The New York herald., 1879-03-09
THE LECTURE SEASON.

''woMAN IN socrErY"-DR. LORD ILLUSTRATES
HER STATUS AND INFLUENCE FROM THE LIFE
OF MADAME DE MAINTENoN.
DR.. Lord chose Madame de Maintenon the sub
ect of his lecture at Chickerng Ha yesterday morn
ing. opening his discussion of her with pic
ture Of France during the seventeenth century. di-
lating upon the brilliant society that nourished
during the reign Of Louis XIV. In that society," he
said. women shone. Society Is woman's realm and
she desires to reign in 1t IL she be ambitious Domes-
tic procvies belong to primitive times to feudal cas-
ties and early New England villages But society has
outgrown domestic virtues as savans have outgrowu
religion 1t is the higher civilization OF cities that
constitutes their charm for women. though there
are stin some bold enough to say that they prefer
domestic interests. In Paris many women have
attained the highest position society who by
their social qualities outrivalled rank. Mme de
Maintenon was one of this kind No wo-
man but Catharine H. ever arose from such
depths to such a height. Born in l635. in q
prison CELL her girlhood the future wife of Louis
XIV. assisted the grooms in caring for horses and
fol owed the turkeys from the field. At that time,
in Paris. was the house of Scarron, the witty but
great privilege to enjoy the hospitality
of his supper table, To one of these suppers Nine.
De Maintenon, then girl of sixteen, was brought.
Her dress short and common and she
wept bitter tears when she found herself surrounded
by the wealth and fashion of Paris. But she was
beautiful and witty and Scarron determined to mako
her his wife and she accepted HIM. coarse in
mind deformed in body as he was. for she had made
up her mind to improve her condition at any cost
While presiding at his table her quick intelligence
became polished by daily intercourse with the bright
est minds of the day. She became known to the
court and the world Of fashion.
Louis met her in the ripeness Of her beauty and
fascinated by her charms. On her husband s
death he made her the governess of his natural child
thafha iuhf hava her AT wa yir
tuous. technically so, and he secretly married her,
she being fifty and he fifty two. She became the
the land. Her reign was political well social.
There is nothing more fascinating more
humiliating than the history of this reign.
Whatever was most rare and costly in art was
brought to decorate tho royal palace, and whoever
the most glorious in France assembled under its
roof. Easy conquest shed delusive lustre on the
army, but Louis did not know how to use his power
for the benefit Of his country. His people became
Of them out of France At the end of the
seventeenth century his great lights began to wane.
so that his latter days were sad. cruel and
nothing but hell. Such was the monarch to whom
the best days of Nine. de Mantenon devoted.
and is to her credit that she did by the exercise
of her intellect. Whatever may have been her de-
fects she was always respected by the gay world in
which she resided. and no breath OF scandal In
that tainted court touched her reputa-
ton. Her influence over the King was
unbounded and she kept him much as
possible from war. The court under her not so
gay, but interesting than it had been. She
the friend of the immortal men of that She
undertook to reform the most dissolute court in
Europe. She was the guardian OF the Kings in
terests and his best friend So great his respect
for her that she allowed to sit in the councils of
the Cabinet.
Nine. de Maintenon one Of those strong
minded women who enjoy anything that taxes the
intellect. The gravest charge that can be made
against her is that of ambition. Nobody could be-
eve that she married her first husband for anything
but position. or her second for anything but
power. Her marriage was never acknowledged
and she willing to be thought the same as any
other court favorte to her ambitious aims.
She held false position and was treated a usurper
rather than wife. She lived to be eighty-four
and retained all her faculties to the last.