Page:The Guardian (Vol 1).pdf/356

 264

THE GUARDIAN.

N° 46.

renown ; ſuch as have diſtinguiſhed themſelves in the world by ſurpriſing actions, or by any great and ſhining qualities, fo as to draw upon them ſelves the envy of their own ſex, and the admi ration of ours. My lady has been curious in col lecting the lives of the moſt famous, of which ſhe has a conſiderable number, both in print and manufcript. This naturally led me to ſpeak of madam Maintenon ; and, at the requeſt of my

lady and her daughters, I have undertaken to put together ſuch circumſtances of her life, as I had

formerly gathered out of books, and picked up from converſation in my travels.

“ Madam Maintenon was born a gentlewo

man, her name is Frances Daubigné. Monſieur Daubigné, her grandfather, was not only a per

fon of condition,but likewiſe of great merit. He was born in the year 1550, and died in 1630, in

the 80th year of his age. A little before his death he writ his own epitaph, which is engraven upon his tomb -ſtone in the cloiſter of St. Peter's

church at Geneva, and may be feen in Spon's hiſtory of that republic.

He was a leadingman

among the Proteſtants in France, and much

courted to come over to the oppoſite party.

When he perceived there was no fafety for him any longer in his own country he fled for refuge

to Geneva, about the year 1619. The magif trates and the clergy there received him with great marks of honour and diſtinction ; and he

paſſed the remaining part of his life amongſt

them in great eſteem. Mezeray (the French hif torian) ſays that he was a man of greatcourage

and boldneſs, of a ready wit, and of a fine taſte