Mentone

Mentone (Fr. Menton), a town in the department of Alpes Maritimes, France, is pleasantly situated on the Mediterranean, $1\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ mile from the Italian frontier and 14 miles by rail NE. of Nice. Owing to its southern exposure, and the fact that spurs of the Alps shelter it on the north and west, it enjoys a beautiful climate—average for the year $61^\{\backslash circ\}$—and so has become a favourite winter-resort of invalids and health-seekers from England, Germany, and other countries. The town stands on a promontory that divides its bay into two portions; the native town clings to the mountain side, whilst the hotels and villas for the visitors extend along the water's edge. The harbour is protected on the south and west by a sea-wall (1889). There is a trade chiefly in olive-oil, wine, lemons, skins, which fluctuates between £75,000 and £211,000 a year. Great damage was done to the place by an earthquake in February 1887. Pop. 8433. In the 14th century it was purchased by the lords of Monaco, and, except during the period of the revolution and down to 1815, when France seized it, the princes of Monaco kept possession till 1848. In that year the inhabitants voluntarily put themselves under the protection of Sardinia, but that power yielded the town to France twelve years later. See Dr Bennet, Winter and Spring on the Shores of the Mediterranean (5th ed. 1874) and Maritime Alps and their Seaboard (1888).