader cried—
"'Let the king be as a lion in strength and majesty!'
"The rest answered with one voice—
"'And may his enemies be as lambs beneath his paws!'
"At the small temple, between the feet of the sphinx, three priests
stood, one of whom sprinkled my head with sacred water; the
second, with his little finger that had been dipped in the blood of a
cock which he had sacrificed, touched my forehead; and the third
waved incense before me;—while from within came a low, plaintive
chant of voices and instruments, invoking the gods in a hymn on my
behalf. The whole scene was solemn and impressive.
"I was then conducted to the pylon of the great temple before the
pyramids. As I passed beneath the gate, the twelve priests left me;
and twenty-four others, dressed in white robes and bearing torches,
took me in charge, and conducted me at a slow march across the
great quadrangle, leading me to a dark portal which descended, as I
was told, to the base of the pyramid, down to the 'hall of all the
mysteries of the earth.'"
"Is not this the temple of the magicians?" I asked, gratified to see,
that Remeses could for a moment so far forget his great sorrow, as
to enter into these details, for my gratification.
"Yes, the place where the sorcerers and soothsayers hold their
mystic and fearful rites. For ages, this subterranean temple, under
the earth between the two pyramids, but no part of the pyramidal
structure itself, has been their place of solemn assembly. Into this
region I descended, led by only two men, who received me at the
head of the stairs of stone.
"But I may not describe, more particularly, the progress of my
mysterious journey through subterranean passages, which I had no
conception existed beneath the space between the two pyramids;
although tradition has it, that the whole territory underneath both is
a labyrinthine catacomb, which assertion I have now no reason to
doubt. After traversing vast gloomy corridors of pillars hewn from
the solid rock, and a succession of chambers dedicated to mysteries,
I was ushered, by the sound of awful music, from an unseen source,
into a great central temple, so large that the torches borne by my
guides, could not penetrate its outer blackness. In the centre of this
solemn hall stood an altar of black marble. We approached it, when
suddenly from it soared aloft a bright flame which illumined the
temple, to its remotest obscurities, with a light like the moon when it
is full. revealing in the height above, a firmament with its thousand
stars reflecting the light. I had already, my Sesostris, passed through
such varied and surprising scenes, in the progress of my initiation,
that I was not surprised at this, for the arts of the priestly magicians
seem to embrace a knowledge of all the secret alchemy of nature;
and they possess wisdom and skill to control her wonderful powers.
While this brilliant flame burned from a brazen vase which stood
upon the altar, a procession of figures entered by a distant door, and
slowly made the circuit of the massive corridor. I perceived at once
that they were attired symbolically, representing the powers of
nature, and were preceded by five stately and imposing forms
standing for fire, water, earth, air, and the Nile; symbols of which
were worn upon their heads, and carried in their hands. Behind
these came seven persons, each crowned with a star, the whole
representing the seven stars. Then advanced Orion, belted and
armed; Arcturus, Aldebaran, Procyon, Rigel, and Antares, each with
a blazing coronet above his brow, and carrying the symbols and
wearing the dress of the god. These, with an interval of space
between, were followed by the twelve constellations of the zodiac;
each zodiac consisting of twelve bands of men, subdivided into
twenty-four smaller companies, and so moving, each in a place
assigned him, as to show the position of every star of the
constellation, which he was appointed to aid in illustrating. Each
individual carried above his head a starry light, inclosed in a crystal
cup.
"This imposing and magnificent representation and illustration of
the march of Time through the heavens, with all the movements of
the heavenly orbs, presented a spectacle of splendor unsurpassed by
any human display. Solemn as the march of the stars themselves,
this procession of constellations moved once around the grand
circuit of the temple, and then the five leaders advanced towards the
altar, by which I stood alone, deserted by those who had led me
thither. Every one of these symbolic persons in succession bent the
knee before me, in token that the powers of the earth, air, fire, and
water, with the great Nile itself, were submissive to my will. Ah,
Sesostris," interspoke Remeses here, "how little did they suspect,
when paying me this customary homage, that I was a mere Hebrew
slave, who could make use of the air, of fire, of water, of the earth,
or of the Nile, only by the permission of my Egyptian masters!
"Other striking ceremonies passed thereafter, and by and by I was
left alone beside the altar, the flame of which it was my duty to feed
with naphtha until morning, this being the first vigil of the last five
nights. I was not, however, long left alone. Seven magicians, in their
gorgeous apparel, came from a door that seemed to be an outlet
from beneath the second pyramid, and approached me, chanting a
war-song. Each bore a piece of royal armor,—one a helmet, one a
cuirass, one a spear, another a shield. As they passed me they
presented, and I received from each, a piece of the armor, and
invested myself therewith. I was told by the leader to be strong and
fight valiantly, for I should be assailed by powers of evil. They then
left me, and again I was alone, yet on my guard. Feeding the flame
till it burned high, I sought to penetrate the gloom, at least
expecting to behold a lion let into the temple for me to combat with,
that I might prove my right to the sword of the Pharaohs which I
held in my grasp.
