of their history. At the voice of their
rhapsodists together with their poets and romancers, kings became
gods and their adventures of gallantry were transformed into immortal
allegories. According to M. Chompre, licentiate in law, the classic
author of the _Dictionary of Mythology_, the labyrinth was 'an enclosure
planted with trees and adorned with buildings arranged in such a way
that when a young man once entered, he could no more find his way out.'
Here and there flowery thickets were presented to his view, but in the
midst of a multitude of alleys, which crossed and recrossed his path and
bore the appearance of a uniform passage, among the briars, rocks and
thorns, the patient found himself in combat with an animal called the
Minotaur.

"Now, madame, if you will allow me the honor of calling to your mind
the fact that the Minotaur was of all known beasts that which Mythology
distinguishes as the most dangerous; that in order to save themselves
from his ravages, the Athenians were bound to deliver to him, every
single year, fifty virgins; you will perhaps escape the error of good M.
Chompre, who saw in the labyrinth nothing but an English garden; and
you will recognize in this ingenious fable a refined allegory, or we may
better say a faithful and fearful image of the dangers of marriage. The
paintings recently discovered at Herculaneum have served to confirm
this opinion. And, as a matter of fact, learned men have for a long time
believed, in accordance with the writings of certain authors, that
the Minotaur was an animal half-man, half-bull; but the fifth panel
of ancient paintings at Herculaneum represents to us this allegorical
monster with a body entirely human; and, to take away all vestige of
doubt, he lies crushed at the feet of Theseus. Now, my dear madame, why
should we not ask Mythology to come and rescue us from that hypocrisy
which is gaining ground with us and hinders us from laughing as our
fathers laughed? And thus, since in the world a young lady does not very
well know how to spread the veil under which an honest woman hides her
behavior, in a contingency which our grandfathers would have roughly
explained by a single word, you, like a crowd of beautiful but
prevaricating ladies, you content yourselves with saying, 'Ah! yes,
she is very amiable, but,'--but what?--'but she is often very
inconsistent--.' I have for a long time tried to find out the meaning of
this last word, and, above all, the figu