A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Maintenon, (Frances d'Aubigné, Marchioness de)
MAINTENON (FRANCES D'AUBIGNÉ, MARCHIONESS DE), born 1635, died 1719.
Was descended from the ancient family of D'Aubigné; her grandfather, born in the year 1550, was a person of great merit as well as rank, a leading man among the Protestants in France, and much courted to come over to the opposite party. When he found he could be no longer safe in his own country, he fled for refuge to Geneva about the year 1619, where he was received by the magistrates and clergy with great marks of honour and distinction, and passed the remainder of his life among them.
His son married the daughter of Peter de Cardillac, lord of Lane, in 1627, at Bourdeaux, not without some apprehensions, it is said, on the part of the lady, upon her being united, we know not how, to a man of a most infamous character, who had actually murdered his first wife, for such was Constantius D'Aubigné. Soon after his marriage, going to Paris, he was, for some very gross offence, thrown into prison, upon which she followed to solicit his pardon, but in vain; cardinal Richelieu was inflexible, and told her, that in denying her request be was doing her a friendly office. But more attached to him in consequence of his misfortunes, she at length obtained leave to confine herself with him in prison. Here she had two sons; and, becoming pregnant a third time, petitioned that he might be removed to the prison of Niort, where they should be nearer their relations, which was granted.
In this prison Madame de Maintenon was born, but was taken from it by Madame Villette, of Poitou, her aunt by the father's side, who, in compassion to the child, put her into the care of her daughter's nurse, with whom, for some time, she was bred up as a foster-sister. Madame D'Aubigné at length obtained her husband's enlargement, on condition that he should turn Roman catholic, which he promised, but did not chuse to do; and fearing to be again involved in trouble, in the year 1639 he embarked for America with his wife and family, and settled at Martinico. Madame D'Aubigné in a little time returned to France, to carry on some law-suits for the recovery of debts; but Madame Villette dissuaded her from it, and she returned to tinico, where she found her husband ruined by gaming. In the year 1646 he died, leaving his wife in the utmost distress, who returned to France, with her debts unpaid, and her daughter as a pledge in the hands of one of her principal creditors, who, however, soon sent her into France after her mother. Here, neglected by her mother, who was in no capacity to maintain her, she was again taken by Madame Villette to live with her; and the little Frances studied by every means in her power to render herself agreeable to a person on whom she was to depend for every thing; made it her business to insinuate herself also into the affections of her cousin, with whom she had one common nurse; and expressed a great desire to be instructed in the religion of her ancestors, so that in a short time she became firmly attached to the protestant religion. In the mean time, Madame de Neuillant, a relation by the mother's side, and a catholic, had been very assiduous in informing some considerable persons of the danger she was in, and even procured an order from court to take her out of the hands of Madame Villette, in order to be instructed in the Roman catholic religion. She took her to herself, and made a convert of her; but not without great difficulty, artifice, and severity, which at length enforced her compliance.
In 1651, Madame de Neuillant being obliged to go to Paris, took her niece along with her, and there she endured all the miseries of dependance. Her beauty and fine understanding being much admired, she delighted to humble her by representing her to her friends as an object of pity. In the mean time her mother came to Paris on a law-suit, and died with grief at its unhappy termination, as it ruined the future prospects of her children. Mademoiselle D'Aubigné was at this time timid, and spoke but little; but being a little more introduced into company, she learnt the manners of the world, and was much admired. At the house of the famous Scarron she was a frequent visitor, and this celebrated wit began to feel a lively interest in her concerns, and loved her without daring to avow it. This extraordinary man was, at the same time, full of gaiety, wit, and infirmities. His figure was very much deformed, but he had a feeling heart, a lively and grotesque imagination, and much patience in his ill health and poverty. He was gay in despite of pain, and satirical without malice. When he heard of what she had to suffer from her aunt, he offered either to marry her, or to pay her pension in a convent; and Mademoiselle D'Aubigne answered, that she preferred that obligation which would empower her more constantly to shew her gratitude to her benefactor. Madame Neuillant consented, and they were married. She lived with him many years, and during all the time had never quitted his presence. When he was ill, she was his nurse; when better, his companion, his amanuensis, or his reader. It was during this life of study and active complaisance, that she learned, perhaps, that pliability of will and humour, and that extent of knowledge, which afterwards were of such material advantage to her.
