Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/48

40 for her. In 1680 she was appointed second lady in waiting to the dauphiness, and she influenced that princess to assist in bringing about a permanent separation between the king and Mme. de Montespan. The queen became much her arms, July 30, 1683. Some time afterward attached to Mme. de Maintenon, and died in the king, who had long and vainly solicited her to become his mistress, was secretly married to her at midnight in one of the cabinets at Versailles, Père la Chaise, the king's confessor, performing the ceremony, in the presence of Harlay, archbishop of Paris, Bontems, governor of Versailles, Louvois, and Montchevreuil, as witnesses. From this time till his death Louis was greatly under her influence, though her power over him was exercised with extreme prudence and moderation. She carefully shunned the appearance of meddling with the affairs of state, though in reality nothing was done without her knowledge and consent. It was at her instigation that the edict of Nantes was revoked and the Protestants per- secuted. After the death of the king, in 1715, she retired to the convent and seminary of St. Cyr, which she had founded, and spent the rest of her life in acts of charity and in devotional exercises, which from earliest youth she had been accustomed scrupulously to observe.—See Madame de Maintenon peinte par elle-même (Paris, 1820), which contains her letters, and Histoire de Mme. de Maintenon, by the duke de Noailles (2 vols., Paris, 1848).

MAINZ. See MENTZ.

MAIPURES, or Maypures, Indians of South America, chiefly on the upper Orinoco and Negro rivers. The family includes the Caveres or Cabres, who were nearly annihilated by the Caribs; the Guay punabis, who under their chiefs Macapu and Cuseru stemmed the progress of the Caribs and made themselves masters of the upper Orinoco; the Pareni; the Maipures proper, among whom Gilii labored and wrote, and who are now greatly reduced; the Moxos, who extended into Peru and Bolivia; the Meepure in Brazilian Guiana; the Kirrupa; and the Achaguas, a remote branch, residing on the Meta. These tribes were almost all cannibals and engaged in constant wars. The Moxos or Musus were conquered by the inca Yupanqui, and were thus to some extent brought within the influence of Peruvian civilization. They were the only tribe among whom Christian missionaries won any extensive conquests, though not without great sacrifices. In 1742, before their destruction by the Portuguese, the Moxo by Father Pedro Marban, were published at Lima in 1701; and a grammar of the Bauré, a Moxo dialect, by Antonio Megio, is still extant.

MAISONNEUVE, Jules Germain François, a French surgeon, who has been called the "Paracelsus of surgery," born in Nantes in 1810. He completed his studies in Paris, where he took his degree in 1835, and became prosector, lecturer, and surgeon to the principal hospitals, and latterly of the Hôtel-Dieu. He acquired celebrity by his bold and ingenious operations. His principal works are: Du périoste et de ses maladies (1839); Sur la coxalgie (1844); Sur les kystes de l'ovaire (1848); Mémoires sur les hernies (1852); Mémoire sur une nouvelle méthode de cathétérisme (1855); Mémoire sur la ligature extemporanée (1860); Clinique chirurgicale (2 vols., 1868-4); and Mémoires sur les intoxications chirurgicales (1867).

MAISONNEUVE, Paul de Chomedey, sieur de, first governor of Montreal, Canada, born in Champagne, France, died in Paris, Sept. 9, 1676. He entered the French army in his 18th year, and was esteemed alike for piety and bravery when he was selected as the leader of colonists sent out by an association. He sailed with them in three ships, and reached Quebec Aug. 20, 1641. Leaving the emigrants there, he went on to Montreal, and was installed as governor. The winter was spent in preparing timber for houses, and the actual settlement of the city began in May, 1642. Ten years later he returned to France, and brought over another body of settlers. His administration was marked by ability; he maintained great order and discipline in the settlement, organized the militia for Indian warfare, and acquired the respect of the hostile tribes. He retained office under the Sulpitians after the island was conveyed to them, but was removed in June, 1664, by Dè Mesy, the governor general, and sent back to France by the marquis de Tracy in the following year. The action was arbitrary, and no charges were made against Maisonneuve, who, finding that there was no hope of being restored to his post, resigned in 1669.

MAISTRE. I. Joseph, count de, an Italian statesman, born in Chambéry, Savoy, April 1, 1754, died in Turin, Feb. 26, 1821. His father was president of the senate of Savoy. After having studied at the university of Turin, he entered the magistracy in 1775, and became a member of the senate in January, 1788. invasion of Savoy by the French in 1792 obliged him to retire to Turin; and when the king had to give up his possessions on the continent (December, 1798), De Maistre followed him to the island of Sardinia, where he was appointed grand chancellor. This office he retained till 1808, when he was sent as ambassador to St. Petersburg. He remained at the Russian court 14 years, and wielded for some time considerable influence over the czar Alexander. On his return to Turin (1817) he was appointed minister of state and regent of the grand chancery. missions contained 30,000 neophytes. A grammar, vocabulary, and catechism of the Moxo, He commenced his literary career with an Éloge du roi Victor Amédée (1775). In an early speech made at the opening of the senate he remarked: "Our age has distinguished itself by a destructive spirit which has spared nothing, neither laws, customs, nor political institutions; it has attacked all, shaken all, and the devastation will extend to limits which no one can as yet foresee." He wrote several works against the