Reprint Of Scarce, Or Curious, Books On Freemasonry.

This lady , Avhoso friendship was sincere and resolute , having promised tho queen what she demanded , Nephte from that moment endeavoured to preserve her mind in a state of tranquillit y ; but the less visible her anxieties appeared in her outward behaviour , the greater effect they had upon her mind .

In the meantime the most celebrated pthysicians of the kingdom , who wore then the priests , Avere assembled in the palace , even by order of the king ; though , that it mi ght not break in upon his pleasures , he always supposed the queen ' s distemper to be of no dangerous consequence . Egypt , the mother of arts and sciences , claimed the honour , before all others , of havinogiven birth to the medical art . iEsculapiusone of the sons of Meneshad

, , even reigned in Memphis , as Ave have already observed , Avhile his brother Mercury was king of Thebes ; and tho six volumes * which the former had compiled upon physic , added to the six-and-thirt y wherein Mercury had given the principles of all the other sciences , formed that famous treasure of learning by which the priests boasted of having been instructed by the gods themselves . Be that as it will , these physicians , truly accomplished in their art

, put in practice , with regard to the queen , Avhatever their reading , reflections , and experience could suggest . They at first treated her according to their ancient rules , which Avere enjoined them under penalty of death : for every physician , who deviated from them , was ansAverable for his patient , and in case of ill success , the death of the one surel y brought on the death of the other . This indeed often served for a pretext to treat those patients , who were indifferent to them , with negligence , and not to exceed the letter of tho law . But that concern Avith which they were

sensibly affected for tho preservation of a queen , such as Nephte , and tho lamentations of a people Avho recommended their sovereign , whom they styled their mother , soon engaged them to have recourse to new remedies . They indeed disguised them under ancient names , whereby they found means to justify themselves by some of the innumerable instances with which their books were filled . They even by turns waited at the gate of the palace to hear all who mi ght have any ad \ 'ico to offer for the queen ' s andafterwards

recovery , ^ gave their opinion of them in their consultations . For it was of importance to them in so critical a juncture , in some measure to comply Avith an ancient custom , of placing their sick before tho doors of their houses , that they might inquire of all who passed by if they knew of any remedy for the distemper in question . On the other hand , the temples of the gods were open day and nio-lit to a vast concourse of people , who continually resorted thither to supplicate the recovery of their queen . They began at the templet of Vulcan , built bv

Menes , tho common ancestor of ail the kings of Egypt , which had been pivserved _ during the space of sixteen hundred years in . all the splendour it Avas left in by the founder . From thence they Avent to those of Serapis and Venus . But it Avas in ihe temple oE Osiris , his Avif ' e Isis , and their son Horus , that they Avere the most assiduous , on account of tho remarkable relation there happened to be betAVcen those three deities and the persons of Avhom tho royal family then consisted . The successive concourse of

innumerable people continually filled not only the court , tho porch , and body of the temple , but all the parts contiguous to tho sanctuary , notwithstanding then- large extent . °