bronze. The mummy is that of a thin elderly man, well
preserved; the face was covered by a mask made of linen smeared with
pitch, but when this was raised by means of a chisel, the fine kingly
head was exposed to view. It was a masterpiece of the art of the
embalmer, and the expression of the face was that of one who had only
a few hours previously breathed his last. Death had slightly drawn
the nostrils and contracted the lips, the pressure of the bandages had
flattened the nose a little, and the skin was darkened by the pitch; but
a calm and gentle smile still played over the mouth, and the half-opened
eyelids allowed a glimpse to be seen from under their lashes of an
apparently moist and glistening line,--the reflection from the white
porcelain eyes let in to the orbit at the time of burial.

Seti had had several children by his wife Tuia, and the eldest had
already reached manhood when his father ascended the throne, for he had
accompanied him on his Syrian campaign. The young prince died, however,
soon after his return, and his right to the crown devolved on his
younger brother, who, like his grandfather, bore the name of Ramses.
The prince was still very young,* but Seti did not on that account delay
enthroning with great pomp this son who had a better right to the throne
than himself.

* The history of the youth and the accession of Ramses II.
is known to us from the narrative given by himself in the
temple of Seti I. at Abydos. The bulk of the narrative is
confirmed by the evidence of the Kuban inscription,
especially as to the extreme youth of Ramses at the time
when he was first associated with the crown.

"From the time that I was in the egg," Ramses writes later on, "the
great ones sniffed the earth before me; when I attained to the rank of
eldest son and heir upon the throne of Sibu, I dealt with affairs, I
commanded as chief the foot-soldiers and the chariots. My father having
appeared before the people, when I was but a very little boy in his
arms, said to me: 'I shall have him crowned king, that I may see him
in all his splendour while I am still on this earth!' The nobles of the
court having drawn near to place the pschent upon my head: 'Place the
diadem upon his forehead!' said he." As Ramses increased in years,
Seti delighted to confer upon him, one after the other, the principal
attributes of power; "while he was still upon this earth, regulating
everything in the lan