Reprint Of Scarce, Or Curious, Books On Freemasonry.

About two hundred years after tho death of Ramesses , and fifty or sixty years before the Trojan Avars , Osoroth , a prince advanced in years , succeeded to the crown of Memphis , a dynasty but little inferior in power that of Thebes , but by far preferable to it Avith regard to the lenity of its climate , and the beauty of its situation . The city of Memphis , the metropolis of tho dynasty , Avas situate on the Avostern bank of the Nile , near the place where that only river of Egypt divides itself into seven arms , of Avhich

those two , which are at tho greatest distance one from the other , enclose the Delta , and altogether form seven mouths at their entrance into the great ocean ( the Mediterranean ) . All Egj'pt has , from the most ancient account of time , been styled a gift of the Nile ; being supposed to be only a heap of earth Avhich the waters of this river has successively carried away Avith its stream from the south to the north . But the formation of tho Delta is held to be more recent ; because according to those monuments *

which may Avell be looked upon as historical truths , the Pharus of Alexandria , which is IIOAV joined to the continent , Avas formerly twenty-four leagues distant from it in the sea . This region is so delightful that , according to fable , the gods formed it upon the constellation of the triangle , which passes vertically over the Delta every day in the year . Osorothnot long before his accession to tho thronehad married Neplvfcc

, , , daughter of the king of This , a third dynasty , situate between Memphis and Thebes , to the west of the river Nile . Of this princess he soon had the prince Avhose life I am about to write . He Avas the eldest of the three sons of Osoroth , mentioned in the annals of Manothon f only by the name of the Anonymi . But though this famous historian was a priest , and

even keeper of the sacred archives of Heliopohs , as he did not Avrite till the reign of Ptolomeus Philadelphus , two hundred years after the devastation of Egypt by Cambyses , the remains of those memoirs he Avas possessed of were but A cry imperfect . I have , by moans not to bo related , discovered those Avhich are more ample , and have been preserved more entire ; and Avlrich give to the first of these Anonymi of Manethon the name of Sethosand the surname of Sosisor Preserverfor a reason that

, , , will be shown in the sequel of his life . The birth of this prince filled the Avholo kingdom with joy ; so great Avas the love the people bore to their king , or rather their queen , Avho , though but young in years , governed them Avith an admirable Avisdom and goodness . Eor Osoroth , whose character it Avould be difficult to trace in one single picture , and which will not bo Avell understood till toAvards the

conclusion of this history , immediately entrusted the reins of government to the hands of the queen . This prince did not ascend the throne till the fiftieth year of his age ; and king Sesonchis his father , more jealous of his present authority than attentive to the future felicity of his son and subjects , had kept him ignorant of the affairs of his realm , even to the moment he left Mm his SAACCCSSOV . SO Osovoth , having fortified his natural indolence by a life given up to sloth and inactivityhad no other taste

, of the sweets of royalty but that of independency , and sought how to disburthen himself of the Aveight of government . This part fell , as it Avere of itself , into the hands of the queen , more capable than any other of receiAdng it ; and what appeared in the eye of the people to bo a judicious choice , was in reality the mere effect of sujnneness in Osoroth .