284 



MONT CENTS 



MONTECUCULI 



ran severely wounded and made prisoner 

 ic tattle of Piocenzo. In 1756 he assumed 



he 



at the 



command of the French troops in Canada, and 



soon after his arrival captured the British post of 



Oswego. The suec ding summer he. crossed Lake 



George with about 8000 French and Indians, and 

 captured Fort William Henry. After the French 

 had taken possession of the fort, the defenceless 

 prisoners, comprising men, women, and children, 

 were massacred by the Indians. Montcalm has 

 been blamed even 'by his apologists for not fore- 

 seeing the danger, and taking etl'eetual measures to 

 avert it. In 175s General Aliercroniby advanced 

 on Ticonderoga with 15,000 regulars and provin- 

 cial troops. The place was defended hy Montcalm 

 with a much smaller force of regular troops. The 

 British troo|is displayed heroic daring and courage, 

 but after repeated attempts to force the defences, 

 which were in themselves almost impregnable, and 

 were defended with great gallantry, they withdrew 

 with a loss of about two thousand men. This 

 French success was, however, much more than 

 counterbalanced by the loss of Louislmrg and Fort 

 Duquesne about the same time. Montcalm then 

 removed to Queliec, and prepared to defend it 

 against a British attack. Of the 16,000 troops 

 under his command the majority were militia and 

 Indians. In 1759 General Wolfe ascended the St 

 Lawrence with about 8000 troops, and a naval 

 force under Admiral Saumlers. After related 

 attempts to scale the heights of Montmoreney, 

 and a severe repulse aliout the end of July, he 

 surprised a French outpost before dawn on 13th 

 Septemlier, scaled the height* with alxiut 5000 

 men, gained the plateau of Quebec, and formed in 

 line of battle on the Plains of Abraham. In the 

 Imttle that ensued the French ultimately broke in 

 disorder and retreated on the city. Montcalm 

 tried in vain to rally his force, and, having been 

 borne liack by the pressure of the retreat, he \yas 

 mortally wounded at the St Louis gate, ami died 

 the following morning, 14th September 1759. See 

 the article \Yoi.FK; Parkinan's Montcalm and 

 II W/c ( Boston, 1SS4); and Falgairolle's Muntcalm 

 decant la Posteriti ( Paris, 1886). 



Mont Crnls, or MONTE CENISIO, an Alpine 

 peak and pass lietwecn Savoy and Piedmont. 

 Height of the mountain, 11,792 feet; of the pass, 

 6884 feet. Over the pass a road was constructed 

 (1802-10) by Fabbroni, under Napoleon's orders, | 

 at an expense of 300,000. Thirteen miles west of 

 the pass a railway tunnel, 7J miles long, was liegun 

 in 1857 on the Italian side, and in 1863 on the 

 French, and was finished in 1870 at a cost of 

 3,000,000. Through this tunnel passes one of the 

 main continental overland routes from London riil 

 Paris to Biindisi, for Asia, Australia, and East 

 Africa. 



Mont-df-Marsan, capital of the French de- 

 partment of Landes, at the continence of the Midou 

 and Douze, 92 miles by rail S. of Bordeaux. It has 

 a mineral spring ami manufactures of chemicals, 

 iron. &c. Pop. ( 1872) 7441 ; ( 1S91 ) 9790. 



Mont d- Ptftf', called in Italy MoNTE DI 

 Pn-.i'A, a charitable institution the object of which 

 i- io lend money to the poor at a moderate rate of 

 interest. It was closely modelled on the ' Monte,' 

 a precursor of the modern bank, in which the 

 creditors, or the parties who supplied the capital, 

 formed a close corporation, with privilcgi-d claims 

 ii|Min certain source* of income. These conditions 

 were designed to avoid the laws agaiiiM usury. But 

 the Monte di PietA did not at first levy regular in- 



tei e-t , only a small percentage to cover tl x peiise- 



of administration. The earliest of these instiln 

 lions was established at Orvieto in 1463; and 

 another followed at 1'erugia, 1407 ; yet the right 



to levy for the expenses of management was only 

 eOMMH in 1515. The system was introduced in 

 Spain, France, Belgium, Gel many, the Nethei lands, 

 and Mexico. Then- exists at P.-n is a national pawn- 

 broking establishment, called Mont de Picte, which 

 charges 9 per cent, on all loans to pay the working 

 expenses. The surplus gain is handed over to the 

 public charity funds. See Blaizc, DC* Muiitt de 

 PMt (2 vols/1856), and PAWMIIHIKINI;. 

