MINARD (Auguste-Jean-Francois), as clerk to the minister of finances he received a salary of fifteen hundred francs. In the florist establishment of a fellow-workman's sister, Mademoiselle Godard, of rue Richelieu, he met a clerk, Zelie Lorain, the daughter of a porter. He fell in love with her, married her, and had by her two children, Julien and Prudence. He lived near the Courcelles gate, and as an economical worker of retiring disposition he was made the butt of J.-J. Bixiou's jests in the Treasury Department. Necessity gave him fortitude and originality. 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 "
