MONTEPIN, mon'ta'pan, Xavier Arnon, Count de, French writer: b. Apretnont, 18 March 1824 ; d. Paris, 30 April 1902. He was one of the most fertile and successful representa tives of the strung-out feuilleton novel writers of small literary merit. Most of his novels ap peared in fragments in the Petit Journal before being brought out in volume form, when they were dramatized by his friend Dornay for use on the Ambigu stage. Among the best known works are 'Confessions d'un Boheme) (1850) ; 'Mignonne' (1851) ; 'Mademoiselle Lucifer' (1853) ; 'Les viveurs de Paris' (1852 56, 14 vols.); 'La maison maudite' (1867) ; 'Les tragedies de Paris' (1874) ; 'La Majeste ]'Argent' (1877) ; 'Trois millions de dot' (1891), etc. Successfully placed on the stage were 'Le Connetable de (1850) ; 'La Sierene de Paris' (1860) ; medecin des pauvres' (1865) ; porteuse de (1889); 'La joneuse d'orgue' (1896).
MONTEPULCIANO, Italy, a district capital in the province Siena, located on one of the Subapennine heights of Tuscany and on the Empoli-Chiusi Railway. It has churches and palaces dating from the 14th to the 17th centuries, among which are the cathedral with its funeral monuments by Dona tello and Michelozzo, and the beautiful cupola church Madonna di Saint Viaggio outside the town, started by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder (1518) ; an ancient castle, 14th century town hall, gymnasium, technical school, library, col lection of ancient Etruscan antiquities, etc. It has an excellent wine culture and produces much oil and silk. It is the birthplace of Car dinal Bellarmin and the sage and poet, Angelo Ambrogini (Poliziano). Its population in 1911 was 15,994 in the entire commune.