Voltaire makes no scruple to say, that this part of her life was undoubtedly the happiest. Her beauty, but especially her wit (for she was never reckoned a perfect beauty) and unblemished reputation, distinguished her to great advantage, and her conversation was eagerly sought by the best company in Paris; but Scarron dying in 1660, she was reduced to the same indigent condition she was in before marriage. Her friends, however, endeavoured all they could to get the pension continued to her which had been allowed her husband. Petitions were, in consequence, frequently presented, beginning always with "the widow Scarron most humbly prays your majesty, &c."; so that the king was so weary of them, that he was heard to say, "Must I always be pestered with the widow Scarron?" However, he at last, at the solicitation of Madame Montespan, settled a much larger pension on her, and said at the same time, "Madam, I have made you wait a long time, but you have so many friends, that I was resolved to have this merit with you on my own account,"
As Madame de Montespan wished to conceal the birth of the children she had by the king, Madame Scarron was thought a proper person to be entrusted with their education. She was, therefore, created governess by him, and led a solitary and laborious life in watching with motherly solicitude, not only over the minds, but the health of the children committed to her care. What made it more unpleasant was, that during the earlier part of the time, Lewis himself disliked her, and fancied her a female pedant and a wit; but when she was obliged to write, her letters charmed him, and he could not have thought, he said, a belle esprit could have written so well.
Lewis was one day afterwards playing with the duke de Maine, and, pleased with some shrewd answer of the boy, said, "You are very wise."—"How should I be otherwise," said he, "when I am under the tuition of Wisdom herself?" This answer pleased him so much, that he sent to her a hundred thousand francs.
Yet her situation became daily more insupportable: she frequently quarrelled with Madame de Montespan, who complained of her to the king, "Why do you not dismiss her, then?" said he, "are you not the mistress?" She thought it, however, more easy to appease than to replace, and informed her of what he had said. Hurt and indignant at being considered so lightly, she declared she would resign her situation. Madame Montespan was alarmed: she sought to appease her; but only at the wish of the king, to whom, for the future, she was alone to be accountable, she consented to remain. In the conversations which ensued, she began, at the age of forty-eight, to win the affections of Lewis. Though still handsome, it was ta her sense and mental accomplishments that this extraordinary woman was chiefly, if not wholly, indebted for the conquest of a monarch ever volatile and inconstant, till fixed by her. In her conversation, in which sallies of wit and precepts of virtue were judiciously blended, he discovered charms before unknown. During an intercourse of several years, and for the last four, of the most intimate nature, she completely won his affections. The more she was known, the more she was valued; and at length, partly from esteem, and partly from religious scruples, Lewis, by the advice of his confessor, the Jesuit La Chaise, lawfully married her, Jan. 1686, when she was in her fifty-second year, and he in his forty-eighth. No contract was signed, no settlement made; the nuptial benediction was bestowed by Harlai de Chamvalon, archbishop of Paris. La Chaise was present at the ceremony; Montchevreuil, and Bontemps, first valet-de-chambre to the king, attended as witnesses. Madame de Maintenon, for she never assumed any other title, proved herself worthy of the high station by her disinterestednesss, virtue, and moderation. She exerted her credit with extreme circumspection, never interfered in political intrigues, and betrayed a greater desire to render the king happy than to govern the state. Her aggrandizement by no means tended to increase her felicity: she led a retired life, excluded from all social intercourse with her friends; and its invariable assiduity not only produced lassitude, but excited disgust. It is to be lamented, that her fear of rendering Lewis uneasy by contradiction prevented her from doing all the good she might have done, and all she wished to do; yet, by an unwise exertion of power, she engaged him to acknowledge the son of James II. as king of England, in opposition to the treaty of Ryswick; and, after the dreadful defeat of the French at Blenheim, was the only one who had sufficient courage to inform the king he was no longer invincible.
