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: