Madame de Maintenon, Françoise d'Aubigné

Manpiise de Maintenon (1635-1719), was the granddaughter of Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné, Henry IV. 's intimate frieiid, and one of the noblest of the Hugirenots. She married, at seventeen, the 'witty cripple Scarron (author of the Roman comique and Virgile travesti), who said that 'his bride had brought with her an annual income of four louis, two large and very mischievous eyes, a fine bust, an exquisite pair- of hands, and a large amount of wit. ' Having become a widow at twenty-five, she was entrusted with the éducation of the children born to Louis XIV. by iladame de Montespan, and, after the Queen's death, she was united to the King by a secret marriage (12th June 1684), and had a large share in the governnient. She founded St. Cjt, for whose lady-scholars Eacine wrote Esther and Athalie. At Louis XIV. 's death she retired to St, Cyr, where she died foiu- years afterwards.