M A I 
can do neither, but are barely furedes for his appearance 
at the day. Bail are only fureties that the party be an- 
fwerable for the fpecial matter for which they Ifipulate : 
•mainpernors are hound to produce him to anfwer all charges 
whatsoever. 3 Comm. c. 8. p. 128. 
MA'INPRISE, f. [from the Fr. main, hand, and pris, 
taken.] Delivery into the cultody of a friend, upon Secu¬ 
rity for appearance.-—Sir William Bremingham was exe¬ 
cuted for treafon, though the earl of Defmond was left to 
mainprife. Davies. 
Give its poor entertainer quarter; 
And, by discharge or mainprife , grant 
Deliv’ry from this bafe reftraint. Hudibras. 
Mainprife may be where one is never arretted, or in pri¬ 
son ; but no man is bailed but he that is under arrett, or 
in prifon; So that mainprife is more large than bail. 
Wood's Inf. 582. 618. The writ of mainprife, manucaptio, 
is a writ directed to the Sheriff, (either generally, when 
any man is imprifoned for a bailable offence, and a hail 
hath been refufed ; or efpecially, when the offence or 
courfe of punifhment is not properly bailable below,) 
commanding him to take fureties for the prifoner’s ap¬ 
pearance, ufually called mainpernors, and to fet him at 
large. F. N. B. 250. 1 Hal. P. C. 141. Co, Bail & M. c. 10. 
Of the writ of mainprife little notice is taken in the late 
books; yet the law relating to it fee ms to be ftill in force 
in many cafes ; and confequently in Such cafes thofe who 
are bailable, and have been refufed the benefit of the bail, 
may ftill, by virtue thereof, be delivered out of prifon ; 
(upon their finding fureties to the Sheriff that they will ap. 
pear and anfwer to the crimes alleged again ft them, before 
the juftices, in the writ mentioned, See.) as thofe who are 
imprifoned for a flight fufpicion of felony, or of trefpafs, 
before juftices of peace, and many other perfons. 2 Hawk. 
P.C.c. 15. 
MA'INSAC, a town of France, in the department of 
the Creufe : twelve miles fouth-fouth-weft Evaux, and 
ten north-north-eaft of AubufTon. 
MA'INSAIL, f. The fail of the main-mad.—They 
committed themfelves unto the fea, and hoifted up the 
mainfail to the wind, and made toward fhore. ASs. 
MA'INSHEET, f. The flieet or fail of the mainmaft s 
Strike, (trike the top-fail; let the mainjheet fly, 
And furl your fails. Dry den. 
To MAINTA'IN, v. a. [ maintenir, Fr.] To preferve ; 
to keep ; not to fuft’er to change.—-The ingredients being 
preferibed in their fubftance, maintain the blood in a gen¬ 
tle fermentation, reclude oppilations, and mundify it. 
Harvey .--To defend ; to hold out; to make good ; not 
to relign.—God values no man more or lefs in placing 
him high or low, but every one as he maintains his polt. 
Grew's Co/mologia. —To vindicate ; to juftify ; to fupport. 
—Lord Roberts was full of contradiction in his temper, 
and of parts fo much fuperior to any in the company, that 
he could too well maintain and juftify thofe contradiftions. 
Clarendon. 
Maintain 
My right, nor think the name of mother vain. Dry den. 
To continue ; to keep up ; not to fuffer to ceafe..— Main¬ 
tain talk with the duke, that my charity be not of him 
perceived. Shakefpeare's King Lear. 
Some did the fong, and fome the choir, maintain, 
Beneath a laurel fhade. Dryden. 
To keep up ; to fupport the expenfe of.—-What concerns 
it you if I wear pearl and gold ? I thank my good father, 
I am able to maintain it. Skakefpeare. 
I feek not to wax great by others warning } 
Sufficeth, that I have maintains my ftate. 
