in this condition he was again led to the alter, where the oath of secrecy was repeated, and the gods were invoked to visit him with their direst wrath if he should ever, even accidentally, reveal the mysteries to any profane one. THE LAST STAGE-THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION. After these days of preparation and ceremonies of the GREATER MYSTERIES, he was entitled to receive instruction in the LESSER MYSTERIES, called also the INSTITUTES OF ISIS. During these ceremonies, which continued for a longer or shorter term of days, according to the dignity of the candidate, or his proposed station in the priesthood, he was made acquainted with the writings of THOт, the god of eloquence, the inventor of writing, of philosophy, and he received a collar embroidered with emblems of his progress and acquirements, and became after due examination entitled to appear as a VICTOR before the people in a solemn procession, called the TRIUMPHAL MARCH OF THE INITIATED. This occasion was often made a most magnificent affair, in which many orders of men and women took part in great numbers, and particularly the priests of the great gods who wore disguises in imitation of the statues of their several divinities, which were symbolical of their peculiar attributes. The most precious treasures of the sanctuary were displayed, and sacrifices prepared to Isis, her statue being vailed in a black gauze, over a drapery of |