TJi< Mizmazf on Bream-ore 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 Dsedalus 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 then 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 Eenaissance. 



A Memoir of Ancient and Mediaeval Labyrinths, by the Rev. E. 

 Trollope, F.S.A., in The Archaeological Journal, 1858, vol. xv., 

 p. 216, though it does not describe the Breamore labyrinth, provides 

 us with a ke}' 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, le 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 