"I know not, Sesostris, who or what would have been my
assailant, if due time had elapsed for his coming; but I suddenly
heard a step behind me, and behold, instead of a fierce beast or a
warrior, a single magician, tall and commanding, who bore in one
hand merely the sacred crux or emblem of life, and in the other his
black wand tipped with an emerald. I challenged him, as I was
directed to do by my instructors, and demanded whether he came
for good or evil, with war or peace in his heart.
"He made no other reply than—
"'Follow me!'
"I obeyed. Ah, how little did I suspect, O Sesostris, that I was
about to encounter what was more fearful than a roaring lion,—
more terrible than an armed host! But you shall hear.
"I crossed the echoing temple-floor to a small portal, which at first
did not reveal its presence, being a slab in the wall, but which, at a
slight pressure of the magician's wand, betrayed an opening through
which we passed,—I, with my sword held in my hand to defend or
attack. The stone door closed behind me, and I was conducted
through a beautiful chamber, adorned with marbles, and sparkling
with precious stones, that seemed to shine by a light of their own,
as I could discover no source of reflection; though doubtless,
however, that was, in some part, concealed by the art of these
ingenious and wise magicians.
"There was an inner chamber, or adytum, entirely encased with
panels of black marble, polished like a mirror. I was conducted into
this room, and commanded, by a voice unknown, and from an
invisible person, to seat myself upon a stone chair in the centre of
the floor. I obeyed; for princes, during their initiation, are taught
constantly, that 'he who would know how to command must learn
how to obey;' and thus, in these rites, submission and obedience are
inculcated, as necessary elements in the character of one who
wishes to exact them from others. Indeed, Sesostris, the whole
routine of the ceremonies, though sometimes vain and frivolous,
sometimes extravagant, is calculated to impress upon the heart of a
prince the wisest lessons in self government, and the profoundest
knowledge of himself. Every temptation is offered him, that he may
resist it. Every condition of life, from hunger and thirst upward, he
passes through in his progress. Three nights and days I fasted in the
temple of Pthah, that I might pity the hungry: two days I suffered
thirst, that I might feel for the thirsty: six hours I toiled with
burdens, that I might know how my poorer subjects toiled: one hour
I was a servant, another a prisoner, a third cup-bearer to the high-
priest. Every rite is a link in the practical education of a prince; and
he who comes to the throne, has reached it through every grade of
society, and through every condition of humanity; and thus the king
centres and unites within his own person, from having been
engaged in each, the pursuits of all his people, and knows by
experience their joys and sorrows, toils and pleasures; and can say
to every class of Egyptians, 'there is nothing which appertains to you
that is foreign to me. The people of Egypt are represented in their
king.'
"When I had taken my seat in this chamber of black marble, which
was dimly lighted by a misty radiance before me, I saw that I was
alone. Now, O Sesostris, came my trial!—such an one as no prince of
the house of Pharaoh had ever passed through. It is said that
Osirtasen, when he was brought to this chamber, had it revealed to
him that he was the son of the god Hercules but to me was
revealed, alas! thou knowest what, and shalt hear how!
"'Remeses-Moses,' said a deep and stern voice from what, in the
obscurity, seemed to me a shrine, 'thou art wise, and virtuous, and
strong of heart! Gird thyself with courage, and hear what is to be
revealed to thee! Know that thou art not the son of Amense, queen
of Egypt, as thou believest. She was never a mother!'
"'It is false, thou wicked magician!' I cried, starting to my feet. 'Art
thou, then, the foe I am to meet and destroy?'
"'Silence, young man!' cried another voice, with a tone of power.
'What the mysterious oracle utters is true. Thou art not the son of
Pharaoh's daughter! Thou hast no title to the throne of Egypt!'
"'Who am I, then?' I cried, impressed and awed, yet full of anger
at the words.
"'Thou art the son of a Hebrew mother and a Hebrew father!' said
the voice.
"I advanced sword in hand to meet these invisible persons,
believing that the insult was but another of the series of tests, and
this one in particular, of my patience and temper; for, O Sesostris,"
added Remeses to me, bitterly, "what greater insult could have been
put upon a prince of Egypt than this! When I came forward, I saw
the wall, as it were, open before me; and I beheld the Nile in bright
sunshine; the Island of Rhoda, with its palaces and gardens; the
distant towers and obelisks of On, and all the scenery adjacent, but
seemingly so near, that I could lay my hand upon it all.
"At this surprising spectacle manifesting itself in the dark
chambers of the pyramids, I stood amazed and arrested! I felt that it
was supernatural, or produced by magic. As I gazed, perplexed, a
third voice said—
"'Behold! Thou seest that the obelisk of Amense is wanting; that
the palace of the governor of the Nile has only its foundations laid.
The scene is, as Egypt was thirty-five years ago.'
"I looked again, and recognized the truth. I saw it was not the Nile
of to-day. I saw, also, that its stream was at a height, different from
its present mark upon the nilometer. I was amazed, and awaited
with intense expectation. Suddenly I saw a party of spearmen enter
a hut, which I perceived was one of a group that was occupied by
Hebrew workmen, who were engaged upon the governor's palace.
