Note 582 — PREFACE (continued 4)

Mont St. Michel is a Benedictine Abbey, with a village strongly fortified, on a rocky island, surrounded with quicksands, and only accessible at low water. It is sixteen miles S.W. of Avranches, in Normandy. Its situation is highly picturesque; and many chivalrous associations are connected with the place; which, during the fifteenth century, had often been besieged, but unsuccessfully, by the English. From its strong and isolated position, it had probably been chosen for that purpose, and it still continues to be used for a State prison.