A CAP OF MAINTENANCE, i.e. a cap of crimson velvet turned up with ermine, is borne, as one of the insignia of the British sovereign, immediately before him at his coronation or on such state occasions as the opening of parliament. It is carried by the hereditary bearer, the marquess of Winchester, upon a white wand. A similar cap is also borne before the lord mayor of London. The origin of this symbol of dignity is obscure. It is stated in the _New English Dictionary_ that it was granted by the pope to Henry VII. and Henry VIII. It is probably connected with the "cap of estate" or "dignity," sometimes also styled "cap of maintenance," similar to the royal symbol with two peaks or horns behind, which is borne as a heraldic charge by certain families. It seems originally to have been a privilege of dukes. Where it is used the crest is placed upon it, instead of on the usual wreath. MAINTENON, FRANÇOISE D'AUBIGNÉ, MARQUISE DE (1635-1719), the second wife of Louis XIV., was born in a prison at Niort, on the 27th of November 1635. Her father, Constant d'Aubigné, was the son of Agrippa d'Aubigné, the famous friend and general of Henry IV., and had been imprisoned as a Huguenot malcontent, but her mother, a fervent Catholic, had the child baptized in her religion, her sponsors being the duc de la Rochefoucauld, father of the author of the _Maxims_, and the comtesse de Neuillant. In 1639 Constant d'Aubigné was released from prison and took all his family with him to Martinique, where he died in 1645, after having lost what fortune remained to him at cards. Mme d'Aubigné returned to France, and from sheer poverty unwillingly yielded her daughter to her sister-in-law, Mme de Villette, who made the child very happy, but converted or pretended to convert her to Protestantism. When this was known an order of state was issued that she should be entrusted to Mme de Neuillant, her godmother. Every means was now used to convert her back to Catholicism, but at the last she only yielded on the condition that she need not believe that the soul of Mme de Villette was lost. Once reconverted, she was neglected and sent home to live with her mother, who had only a small pension of 200 livres a year, which ceased on her death in 1650. The chevalier de Meré, a man of some literary distinction, who had made her acquaintance at Mme de Neuillant's, discovered her penniless condition, and introduced his "young Indian," as he called her, to Scarron, the famous wit and comic writer, at whose house all the literary society of the day assembled. Scarron took a fancy to the friendless girl, and offered either to pay for her admission to a convent, or, though he was deformed and an invalid, to marry her himself. She accepted his offer of marriage, and became Mme Scarron in 1651. For nine years she was not only his most faithful nurse, but an attraction to his house, where she tried to bridle the licence of the conversation of the time.