Presently they came forth, two of them, each bearing an infant aloft
upon a spear, which was thrust through it, and followed by shrieking
women. I could hear and see all as if I were on the spot. I
impulsively advanced to slay the men, for all seemed so real, but as
I did so, saw at my feet a yawning gulf. Then the men cast the
infants into the Nile. I saw three others go into another hut, whence
they were driven forth by two desperate Hebrews, who, armed with
straw-cutters, slew two of them; but the other fled, and returning
with his comrades, they set fire to the hut of rushes, and consumed
the inmates within it. I now perceived that it seemed drawing
towards the close of day. From a hut, near the water, a man and a
young girl, both Hebrews, stole forth, and collecting bulrushes in
their arms, returned to the hut. It was now night. I had seen the
shades of evening fall over the scenery, and the stars come out. Yet,
by a power incomprehensible to me, I could look into the closed and
barred hut, and see that, by the light of a rush dipped in bitumen,
three of its inmates were making, in secret haste, a large basket. I
saw them finish it, and then beheld the man smear it within and
without with pitch. From their conversation, I learned that they
wished it to resist water, and that they were to commit some
precious freight to its frail protection; what, I could not learn; as,
when they spoke of it, their colloquy was in low hushed tones, and
with looks of fear, especially the two females, who wept very much.
One of them, I learned by their words, was the daughter of the man
by a former wife. There was another child, a boy apparently of the
age of three years, lying in sweet sleep upon a bed of rushes, made
up in a corner of the hut. When the little ark was done, I watched
with the deepest interest their further proceedings. At length the
three went out together, and to my surprise I saw, by the setting
moon, that it was near dawn. They bent their steps, swiftly and
silently, towards the ancient temple of Isis, which was then, as now,
in ruins, and deserted by every Egyptian, for the sacrilege done
therein under the reign of Bnon, the Phœnician Pharaoh. I could see
them steal along the tangled avenue beneath the palm-trees, and
through that of the broken sphinxes, until they came to the
pyramidion of the obelisk of Sesostris I. Here a deep, ancient
excavation, covered with vines and rushes, showed a flight of broken
steps. After carefully looking all about, to see if they were observed,
they descended. In a few minutes the three came forth, the elderly
woman holding in her arms an infant, upon the beautiful face of
which the waning moon shone for a moment, but instantly she hid it
with her mantle, and hurried to the river-side. Here the man put the
basket upon the shore, and extended his arms for the child. The
poor mother, as I now perceived she must be, burst into tears, and
clasped it closer and closer to her heart.
"'Nay, Jochebeda,' he said, with gentle firmness, 'thy cries will
attract notice. The child cannot live if we delay. Hast thou not had
warning from the kind Egyptian woman, who was with thee when it
was born, and who aided thee in concealing it, that its hiding-place
is known, and that in the morning soldiers will be there? Bear up,
heart! If we commit it to the Nile, the God of our fathers, in whom
we trust, and who will yet return, to redeem us, according to His
promise to our father Abraham, may guide the frail baris to some
secure haven, and provide for the child a pitiful heart to save it.'
"I saw the mother give it its last nourishment at her breast, and
then, with tears, lay it softly, sweetly sleeping the while, within the
basket of bulrushes,—pillowing its head first upon her hand, until the
daughter had placed beneath it a pillow of wild-flowers and lotus-
leaves, gathered on the spot in the dawning light. The father then
covered it carefully over, and kissing it, with grief shaking his strong
frame, was about to commit the frail boat to the water, when the
poor mother arrested his arm, implored one more look, one more
embrace of her child! She was a young and beautiful woman; and,
the last kiss given, kneeled by the shore praying to her God, as the
father launched the ark into the stream. At this moment, I beheld,
straying upon the bank, as if seeking its parents, the other child that
I had seen in the house. I now saw the current take to its embrace
the little ark, and upon its bosom bear it downward. In a few
moments it lodged amid some rushes, which the mother seeing, she
ran hastily, entered the water, passionately kissed her child, and
would have offered it the breast again, but the more resolute father
sent it once more upon its way. In the vision, I now saw that day
had dawned, and that the stir of life on land and water was
everywhere visible. The father watched the bark, until it could be no
longer seen for the curve of the shore, and then drew near to his
wife, and gently led her away to the hut,—her lingering looks
ceaselessly stretched towards the Nile. The little maid, who was not
more than twelve or thirteen years of age, having been previously
instructed by her mother, followed along the shore to see what
would become of the ark. But I weary you, Sesostris, with details,
which to me had a sort of fascination, as they were enacted before
me in the scenes I beheld."
"And they are deeply interesting to me, my dear Remeses," I said
with emotion.
