After giving up his position in December, 1824, Minard opened a trade in adulterated teas and chocolates, and subsequently became a distiller.  In 1835 he was the richest merchant in the vicinity, having an establishment on the Place Maubert and one of the best houses on the rue des Macons-Sorbonne.  In 1840 Minard became mayor of the eleventh district, where he lived, judge of the tribunal of commerce, and officer of the Legion of Honor.  He frequently met his former colleagues of the period of the Restoration:  Colleville, Thuillier, Dutocq, Fleury, Phellion, Xavier Rabourdin, Saillard, Isidore Baudoyer and Godard. [The Government Clerks.  The Firm of Nucingen.  The Middle Classes.]

MINARD (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Zelie Lorain, daughter of a porter.  On account of her cold and prudent disposition, she did not persist long in her trial at the Conservatory, but became a florist’s girl in Mademoiselle Godard’s establishment on rue Richelieu.  After her marriage to Francois Minard she gave birth to two children, and, with the help of Madame Lorain, her mother, reared them comfortably near the Courcelles gate.  Under Louis Philippe, having become rich, and living in that part of the Saint-Germain suburbs which lies next to Saint-Jacques, she showed, as did her husband, the silly pride of the enriched mediocrity. [The Government Clerks.  The Middle Classes.]

MINARD (Julien), son of the preceding couple, attorney; at first considered “the family genius.”  In 1840 he committed some indiscretions with Olympe Cardinal, creator of “Love’s Telegraphy,” played at Mourier’s small theatre[*] on the Boulevard.  His dissipation ended in a separation brought about by Julien’s parents, who contributed to the support of the actress, then become Madame Cerizet. [The Middle Classes.]

[*] This theatre was built in 1831 on the Boulevard du Temple, where
    the first Ambigu had been situated; it was afterwards moved to No.
    40, rue de Bondy, December 30, 1862.

MINARD (Prudence), sister of the preceding, was sought in marriage by Felix Gaudissart towards the end of Louis Philippe’s reign. [The Middle Classes.  Cousin Pons.]

MINETTE,[*] vaudeville actress on rue de Chartres, during the Restoration, died during the first part of the Second Empire, lawful wife of a director of the Gaz; was well known for her brilliancy, and was responsible for the saying that “Time is a great faster,” quoted sometimes before Lucien de Rubempre in 1821-22. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]

[*] Minette married M. Marguerite; she lived in Paris during the
    last years of her life in the large house at the corner of
    rue Saint-Georges and rue Provence.

MINORETS (The), representatives of the well-known “company of army contractors,” in which Mademoiselle Sophie Laguerre’s steward, who preceded Gaubertin at Aigues, in Bourgogne, acquired a one-third share, after giving up his stewardship. [The Peasantry.] The relatives of Madame Flavie Colleville, daughter of a ballet-dancer, who was supported by Galathionne and, perhaps, by the contractor, Du Bourguier, were connected with the Minorets, probably the army contractor Minorets. [The Government Clerks.]