MADAME DE, a French lady of extraordinary fortune, descended from an ancient family, and whose proper name was Frances d'Aubigné, was born in 1635. Her parents by misfortune being ill able to support her, she fell to the care of her mother's relations; to escape which state of dependence, she was induced to marry that famous old buffoon the Abbé 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 had been before her marriage. Her friends indeed endeavoured 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 always be pestered with the widow Scarron?" At last, however, through the recommendation of Madame de Montespan, 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 Madame de Montespan. The letters she wrote on this occasion charmed the king, and were the origin of her advancement; 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 Madame de Maintenon; which was of great service to her in her good fortune, by releasing 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

Madame de Maintenon, employed in reading or needle-work, never showed 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, Louis 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 Louis 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 suppose she should be liable to in such an elevated situation. But, as M. Voltaire says, if any thing could show the vanity of ambition, it would certainly be this letter. Madame de Maintenon could have no other uneasiness than the uniformity of her manner of living with a great king; and this made her once say to the count D'Aubigné her brother, "I can hold it no longer; I wish I was dead." The answer he made to her was, "You have then a promise to marry the Almighty!" Louis, 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.