Reprint Of Scarce, Orcurious , Books On Freemasonry .

those who were concerned for her memory , A \ ere seized with unexpected terrors . For if those things which are really good , are sumctimes accounted bad by the injustice of men , it is more to be apprehended , that those causes which to us appear good , may be really bad in tho judgment of the gods . The judges Avere placed upon a large and deep scaffold in the form of an alcOA r eraised LAVO steps ; about Avhich their seatsto the number of

, , forty-one , formed a semi-circle . Their under habits Avere a sort Of tunics , or Avhite vests , like tho priests or initiates , over Avhich they wore scarlet robes like judges . Round their necks they had chains of gold , at each of Avhich hung an emerald , Avith the image of truth ® engraven upon it ; and they were ranged in the folloAving order : —Tho high priest , Avho presided oyer tho tribunal , Avas placed in tho centre on a seat raised

some-Avhat higher than the rest , and on both sides of them sat the two judges elected by the norao of Memphis , Avho Avere only initiates , of Avhom . Amedes Avas the chief . Below them on either side were sixteen priests of the labyrinth , and then tho ninety-two initiates appointed by the other nomes . Tho urn was placed in the- front of tho tribunal , on the brink of the uppermost step ; and the officers of the second order were seated upon the

loAvermost , m habits proper for tho functions they Avere to perform after judgment given . Everything being thus disposed , the horses taken out of _ the queen ' s chariot , and the poles and pavilion remoA'ed ; tho high priest of Memphis , A \* ho directed the procession , being mounted upon the loot of tho chariot , standing , and Avith his head uncovered , made tho folloAving oration : — " Inexorable deities of hell ! behold here our queen , whom you have . appointed " a victim , in the bloom of her years , and in the greatest necessity of her " people . - We come to intreat you will vouchsafe her that repose , of which her " loss may shortly deprive us . She has been faithful in every duty to the gods .

" She has not dispensed Avith the outward exercise of reli gion under pretext of " affairs of state ; nor has that exercise alone supplied in her the place of virtue . " Amidst the cares Avhich employed her in her counsels , and that gaiety which " she sometimes put on at court , the divine law , which Avas ever present to her " mind , and ruled in her heart , Avas always A'isible . Of all the festivals , at which " the superiority of her rank , the success of her undertakings , or the love of her " people , have engaged her to be an assistant , none have been so agreeable and to her

" pleasant , as those A \ diich have called her to our temples . She has not " suffered herself to be led into the paths of injustice , as many kings have done , " in-hopes of making ample satisfaction by her offerings ; and her magnificence " towards the gods , has been the fruits of her piety , not the tributes of remorse . " Instead of countenancing animosity , vexation and persecution , by the counsels " of an _ ill-timed piety , she has drawn no other maxims from religion but those " of lenity ; and lias neA'er put severitin practicehut when the common

y , course " of justice , and the security of the state , has demanded it . She has exercised " all the A'irtues of the best of kings with that modest diffidence , Avhicli has hardly " allowed her to enjoy that happiness Avhich she procured for her people . A " glorious defence of the frontiers , peace settled botli at home and abroad , and " every other ornament and institution , have generally in other princes been the " effect of politic wisdom , which the gods , judges of their real springs , do not " always reward . But with our all these things have been the result of

queen " virtue , and have had no other principles but a love of her duty , and a vieiv " to tho pnhlie felicity . Par from regarding the sovereign power as a means to " indulge her passions , it has been a rule to her to make the tranquillity of the " state the ease of her own mind , and a standing maxim , that patience and