"I followed the bark also," continued Remeses, "until, after several
escapes from imminent peril, it lodged against a group of flags, at
the moment that a beautiful lady, accompanied by her maids, came
to bathe, at the foot of the garden of Pharaoh's palace. At a glance,
Sesostris, I recognized, as she was in her youth, my mother—I mean
to say, the Queen Amense. I saw her attention drawn to the little
ark, in the fate of which I had become intensely interested, little
dreaming how much and intimately it concerned me! I heard her bid
the maids take the basket out of the river, and her cry of surprise,
on opening it and seeing the babe, which answered her with a
sorrowful wail, as it were, of appeal. I saw her offer it to the bosoms
of three Egyptian nurses in vain, when the little maid, its half-sister,
drew near with mingled curiosity and fear and said—
 "'O princess, shall I call one of the Hebrew women, that she may
nurse the child for thee?'
"The princess said, 'Go!'
"Immediately the maiden ran with the swiftness of a gazelle, until
she came at length to her mother's house. The poor Hebrew woman
was at her task, combing flax and weeping as she toiled, feeling that
she had parted with her child forever. At the height of her grief, the
young maid flew in at the door, crying with a voice choked with joy—
"'Mother, run quickly! make no stay! Pharaoh's daughter has found
my little brother, taken it from the ark, and sent me for a Hebrew
nurse! Come quickly, before any other is found!'
"With a cry of joy, and with hands clasped to heaven in gratitude,
I saw the mother about to rush out, wild with happiness, when her
daughter said, 'Be calm, mother, or the princess will suspect. Put on
your coif! Arrange your dress! Seem quiet, as if you were not its
mother!'
"'I will try to do so—oh, I will try to do so!' she said touchingly. I
saw that, in her emotion, she did not think of her other boy, who,
though hardly four years old, had followed the stream, as if he
understood what the ark contained. Him I saw kindly taken pity
upon by an Egyptian priest, who carried him away to his house."
Here I uttered an exclamation which attracted the notice of
Remeses; for I recollected the story of the young Hebrew
ecclesiastic and gold image-caster, dear mother, and saw now that
he was this brother of Remeses, and the mystery of the resemblance
was solved. I did not make any remark to Remeses, however, in
reply to his inquiring look, and he resumed his wonderful narrative.
But I will continue the subject, dear mother, in a subsequent letter.
Sesostris

LETTER XXV.
 Palace of Remeses, City of On.
My dearest Mother:
Your courier reached me yesterday with your important letter,
advising me of the refusal of the King of Cyprus to receive your
ambassador, or release your subjects; and that you only await my
return to declare war. I shall not fail to respond to your call, and will
next week leave Egypt for Syria. I have not yet visited the Thebaïd,
and the superb temples of Upper Egypt, nor seen the wonderful
Labyrinth, nor the Cataracts; but I hope at some future day to revisit
this interesting land. I feel, indeed, rejoiced to go away now, as the
painful and extraordinary events connected with Remeses have cast
a gloom over all things here, and changed all my plans.
But I will resume the narrative, interrupted by the abrupt ending
of my last letter. That, with the preceding, as well as this, I shall now
send to you, as the seal of secrecy is removed from them, by the
publicity which has been given to all the events by Remeses.
To return, dear mother, to the account of the scenes which the
magicians presented to his vision, in the black marble chamber of
the pyramid.
"I now," continued Remeses, "beheld the excited mother reach the
presence of the princess, trying to calm the wild tumult of hope and
fear in her maternal bosom; and to her, I saw the princess, after
many inquiries, commit the charge of the infant.
"'I shall adopt this child, O nurse,' she said; 'bring it, therefore, to
the palace daily that I may see it. Take as faithful care of it as if it
were your own, and you shall be rewarded with my favor, as well as
with a nurse's wages.'
"The joyful Hebrew woman tried to repress her happiness, and
trembled so, that the princess said—
"'Thou art awkward. Carry it tenderly; and see that thou keep this
secret closely, or I shall take the boy away from thee, woman, and
also punish thee. What is thy name?'
 "'Jochebeda,' she answered.
"'And thy husband's?'
"'Amram, your majesty,' she replied.
"I saw her, O Sesostris, when she had well got out of the
princess's sight, clasp, by stealth, her recovered child to her bosom,
while words of tenderness were in her mouth, and her eyes
streaming with tears of gratitude and wonder.
"That child, O Sesostris, was myself!" suddenly exclaimed
Remeses. "Of this you have already been convinced. I saw the scene
before me, rapidly change from day to night, and months and years
fly by like a cloud, or like a fleet of ships leaving no trace of their
track on the closing waters. Through all I saw myself, from the infant
of three years old, taken into the palace from my Hebrew mother, to
the boy of twelve—to the youth of twenty! Like the cycle of fate,
that scene rolled by before my eyes, until I saw myself, that is, the
Hebrew boy, in every scene of my life up to the very moment then
present. Then, with a sound of mournful music, the Nile and its
scenes slowly faded from before my vision, and I was alone! The
whole fearful history had terminated in me, and left me standing
there in solitude, to reflect upon what I had seen.
"Housing myself from my stupor of amazement, I staggered back,
and sunk in horror upon the stone bench. I know not how long I lay
there, but I was at length aroused by a hand upon my shoulder; I
looked up and beheld the magician with the emblem of life, and the
emerald-tipped wand. He said—
"'My son, thou hast read the past of thy life! Wilt thou still be King
of Egypt?'
