j i . 
The Mizmaze on Breamore Down, near Downton. 99 
It can be readily understood that, in the midst of such surround- 
ings, and in so remote a situation, a very primitive date might at 
first sight be ascribed to this work. From early times the stories 
of labyrinths, such as that of Dzedalus in Crete, with the legend of 
_ Theseus and Minotaur, have exercised their fascination. The 
mystery they suggested and the symbolism of which they were 
capable, have been adapted to many purposes: and we find almost 
continuous traces of their influence, in the recreations of the people 
and the pleasure-grounds of the wealthy, from the days of the 
glowing tales of Herodotus to those of the formal labyrinths of - 
clipped yew introduced into English gardens after the Renaissance. 
A Memoir of Ancient and Medieval Labyrinths, by the Rev. E. 
Trollope, F.S.A., in The Archeological Journal, 1858, vol. xv., 
_ p. 216, though it does not describe the Breamore labyrinth, provides 
us with a key to its interpretation, and gives a valuable summary 
of what is known on the subject, to which I am indebted for the 
following facts. The labyrinth appears in conventional form on 
Cretan coins, as a symbol: on Greek and Roman gems, and as an 
architectural design on mosaic pavements at Pompeii and elsewhere. 
Before the ninth century it is appropriated as an ornament for the 
dress of emperors, signifying the inscrutableness of the counsels of 
princes as well as the divinity that “doth hedge a king.” Then, 
adopted as an ecclesiastical symbol, it acquires a new significance, 
that of the safety of the Church in the midst of the tortuous ways 
of the world. When pilgrimages to favourite shrines took the 
place of the more arduous journeys to Jerusalem of the Crusaders’ 
days, and occasions were not wanting when even these easier vows 
were unfulfilled by the devotee, a new meaning was found for the 
ecclesiastical labyrinth, and a new name given to it, /e chemin de 
Jerusalem, symbolical of the difficulties of the road to the literal as 
well as to the heavenly Jerusalem. It may, also, have represented 
the “ Way to Calvary.” It is accordingly suggested that the large 
labyrinths on the pavements of foreign Churches were used as a 
means of fulfilling neglected vows of pilgrimage, as well as for 
other purposes of penance and acts of devotion. 
Many instances of labyrinths occur in Italian and French 