And fends the poor.well pleafed from my gate. Shake/p, 
To fupport with the conveniences of life.—If a woman 
M A I lf?3 
maintain her hufband, file is full of anger and rnueh re¬ 
proach. Eccluf. xxv. 22.—It is hard to maintain the truth, 
but much harder to be maintained by it. Could it ever yei 
feed, cl oath, or defend, its affertors ? South. —-To preferve 
from failure : 
Here ten thoufand images remain 
Without confufion, and their rank maintain. Blackmore. 
To MAINTA'IN, v.n. To fupport by argument; to 
aflert as a tenet.—In tragedy and fatire, I maintain , againft. 
fome of our modern critics, that this age and the lalt have 
excelled the ancients. Dryden's Juvenal. 
MAINTA'IN ABLE, adj. [from maintain .] Defend- 
ble ; juftifiable.—Being made lord lieutenant of Bui loins, 
the walls fore beaten and fhaken, and fcarce maintainable, 
he defended the place againft the Dauphin. Hayward. 
MAINTA'INANCE, /. See Maintenance. 
MAINTA'INER; f. Supporter; cherifher.—He dedi¬ 
cated the work to fir Philip Sidney, a fpecial maintaintr 
of all learning. Spenfer's Paftorals. 
MAINTAINING, / The aft of fupporting. 
MAINTENANCE, yi Supply of "he neceffaxies of life ; 
fuftenance; fuftentation.-—Thofe of better fortune, not 
making learning their maintenance , take degrees with little 
improvement. Swift. —Support; protection ; defence.— 
They knew that no man might in reafon take upon him 
to determine his own right, and according to his own de¬ 
termination proceed in maintenance thereof. Hooker. —Con¬ 
tinuance; fecurity from failure.—Whatfoever is granted 
to the church for God’s honour, and the maintenance of 
his fei vice, is granted to God. South. 
Maintenance is alfo the unlawful taking in hand, or 
upholding, of a caufe or perlbn ; metaphorically drawn, 
from the fuccouring of a young child that learns to go 
by one’s hand ; and in law is taken in the word fenfe. 
32 Hen. VIII. c. 9. 
Maintenance is an offence that bears a near relation to 
Barratry ; being an officious intermeddling in a fuit 
that no way belongs to one, by maintaining or aflifting 
either party with money, or otherwife, to profecute or 
defend it. Not only he who lays out his money to a (lift 
another in his caufe, but he that by his friendfhip or in- 
tereft fives him that expenfe which he might otherwife 
be put to, is guilty of maintenance. Bro. Mail. 7, 14, 17, 
&c. And alio, if any perfon officioufly give evidence, or 
open the evidence without being called upon to do it; 
fpeak in the caufe, as if of counfei with the party ; retaia 
an attorney for him, See. or (hall give any public counte¬ 
nance to another in relation to the fuit; this is called 
maintenance. 
By the Roman law, it was a fpecies of crimen falfi to 
enter into any confederacy, or to do any aft, to fupport 
another’s law-fuit, by money, witneffes, or patronage. A 
man may, however, maintain the fuit of his near kinfman, 
fervant, or poor neighbour, out of charity and compafflon, 
with impunity ; otherwife the punifhment by common law 
is fine and imprifonment 5 and by ftat. 32 Hen. VIII. c. 9. 
a forfeiture of iol. 
MAINTENON' (Frances d’Aubigne, Marchionefs of,) 
a lady celebrated for her accompliffiments, and ftill more 
for the Angularity of her fortune, was born in 1635, in a 
prifon at Niort, in which her father, Conftant d’Aubigne 
(fon of Theodore Agrippa d’Aubigne, gentleman of the' 
bed-chamber to Henry IV.) was confined on a political 
account. She was brought up in this prifon till (he was 
three years old; at which time her father, having ob¬ 
tained his liberation, carried her with his wife and ion to 
Martinique. From her mother fhe received an excellent 
and folid education, the bafe of all her after-elevation. 
On the death of her father, in 1647, the family returned 
to France,, when Frances was taken by her relation Mad. 
de Villette, who educated her in the Calvinift religion^, 
which had been that of her father. Her mot her, who was 
a drift Catholic, obtained an order from court for her re¬ 
moval to the ho ufe of another relation, Mad. de Neuil- 