"'By what power hast thou opened the gates of the past? How
hast thou known all this?' I cried, with a heart of despair.
"'Dost thou believe?'
"'As if the open Book of Thoth lay before me! I doubt not,' I
answered.
 "'Wilt thou be King of Egypt?' again asked another voice. A third,
in another direction, took it up, and every subterranean echo of the
vaulted pyramid seemed to take up the cry. I rushed from the hall,
not knowing whither I went. Doors seemed to open before me, as if
by magic, and I at length found myself emerging, guided by the
magician, into the open night. The granite valves of the gate closed
behind me, and I was alone, in the quadrangle of the great temple
of Thoth. The stars shone down upon me like mocking eyes,
watching me. I fled onward, as if I would fly from myself—I feared
to reflect. I passed the sphinx, the pylones, the obelisks; and ran
along the avenue of the Lake of the Dead, until I reached the Nile. I
crossed it in a boat that I found upon the shore, and without having
formed any clear idea of what I ought to do, sought the palace, and
gained my mother's ante-room. Did I say 'my mother,' Sesostris? I
meant the good queen. I sent in a page to say I wished to see her.
In surprise at my return, before the forty days were fulfilled, she
came to the door hurriedly, in her night-robe, and opened it. I
entered as calmly as I could, and did not refuse her kiss, though I
knew I was but a Hebrew! One night's scenes, dreadful as they
were, O Sesostris, could not wholly break the ties of a lifetime of
filial love and reverence. I closed the door, secured it in silence, and
then sat down, weary with what I had undergone; and, as she came
near and knelt by me, and laid her hand against my forehead, and
asked me 'if I were ill, and hence had left the temple,' I was
overcome with her kindness; and when the reflection forced itself
upon me that I could no more call her mother, or be entitled to
these acts of maternal solicitude, I gave way to the strong current of
emotion, and fell upon her shoulder, weeping as heartily as she had
seen me weep when lying in the little ark a helpless infant.
"During this brief moment, a suspicion flashed across my mind,
that the magicians might have produced this as a part of my trial as
a prince;—that it was not real, but that by their wonderful arts of
magic they had made it appear so to my vision. I seized upon this
idea, as a man drowning in the Nile grasps at a floating flower.
"'Mother,' I said, 'I am ill. I am also very sorrowful!'
 "'The tasks and toils of thy initiation, my son, have been too great
for thee. Thy face is haggard and thy looks unnatural. What is thy
sorrow?'
"'I have had a vision, or what was like a dream, my mother. I saw
an infant, in this vision, before me, placed in an ark, and set adrift
upon the Nile. Lo, after being borne by the current some ways, it
was espied by a princess who was bathing, whose maids, at her
command, brought it to her. It contained a circumcised Hebrew
child. The princess, being childless, adopted it, and educated it, and
declared it to be her son. She placed him next to her in the
kingdom, and was about to resign to him the crown, when—'
"Here my mother, whose face I had earnestly regarded, became
pale and trembled all over. She seized my hands and gasped—
"'Tell me, Remeses, tell me, was this a dream, or hast thou heard
it?'
"'I saw it, my mother, in a vision, in the subterranean chamber of
the pyramids. It was one of those scenes of magic which the arts of
the magi know how to produce.'
"'Dost thou believe it?' she cried.
"'Is it not thy secret, O my mother, which Prince Mœris shares
with thee? Am I not right? Does not that Hebrew child,' I cried,
rising, 'now stand before thee?'
"She shrieked, and fell insensible!
"At length I restored her to consciousness. I related all I have told
you. Reluctantly, she confessed that all was true as I had seen it. I
then, in a scene such as I hope never to pass through again,
assured her I should refuse the throne and exile myself from Egypt.
She implored me with strong appeals to keep the secret, and mount
the throne. I firmly refused to do so, inasmuch as it would be an act
of injustice, not only to Mœris, but to the Egyptians, to deceive them
with a Hebrew ruler. She reminded me how, for sixty-one years,
Prince Joseph had governed Egypt. 'Yes,' I said, 'but it was openly
and without deceit; while my reign, would be a gross deception and
usurpation.' But, O Sesostris, I cannot revive the scene. It has
passed!—I have yielded! She showed me the letters of Prince Mœris.
She implored me for her sake to keep the secret, and aid her in
resisting the conspiracy of the viceroy. When I reflected that he had
made my mother so long miserable, and now menaced her throne, I
yielded to her entreaties to remain a few days at the head of the
affairs that have been intrusted to my control, and to lead the army
against Mœris, should he fulfil his menace to invade Lower Egypt.
After that, I said, I shall refuse to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, and will retire from the Court."
"Not among the Hebrews?" I exclaimed.
"No, perhaps not. I have nothing in common with them. I can do
them no good: I cannot yet consent to share their bondage. I shall
seek my own family, for the queen has told me who they are. My
mother, my own mother, Sesostris, shall again fold her child to her
heart! I recollect her beautiful, tearful face, as seen in the vision of
the pyramids. I have a brother, too, and a sister!"
