MAINTENON (Madame de), a French lady of
extraordinary fortune, descended from an ancient fam-
ily, and whose proper name was Frances Daubigne,
was born in 1635. Her parents by misfortunes being
ill able to support her, she fell to the care of her mo-
ther's relations; to escape which state of dependence,
she was induced to marry that famous old buffoon the
abbe Scarron, who substituted himself only on a pension
allowed him by the court for his wit and parts. She
lived with him many years, which Voltaire makes no
scruple to call the happiest years of her life; but when
he died in 1660, she found herself as indigent as she
was before her marriage. Her friends indeed endeav-
oured to get her husband's pension continued to her,
and presented so many petitions to the king about it,
all beginning with "The widow Scarron most humbly
prays your majesty's, &c." that he was quite weary
of them, and has been heard to exclaim, "Must I al-
ways be pestered with the widow Scarron?" At last,
however, through the recommendation of Madame de
Montefpan, he settled a much larger pension on her,
with a genteel apology for making her wait so long;
and afterward made choice of her to take care of the
education of the young duke of Maine, his son by Ma-
dame de Montefpan. The letters she wrote on this oc-
casion charmed the king, and were the origin of her ad-
vancement; her personal merit effected all the rest. He
bought her the lands of Maintenon, the only estate she
ever had; and finding her pleased with the acquisition,
called her publicly Madam de Maintenon; which was
of great service to her in her good fortune, by relea-
sing her from the ridicule attending that of Scarron.
Her elevation was to her only a retreat; the king came
to her apartment every day after dinner, before and
after supper, and continued there till midnight: here
he did business with his ministers, while Madam de
Maintenon, employed in reading or needle-work, never
shewed any desire to talk of state-affairs, and carefully
avoided all appearance of cabal or intrigue; she did
not even make use of her power to dignify her own
relations. About the latter end of the year 1685,
Lewis XIV. married her, he being then in his 48th
and she in her 50th year; and that piety with which
she inspired the king to make her a wife instead of a
mistress, became by degrees a settled disposition of
mind. She prevailed on Lewis to found a religious
community at St Cyr, for the education of 300 young
ladies of quality; and here she frequently retired from
that melancholy of which she complains so pathetically
in one of her letters, and which few ladies will sup-
pose she should be liable to in such an elevated situa-
tion. But, as M. Voltaire says, if any thing could
shew the vanity of ambition, it would certainly be this
letter. Madame de Maintenon could have no other un-
easiness than the uniformity of her manner of living
with a great king; and this made her once say to the
count Daubigné her brother, "I can hold it no lon-
ger;
Major. ger; I wish I was dead." The answer he made to her was, "You have then a promise to marry the Almighty?" Lewis, however, died before her in 1715; when she retired wholly to St Cyr, and spent the rest of her days in acts of devotion; and what is most surprising is, that her husband left no certain provision for her, recommending her only to the duke of Orleans. She would accept no more than a pension of 80,000 livres, which was punctually paid her till she died in 1719. A collection of her letters has been published, and translated into English; from which familiar intercourse her character will be better known than from description.