MAINTENON, Madame de, a French lady of extraordinary fortune, who from a very low condition was at last raised to be the wife of Louis XIV. She was descended from the ancient family of D’Aubigné, born in 1635, and baptized Frances d’Aubigné. Her parents by misfortunes being unable to support her, she was intrusted to the care of her mother’s relations; and, to escape this state of dependence, she was induced, in 1651, to marry the Abbé Scarron, who was deformed, infirm, and, as she insinuates in one of her letters, impotent, with no other means of support than a small pension allowed him by the court. She lived with him many years, which Voltaire makes no scruple to call the happiest 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, that he became quite weary of them, and was heard to exclaim, “Must I always be pestered with the widow Scarron ?” At last, however, through the recommendation of his mistress, he settled a much larger pension on her than that which her husband had enjoyed, with an apology for making her wait so long; and afterwards made choice of her to take charge 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 proved the occasion 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 that she was 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 the name of a buffoon. Her elevation was to her only a retreat; the king came to her apartment every day after dinner, and continued there till midnight, transacting business with his ministers, whilst Madame de Maintenon, employed in reading or needle-work, never evinced any desire to talk of state affairs, carefully avoided all appearance of cabal or intrigue, and did not even make use of her power to advance her own relations. About the close of the year 1685, Louis XIV., being then in his forty-eighth, whilst she was in her fiftieth year, raised her from the condition of a mistress to that of a wife. By consummate art and address, concealed under a mask of affected simplicity and piety, she attained the grand object of her ambition; and, though not publicly acknowledged, became in reality the second person in the state. She prevailed on Louis to found a religious community at St Cyr, for the education of three hundred young ladies of quality; and thither she frequently retired to indulge that melancholy of which she complains so pathetically in one of her letters, and which few ladies will suppose she could be subject to in so elevated a situation. But, as Voltaire justly observes, if any thing could show the vanity of ambition, it would certainly be this letter. Madame de Maintenon could have no other uneasiness than what arose from the uniformity of her manner of living with the 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.” Louis, however, died before her, in 1715, upon which she retired to St Cyr, where she spent the rest of her days in acts of devotion. It appears that her husband left no fixed provision for her, contenting himself with recommending her to the Duke of Orleans. She accepted a pension of 80,000 livres, which was punctually paid her till her death, which took place in 1719. A collection of her letters has been published, and translated inte English; and from these familiar communications her character will be better ascertained than from any general description.

Maintenon, a town of France, in the department ol the Eure and Loire, and arrondissement of Chartres. Il stands at the junction of the Boise with the Loire, and contains 290 houses, with 1750 inhabitants.