He bought for her the lands of Main tenon in 1679, which was the only estate she ever had, though in the height of favour, which afforded her the means of making purchases to what value she pleased. Here she had a magnificent castle, in a delightful country, not more than fourteen leagues distant from Paris, and ten from Versailles. The king seeing her wonderfully pleased with her estate, called her publicly Madame de Maintenon, and this change of name stood her in much greater stead than she could have imagined, yet her elevation was to her only a retreat. Shut up in her apartment, which was on the same floor with the king's, she confined herself to the society of two or three ladies as retired as herself, and even those she saw but seldom. Lewis went there every day after dinner, before and after supper, and staid till midnight. Here he did business with his ministers, while she employed herself in reading or needle work, never shewing any forwardness to talk of state affairs, and carefully avoiding all appearance of cabal and intrigue. She studied more to please him who governed than to govern, and preserved her credit by employing it with the utmost circumspection. Her brother, count D'Aubigné, a lieutenant-general of long standing, would have been made a marshal of France, but his indolent temper made the king wisely provide for him in a common way, as he was unfit for that high office. His daughter married the duke de Noailles. Two other nieces of Madame de Maintenon were married, the one to the marquis de Caylus, the other to the marquis de Villette. A moderate pension, however, which Lewis XIV. gave to Madame de Caylus, was almost all her fortune: the others had nothing but expectation.
The marriage was, however, kept very secret, and the only outward mark of her elevation was, that at mass she sat in one of the two little galleries or gilded domes which appeared designed for the king and queen. Besides this, she had not any exterior appearance of grandeur. The piety and devotion with which she had inspired the king became gradually a sincere and settled disposition of mind, which age and affliction confirmed. She had already, with him and the whole court, acquired the merit of a foundress, by assembling at Noissy a great number of women of quality; and the king had already destined the revenues of the abbey of St. Denis for the maintenance of this rising community. St. Cyr was built at the end of the park at Versailles in 1686. She then gave the form to this new establishment, which was for the education of three hundred young girls, of noble families, till they attained the age of twenty; and, together with Godet Desmarets, bishop of Chartres, made the rules, and was herself superior of the convent. Thither she often went to pass away some hours; and if we say, that melancholy determined her to this employment, it is what she herself has said. "Why cannot I," says she, in a letter to Madame de la Maisonfort, "why cannot I give you my experience? Why cannot I make you sensible of that uneasiness which wears out the great, and of the difficulties they labour under to employ their time? Do not you see that I am dying with melancholy, in a height of fortune which once my imagination could scarce have conceived? I have been young and beautiful, have had a relish for pleasures, and have been the universal object of love. In my advanced age I have spent my time in intellectual amusements. I have at last risen to favour; but I protest to you, my dear girl, that every one of these conditions leaves in the mind a dismal vacuity." If any thing could shew the vanity of ambition, it would certainly be this letter. Madame de Maintenon could have no other uneasiness than the uniformity and constant restraint of her manner of living; and this made her say once to her brother, "I can hold it no longer; I wish I were dead." The way to please Lewis was never to be out of spirits or health, but the force she put upon herself for this purpose rendered her life a burthen. He was the politest of men, and always preserved for her the greatest respect; yet, as she herself complained, to "amuse a man who never can be amused," was the most perfect slavery.
They latterly lived a retired life at the convent at St. Cyr, and the court grew every day more serious. Here it was she requested Racine, who had renounced the theatre for Jansenism and the court, to compose a tragedy, and take the subject of it from the scriptures. He accordingly wrote Esther, which having been first represented at the house of St. Cyr, was several times after wards acted at Versailles, before the king, in the winter of the year 1689. At the death of Lewis, which happened in 1715, Madame de Maintenon retired wholly to the convent of St. Cyr, where she spent the remainder of her days in acts of devotion; and what is very surprizing, Louis XIV. made no certain provision for her, but only recommended her to the duke of Orleans. She would accept of no more than a pension of 80,000 livres, which was punctually paid till her death. She struggled for a long time to be publickly acknowledged queen, which Lewis was incllned to grant, but in the end persuaded from doing by his counsellors. Her letters have been printed in nine volumes, in 12mo.