 Mont-Dorr-h's-Iluins. " village of Auvergne, 



in the department of l'u> dc I >omc. '.'IP miles SS\V. 

 of Clermont-Ferrand. It lies 3412 feet almve the 

 sea-level, in a picturesque valley, through which 

 the river Dordognc Hows, and which is liordered on 

 Ixith sides by rugged volcanic hills, and closed to- 

 wards the south by a semicircle of jaggei 1 iiionntains, 

 the highest point fit which, the Pic de Sancv (6188 

 feet), is the loftiest mountain in central France. 

 The Mont Dore mineral springs, which were used 

 by the I tomans, are of great value in affections of 

 the throat and most diseases of the respiratory 

 organs, as also in the earlier stages of rheumatism. 

 There are eight |Miwerfnl springs in full operation, 

 seven of these having a temperature which varies 

 1 iet ween 102 and 114, while La Source Sainte 

 Marguerite is comparatively cold. The water con- 

 tains liicarlionates of soda, iron, and arsenic. The 

 ordinary population of the village is about 140X1, 

 but the baths, which are every year lieconiiiig 

 better known, are thronged during tne short season 

 (July to September) with visitors from all pan-. 



Montobcllo r.'islciitjio. a village of Northern 

 Italy, 14 miles S. by W. of Povia, where the 

 AuMiians were defeated by a French army under 

 General Lannes (afterwanls Duke of Mmitel>ello), 

 after a desjierate conflict, 9th June 1800. In May 

 185!) the Austrians were again defeated here by the 

 united French and Pifdniontese army. 



MontC C'arlo, a small town in the territory 

 of Monaco (q.v. ), 1 mile NE. of the town of Monaco, 

 in. i .11 i, MI- on account of its gaming-tables, and the 

 numerous suicides of mined gamblers. 



llont'-<'u>ino. the monastery built (529) by 

 St IJenedict, founder of the great Benedictine 

 order, stands on lieetling dill's, in a magnificent 

 situation, 70 miles by rail N\V. of Naples and 92 

 SK. of Koine. It has lieen four times destroyed 

 in ."iS!l by the Longoluirds, in 8H4 by the Saracens, 

 in 1030 by the Normans, and in 1349 by an earth- 

 quake. It was dissolved in 1806 ; but a few monks 

 still remain. In 1313 the abUit was elevated to 

 episcopal rank, and from l.">ot he was otlicial 'head 

 of all the abbots of the Benedict ine order.' The 

 existing church, replacing one erivted in 1(X(6, 

 was built in 1727, and possesses an llth century 

 By/anline bronze portal, mosaics, frescoes, carv- 

 ings, &c. The former monastic buildings contain 

 valuable archives, a picture-gallery, a library of 

 40,000 volumes. 30,000 charts, MX) incunabula, and 

 a seminary. See Tusti, Stm-in delln liiulin <li 

 Mmiti t'liiaino (18431, Arrliirm I'lmxiiirse (1847), 

 and Macke.x s /.,/. .;/' Hi*/,,,/! Forbes ( IS.ss ). 



Montr < alini. a watering -place of Italy, by 

 rail 30 miles N\V. of Florence and 19 E. of Lucca. 

 Its mineral springs are saline, range l>etween 82 

 and 8<i F., and are ctlicadoiis for alidominal com 

 plaints, scrofula, and dysentery. The season louts 

 from May to September. Near here the Floren- 

 tines were defeated hy the Pisans in 1315. 



Montr CristO. an uninhabited islet of (rranite 

 off the Italian coast, 26 miles S. of F.lha. For the 

 novel whose hem liears this name, see DfMAS. 



Mwntr rn'rulU KAIMONMMI, OU-NT, was born at 



Modcna iii HHW, and entered the Austrian service, 

 distinguishing himself during the Thirty Years' 

 War (especially at Breitenfeld and Noidlingen), in 