"I know them both!" I cried, almost joyfully; though, dear mother,
it was a sad joy I felt, to know that Remeses was a brother to
Miriam and the ecclesiastic gold-caster. He became at once
interested, and I told him all I knew about them, as I have you. He
listened with deep attention, and seemed pleased. I also told him
how often I had conversed, in the garden of flowers, with the
venerable Amram, the father of Miriam.
"And my father also, you should add," he said, with a melancholy
smile. "I knew it not, Sesostris; I believed him to be the husband of
my nurse. Thinkest thou all this time he knew I was his son?"
"I doubt it not," I answered. "The eyes of your father and mother
must naturally have been upon you from your childhood up. They
must have witnessed all your career, and rejoiced in it, and kept the
secret locked in their own humble hearts, lest you and the world
should know it, and the glory they secretly saw you sharing, be
taken away or resigned by you."
"I shall see them. They shall yet hear me say, mother, father,
brother, sister, to each one of them. But, Sesostris, I must then bid
them farewell forever, and Egypt also,—if the queen will permit me
to go," he suddenly added, with bitter irony unusual with him; "for
slaves must have no will but their master's."
I laid my arm kindly and sympathizingly upon his shoulder, and
silently embraced him.
"I feel for you, O Remeses, with all my heart," I said.
"I know you do, O prince: I am sure that you do. But let us
terminate this subject. My mother's—I mean, alas! the queen's
desire shall be gratified. I will, for a few days, continue as I am, but
no more return to the temples. My initiation is over. Without doubt
the priests of the hierarchy will seek to put me to death, when they
learn that a Hebrew has been initiated into all their learning and
mysteries. It will be necessary for me to leave Egypt."
"Then let Tyre, O prince, be thy asylum—thy future home!" I cried.
"There the Hebrew is not in bondage, and is a Syrian among Syrians.
There you shall have a palace and retinue, and be served as
becomes your wisdom and greatness. My mother Epiphia will
welcome you with pleasure, for she has already learned to honor
you, from my letters. Our city is about to go to war with the King of
Cyprus, and my mother has written, urging me to return. Twelve
galleys will await me at Pelusium, in a fortnight hence, to escort my
own to Tyre. Consent, O Remeses, to go with me."
"Noble prince," he exclaimed, deeply moved, "how can I thank
you! It is the greatest consolation, in this my sorrow and humiliation,
to know that you do not withdraw from me your friendship; that you
can still esteem me as a man! Sesostris, I thank you. I will accept
your offer, if my—that is, the queen, will change her mind, and
permit me to address a letter, by a swift courier, to Prince Mœris. In
it I will briefly say that I am informed of my true lineage, and that if
he will quietly wait the succession, and be submissive to the queen,
and withhold his army from Memphis, I will, within three days after
obtaining his affirmative reply, leave Egypt for a foreign land. Such a
course will prove the best in the end for him and Egypt, and I have
no doubt he will consent to adopt it. How extraordinary that this wily
man should so long have kept the secret with which he so terribly
menaced my—the queen!"
I approved of the course suggested. Remeses soon afterwards
sought the queen; and at the end of four hours he returned to me,
looking very weary and pale, yet smiling, saying—
"It is achieved! It was a fearful struggle! The queen has
consented! Indeed, she seems heart-broken, spirit-crushed! This
discovery, against which her soul has so long battled, has left her
prostrate, almost wrecked! For her sake I bore up and hid my own
unfathomable sorrow. She has, at my solicitation, consented that I
shall not only write to Prince Mœris, inserting a clause enjoining
silence as to my birth, but her own courier shall be its bearer,
signifying her wish for conciliation. The letter was written in her
presence, the clause for silence introduced, and the courier is
already gone with it."
While Remeses was speaking, a page entered and informed him
that the queen wished to see him. He found her ill with a feverish
pulse. She called him to her, and said—
"My son, I am about to die! This blow is too heavy for me to bear!
I shall never recover! It was my wish to leave you firmly seated
upon my throne; but the gods have decreed otherwise. Call a council
of the hierarchy. I must not be faithless to my ancestors, and leave a
vacant throne. You have advised me to adopt Prince Mœris. I can do
no otherwise. For this act, assemble my councils, both of state and
of the priesthood."
"I obeyed," said Remeses, when he subsequently related what
passed. "The next day the councils met in one session, and the
queen, supported upon her couch, presided. Briefly she announced
her intention of adopting Mœris-Mento,—giving his full name,—as
her son, and the next in succession to the throne, their consent
being obtained. Then came up the question, 'why Prince Remeses
declined?' Being present, I answered that it was my intention to
retire from the court, visit foreign lands, and leave the government
of Egypt in the hands of Mœris. At the earnest request of the queen
I made no allusion to the secret. The united councils yielded their
assent, and the royal secretary drew up the papers in due form,
which the queen, supported by me, signed. A courier was then
dispatched with a copy of the instrument to the prince. The cabinet
was soon afterwards dismissed, and I was left alone with the queen,
who soon became very ill."
