The fact that on the continent of Europe monts de piété are almost invariably either a state or a municipal monopoly necessarily places them upon an entirely different footing from the British pawnshop, but, compared with the English system, the foreign is very elaborate and rather cumbersome.
Somewhere between forty and fifty French towns possess municipal pawnshops, a few of which, like those of Grenoble and Montpellier, having been endowed, charge no interest.