Error message:

 * Stopping MariaDB database server mysqld                               [ OK ] 
131208 15:38:46 [Note] Plugin 'InnoDB' is disabled.
131208 15:38:46 [Note] Plugin 'FEEDBACK' is disabled.
 * Starting MariaDB database server mysqld                               [fail] 
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing mariadb-server-5.5 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mariadb-server:
 mariadb-server depends on mariadb-server-5.5 (= 5.5.34+maria-1~saucy); however:
  Package mariadb-server-5.5 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing mariadb-server (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for menu ...
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                          Errors were encountered while processing:
 mariadb-server-5.5
 mariadb-server
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
mike@mikedesk:~$ 
---------------------
Output of  dpkg -l | grep -iE '(maria|mysql)'
ii  libdbd-mysql-perl                         4.023-1                                 amd64        Perl5 database interface to the MySQL database
ii  libmariadbclient18                        5.5.34+maria-1~saucy                    amd64        MariaDB database client library
ii  libmysqlclient18                          5.5.34+maria-1~saucy                    amd64        Virtual package to satisfy external depends
ii  mariadb-client-5.5                        5.5.34+maria-1~saucy                    amd64        MariaDB database client binaries
ii  mariadb-client-core-5.5                   5.5.34+maria-1~saucy                    amd64        MariaDB database core client binaries
ii  mariadb-common                            5.5.34+maria-1~saucy                    all          MariaDB database common files (e.g. /etc/mysql/conf.d/mariadb.cnf)
iU  mariadb-server                            5.5.34+maria-1~saucy                    all          MariaDB database server (metapackage depending on the latest version)
iF  mariadb-server-5.5                        5.5.34+maria-1~saucy                    amd64        MariaDB database server binaries
ii  mariadb-server-core-5.5                   5.5.34+maria-1~saucy                    amd64        MariaDB database core server files
ii  mysql-common                              5.5.34+maria-1~saucy                    all          MariaDB database common files (e.g. /etc/mysql/my.cnf)
mike@mikedesk:~$
---------------------