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vingt-et-un: see blackjack.

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Tarn-et-Garonne

Tarn-et-Garonne, department (1990 pop. 201,400), SW France. Montauban is the capital.

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Seine-et-Marne

Seine-et-Marne, department (1990 pop. 1,078,944), N central France, in Brie. Melun is the capital.

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Saône-et-Loire

Saône-et-Loire, department (1990 pop. 558,500), E France, in Burgundy. Mâcon is the capital.

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Pompidou, Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges

Pompidou, Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges: see Beaubourg.

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Montesquieu, Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de la Brède et de

Montesquieu, Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de la Brède et de, 1689-1755, French jurist and political philosopher. He was councillor (1714) of the parlement of Bordeaux and its president (1716-28) after the death of an uncle, whom he succeeded in both title and office. He gained a seat in the French Academy in 1728. His Persian Letters (1721) brought him immediate fame. In these letters, supposedly written by Persian travelers in Europe and by their friends, he satirized and criticized French insititutions. In 1734 he produced a scientific historical study of the rise and fall of Rome, Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence. His greatest work, The Spirit of Laws (1748), is a comparative study of three types of government—republic, monarchy, and despotism—and shows John Locke's influence on Montesquieu. Its main theories are that climate and circumstances determine the form of governments and that the powers of government should be separated and balanced in order to guarantee the freedom of the individual. Written with brilliance of style, it had great historical importance and influenced the formation of the American Constitution.

See biography by R. Shackleton (1961); studies by J. R. Loy (1968), M. Hulliung (1977), and T. L. Pangle (1989).

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Meurthe-et-Moselle

Meurthe-et-Moselle, department (1990 pop. 711,500), NE France, in Lorraine, bordering on Belgium and Luxembourg. Nancy is the capital.

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Maine-et-Loire

Maine-et-Loire, department (1990 pop. 705,882), NW France, roughly coextensive with Anjou. Angers is the capital.

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Lot-et-Garonne

Lot-et-Garonne, department (1990 pop. 306,900), in Agenais and parts of Bazadais and Bezaume, SW France. Agen is the capital.

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Loir-et-Cher

Loir-et-Cher, department (1990 pop. 307,100), N central France, in Orléanais. Blois is the capital.

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Indre-et-Loire

Indre-et-Loire, department (1990 pop. 532,100), N central France. It occupies most of Touraine, and Tours is its capital.

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Ille-et-Vilaine

Ille-et-Vilaine, department (1990 pop. 804,200), NW France, in Brittany, on the English Channel. Rennes is the capital.

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Gramont, Agénor, prince de Bidache, duc de Guiche et de

Gramont, Agénor, prince de Bidache, duc de Guiche et de, 1819-80, French diplomat. He served as plenipotentiary at Stuttgart (1852) and Turin (1853) and was ambassador to Rome (1857) and Vienna (1861). As foreign minister in 1870, he instructed the French ambassador to Prussia, Vincent Benedetti, to hold the ill-fated interview with King (later Emperor) William I that led to the publication of the Ems dispatch, the flimsy pretext on which France declared war against Prussia (see Franco-Prussian War).

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Frontenac, Louis de Buade, comte de Palluau et de

Frontenac, Louis de Buade, comte de Palluau et de, 1620-98, French governor of New France. His early military career was spent in service in the Low Countries, Italy, and Germany. Appointed in 1672 to the post in New France, he entered with vigor upon a course that would have resulted in considerable political independence for Canada. His policy was not acceptable to Louis XIV and to his minister Jean Colbert, and, adding to the power of the council in New France, they reduced that of the governor. Frontenac was embroiled in quarrels with the Jesuits, with the intendant, and with the governor of Montreal, but he tried to develop new policies toward the indigenous peoples, forwarded explorations by Louis Jolliet, Jacques Marquette, and the sieur de La Salle, and aided in the establishment of forts and posts in the new French territory. When disagreements among the heads of the colony caused division and confusion, Frontenac was recalled (1682) to France. During the following years, however, the Iroquois became increasingly aggressive, and his successors, Joseph de La Barre and the marquis de Denonville, failed to resolve New France's problems; Frontenac was therefore returned to Canada as governor in 1689. He energetically warred against the Iroquois until they were subdued in 1696, and he held Quebec against the British in the first of the French and Indian Wars. Under him, French forces drove Sir William Phips's fleet from Quebec, Boston was attacked, and raids were made on the British coast as far south as New Jersey. His leadership during the war with the British enabled the French to maintain the status quo in New France until the signing of the Treaty of Ryswick (1697) ended the war.

See biography by W. D. Le Sueur (1926, repr. 1964); study by F. Parkman (1902, repr. 1969).

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Eure-et-Loir

Eure-et-Loir, department (1990 pop. 399,700), N France. Chartres is the capital.

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peine forte et dure

peine forte et dure(French; “strong and hard punishment”)

Formerly in English law, punishment inflicted on those accused of a felony who refused to enter a plea. By a statute of 1275, the peine was usually to imprison and starve the prisoner until he submitted; in 1406 pressing by heavy weights was added to this. In one of the few instances of its use in the American colonies, during the Salem witch trials, 80-year-old Giles Corey, who had decided not to stand trial rather than forfeit his family's goods, was pressed to death by interrogators. The practice was abolished in 1772.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Frontenac, Louis de Buade, count de Palluau and de

(born May 22, 1622, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, France—died Nov. 28, 1698, Quebec, New France) French courtier and governor of New France (1672–82, 1689–98). Despite a record of misgovernment, he encouraged exploration that led to the expansion of the French empire in Canada. He established fur-trading posts that brought him into conflict with the Montreal fur traders and later expanded the posts west. He engaged in disputes with the officials and clergy of New France. The Iroquois Confederacy, which had remained on good terms with the French until 1675, turned against the French, and the colony was left defenseless. Louis XIV recalled Frontenac in 1682. Reappointed when the French and Indian War started (1689), he distinguished himself by repulsing British attacks on Quebec.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.