8 Presidetjt's Address. 



fenced off with seats for persons of better rank. The bread 

 divided in a dish, and the wine poured into two large cups. The 

 two ministers consecrate and administer to each other ; the com- 

 municants occupying the table in sets, receiving the bread and wine, 

 and then making room for successive sets. Each minister 

 received a salary of £100." 



On the Sunday following White Kennett was an eye-witness 

 of the marriage of Daniel, son of Ambroise Minet. His account of 

 the ceremony is curious. " Several waggons with four horses in 

 coach order to carry the guests to Guines. The bridegroom clothed 

 in black the first day. Three couples married without any repeti- 

 tion of the office ; a list of their names being read by the minister 

 from the pulpit. At our return to Ardres a very solemn bride 

 supper prepared, after which they danced till bedtime. On Mon- 

 day the entertainment continued. The custom for the people at 

 such solemnities to sit at table from eight in the morning till four 

 in the afternoon with supplies of fresh dishes without any rising up, 

 and with very small intermission from eating and drinking. The 

 poultry dressed without larding, pigs roasted with legs on, and 

 the spit run through the head without wiping." White Kennett 

 seems to have been a curious and minute observer. He was a 

 young man at the time ; and the future Bishop may have objected 

 as little to Sunday dancing as he did to the feast prolonged from 

 eight in the morning to four in the afternoon. 



It is not, however, from Daniel but from his brother Isaac, the 

 6th son of Ambroise Minet, that we claim descent. Born in 1660, 

 he conducted the Calais business with success after his father's 

 death up to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. At that 

 time the persecution had waxed hot. Isaac and his mother, who 

 lived with him, were cast into prison. The President told him 

 that he was " a heritick and smelt strong of fagots, and that if he 

 did not sign to be a Roman Catholic he should be burnt." After 

 six weeks spent in prison, his mother being seriously ill, they were 

 carried by the dragoons to church, threatened as if they had been 

 dogs, and prevailed upon to sign the adjuration, though protesting 

 with tears that it was against their consciences to do so. Of this 

 he afterwards bitterly repented and publicly confessed his sin. 