Thus far, my dearest mother, had I written in this letter five days
ago, when the chief chamberlain came hastening to my room, in
great terror, saying that the queen was dying! I lost not a moment in
following him to her apartments. Ever since the meeting of the
council she had been growing worse, and all the skill of her
physicians could not abate the disease, which was pronounced
inflammation of the brain. She had been for two days wildly
delirious, calling upon Remeses not to leave her, and accusing the
gods of seeking to put upon her a stranger for her own son! At
length her ravings and her fever ceased, and she rapidly failed.
When I entered, I found Remeses kneeling by her side, his manly
head bowed upon her couch, and tears falling upon her cold hand,
held in his. Her mind was clear now, but I could see that the azure
circle of death girdled her eyes, and that the light of the soul within
was expiring. Her whole attention was fixed upon Remeses, to whom
she kept saying, in a faint whisper, and with a smile, "My son, my
son, my own son! call me mother!"
"Mother, O my mother!" he exclaimed, in his strong anguish, "I
cannot part with thee! Thou hast been a mother to me indeed!"
As I entered, her gaze turned towards me.
"It is the Prince of Tyre! I thought it was the others!"
 "What others, my mother?" asked Remeses.
"They will soon come. I commanded him to bring them all. I must
see them ere I die. But the Prince of Tyre is welcome!" And she
smiled upon me, and gave me her other hand to kiss. It was cold as
ivory! I also knelt by her, and sorrowfully watched her sharpening
features, which the chisel of Death seemed shaping into the marble
majesty of a god.
At this moment the door opened, and I saw, ushered in by a
Hebrew page, the venerable head gardener, Amram; the young
Hebrew ecclesiastic; Miriam the papyrus writer; and, leaning upon
her arm, a dignified and still beautiful dame of fifty-five. I could not
be mistaken—this last was the mother of Remeses.
"Cause all persons to go forth the chamber," cried the queen at
the sight, her voice recovering in part its strength. She glanced at
me to remain.
"Come hither, Amram," she said, "and lead to my bedside thy wife.
Remeses, behold thy mother and father! Mother, embrace thy son!
Since he can be no longer mine, I will return him to thee forever!"
Her voice was veiled with tears. Remeses rose, and turning to his
mother, who looked worthy of him, said:
"My mother, I acknowledge thee to be my mother! Give me thy
blessing, as thou hast often done in my infancy."
He tenderly and respectfully embraced her, and then pressing his
father's hand to his lips, he knelt before them. They were deeply
moved, and instead of blessing him, wept upon him with silent joy.
"Are there not two more—a brother, a sister?" said Remeses, his
fine face radiant with that ineffable beauty which shines from
benevolence and the performance of a holy duty. I then led forward
Miriam, whom he regarded with admiring surprise (for she looked
like a queen in her own right), and then tenderly embraced, saying
to me, "Though I have lost a kingdom, O Sesostris, I have gained a
sister, which no crown could bestow upon me." Then, when he saw
the noble and princely looking priest, he cried, as he folded him to
his breast—
"This is, indeed, my brother!"
The whole scene was touching and interesting beyond the power
of my pen to describe, my dear mother. The dying queen smiled with
serene pleasure, and waving her hand, Remeses led first his mother,
and then his father, and in succession his sister and brother, to her
couch. Upon the heads of each she laid her hand, but longest upon
the mother's, saying:
"Love him—be kind to him—he has no mother now but thee! Love
him for my sake—you cannot but love him for his own! If I took thy
babe, O mother, I return thee a man and a prince worthy to rule a
nation, and in whom my eyes, closing upon the present, and seeing
far into the future, behold a leader of thy people—a prince to thy
nation. Born to a throne, he shall yet reign king of armies and leader
of hosts, who I see follow him obedient to his will and submissive to
the rod of his power. Remeses, I die! Kiss me!"
The noble Hebrew reverently bent over her lips, as if in an act of
worship; and when he lifted his face, there remained a statue of
clay. The Queen of Egypt was no more!
Sesostris

I closed, dear mother, my account of the death of the great and

good Queen Amense (which I wrote the day following that sad
event), in order to accompany Remeses to the chief embalmers. As I
passed through the streets, I saw that the whole population was in
mourning. Women went with dishevelled hair, men ceased to shave
their heads and beards, and all the signs of woe for death, which I
have before described, were visible. By the laws of Egypt, not even a
king can be embalmed in his own palace. Remeses, on reaching the
suburb of the embalmers, was received into the house of the chief,
and here he gave directions as to the fashion of the case and
sarcophagus, and the pattern of the funeral car, and of the baris in
which it was to cross the Nile to the pyramid which, I have already
said, she has been, since the first year of her reign, erecting for her
burial-place—placing a casing of vast stones, brought down from the
quarries near Elephantis, each year.
