Fleeing her native Paris during the French Revolution, Charlotte Victoire LeClerc Mentelle undertook

the ocean crossing alone in 1794, to join her husband, Augustus Waldemar Mentelle, who had reached

America four years earlier. The Mentelles arrived in Lexington, Kentucky

in 1798 and taught dance and French at Transylvania Seminary. Madame Mentelle eventually opened her own

school in 1820, Mentelle’s School for Young Ladies, where she taught a rigorous curriculum that included

French, geography, literature, social etiquette and dancing. Madame Mentelle was often labeled eccentric and

could be seen vigorously walking down the streets of Lexington while reading, wearing a man’s shirt collar,

many claiming she was “too masculine.”

Madame Mentelle believed in liberty and equal rights for women; she sought to help young ladies become

educated, disciplined, and accomplished women who would make a difference in society.

Madame Mentelle is portrayed by Dr. Simonetta Cochis, Professor of French and Spanish at

Transylvania University. She has directed and acted in farces around the world as part of a troupe of scholars

and teachers, La Compagnie Gaillarde. She also performs the narrative lays of medieval author Marie de

France, both in Old French and in modern English. She earned a B.A. in political science from SUNY at Stony

Brook, an M.A. in French and Italian Literature from SUNY at Stony Brook, and a Ph.D. in French Literature

from New York University. Dr. Cochis began teaching at Transylvania University in 1997.