I will not delay to describe the ceremonies of preparation, nor the
embalmment and burial of the august lady whose demise has cast a
pall over Egypt. Your assurance that it would take you five months to
get ready your war-fleet against Cyprus, and the desire of Remeses
that I delay until the eighty days' mourning for the queen were over,
induced me to remain. It is now four days since her burial in the
centre of her stately pyramid, with the most imposing and gorgeous
rites ever known at the entombment of a monarch. Prince Mœris
was chief mourner! I have omitted to state that he readily acceded
to the conditions proposed in the letter of Remeses, and when the
courier followed, conveying to him the fact that he had been
adopted and declared her heir by the queen, he addressed a frank
and friendly letter to Remeses; for it is easy for him to assume any
character his interest prompts. As soon as the intelligence of the
death of the queen reached him, he hastened to Memphis. Here he
had an interview with Remeses, whom he treated with courtesy, and
offered the supervision of that part of Egypt where the Hebrew
shepherds dwell; for I have learned that in a valley, which leads from
Raamses to the Sea of Arabia, there are hundreds of Hebrews who,
like their ancestors, keep vast flocks and herds belonging to the
crown, but out of which they are allowed a tenth for their
subsistence. Over this pastoral domain, embracing about twenty
thousand shepherds, the prospective Pharaoh proposed to place
Remeses. I felt that it was intended as an insult; but Remeses
viewed it as an evidence of kindness on the part of one who knows
not how to be noble or great.
The interment of the queen past, there is nothing to detain either
Remeses or myself longer in Egypt. By her bounty he is rich, and has
given to his parents a large treasure, which will enable them to be at
ease; and besides, the queen gave to them and to Aaron (this is the
name of the elder brother of Remeses), and his sister, the right of
citizenship. Mœris, the day of the queen's burial, virtually ascended
the throne. His coronation, however, will not take place until after he
has passed through the forty days' novitiate.
And now, my dear mother, you will be surprised to learn that, the
information of the Hebrew birth of Remeses (who has modestly
dropped his first Egyptian name and adheres only to the second,
which is Mosis, or Moses, as the Hebrews pronounce it), was
wickedly conveyed, with large bribes, to the magicians by Prince
Mœris himself; and that, upon this information and influence, they
recalled from the past, which, like the future, is open to their
magical art, the scenes of his life, and presented them before his
vision.
Wonderful, incomprehensible, dear mother, above all things I have
seen in Egypt, is the mysterious power of these magicians and
sorcerers. Originally of the priestly order, they have advanced into
deeper and deeper mysteries, until the hierarchy of the regular
temple-worship fear them, and deny their ecclesiastical character,
saying, "that they have climbed so high the mountains of Osiris, that
they have fallen headlong over their summits into the dark realms of
Typhon, and owe their dread power to his auspices."
Whatever be the source of their powerful art, dear mother, there is
no doubt of its reality. Not even all the invocations, sacrifices,
oblations, prayers, libations, and exercises of the regular priesthood
can compete with these magicians and sorcerers. They can convert
day into night! destroy the shadow of an obelisk! fill the air with a
shower of sand, or of flowers! convert their rods into vines that bear
grapes! and walk with living asps as if they were almond or acacia
rods! They can present before the inquirer, the face or scene in a
distant land that is desired to be beheld! They can remove blocks of
porphyry by a touch of the finger, and make a feather heavy as gold!
They can cause invisible music in the air, and foretell the rain! And
when extraordinary motives and rewards are brought to bear upon
them, they can, by their united skill and necromantic art, aided by
sorcery, reproduce the past, as in the case of Remeses!
These powerful, yet dreaded and hated men, have for ages been
an appendage to the crown, and call themselves the "servants of the
Pharaohs." The kings of Egypt, who have protected, favored, and
sought their assistance, have also trembled at their power. Without
question they are aided by the evil genii; and perform their works
through the agency of the spirit of evil.
This, dear mother, will be the last letter I shall write you from
Egypt. Accompanied by Remeses, I shall to-morrow embark in my
galley for Pelusium. My friend, the Admiral Pathromenes, will
accompany us to the mouth of the Eastern Nile. I ought to say that
King Mœris, now Pharaoh-elect, has extended towards me marked
civilities, and seeks for a continuance of friendly intercourse. I shall
bear a royal letter from him to your majesty, expressive of his
respect for you, and his desire to perpetuate the alliance. But I have
no love for the man! If I can, I will raise an army in Phœnicia, after I
see the King of Cyprus chained to the poop of my galley, and,
placing Remeses at the head, invade Egypt, call the Hebrews to
arms, and, overturning the throne of Mœris, place my friend in his
seat. Did not the dying queen prophesy that he was born to rule? It
is over Egypt he will yet wield the sceptre! I will do my part, dear
mother, to fulfil the prophecy.
To the lovely Princess Thamonda convey my devotions, and assure
her that I shall make war against Cyprus more successfully, with her
heart wedded to mine, than alone. Warn her, dear mother, that I
shall claim her hand as soon as I return, and that Remeses will be
the groom-friend whom I shall honor with the high place of witness
and chief guest at our nuptials.
Farewell, dear mother.
Remeses desires to unite with me in affectionate regards to you.
Your son,
Sesostris
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