Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew (1st ed. vol 3).djvu/264

 Berry, et de la Ville de S$t$ Savan, à Louden en Poitou, tons deux nez Protestans et de parens protestans, ont fait leur recognoissance, &c.

22 Nov$re$ 1720. Dame Marie de Blanchet, native de Croix, veuve de Noble Homme, Paul Martin, a fait sa recognoissance, &c.

22 Dec$re$ 1720. Jacques Brouard et Jacques Tendrouneau, tous deux de Poitou, de la ville de Poitou, de la ville de Pouzeau, nez Protestans, &c.

(10.) The family of Durand, in the island of Guernsey bear the arms of Brueyx in addition to Durand, on account of their descent from a gallant and reverend refugee who married a Brueyx heiress. Francois Guillaume Durand, son of Jean Durand, a Protestant gentleman of Montpellier, was born 11th Sept. 1649. Having studied at Geneva, he became pasteur of Genouillac about 1673. In 1689 he married the heiress of Baron Brueyx de Fontcouverte, a nobleman of the diocese of Usez. At the date of the revocation he became a refugee at Schaffhausen, his family remaining in France. His zeal for religious liberty led him to join the army of the allies in Piedmont, and in 1691 he was appointed chaplain of Aubussargues' regiment, under the name of Monsieur Durand de Fontcouverte. He had previously been successful in recruiting the regiments of Loches and Baltasar, and had even accepted a commission as captain in Balthasar’s Dragoons, but he returned to his spiritual office by the advice of the pasteurs of Geneva. After the peace of Ryswick he settled at Nimeguen. His son Francois appears at Nimeguen in 1722. Francois Durand was educated a Romanist; in 1700 he began to practice as an advocate at Montpellier, and in 1701 he married Marguerite d’Audifut. In July 1705 he obtained a passport without difficulty; but in Holland he adopted the religion of his ancestors. He was living in 1750, aged probably about 66. He had a son, Francois Guillaume Esaie Durand, who was admitted as a Proposant in May 1738 by the Synod of Breda, but settled in England in 1743 as minister of the Dutch Church at Norwich. He married Marthe Marie Goutelles. Leaving Norwich he became pasteur of the French Church in Canterbury, besides holding the living of the united parishes of St Sampson and the Vale in Guernsey; he died in 17S9. His son was Rev. Daniel Francis Durand, rector of St Peter Port and Dean of Guernsey, born 1745, died 1832. — (See the Guernsey Magazine for 1873). As to the refugee, see my Volume Frst, p. 156.  

(2.) The De Schirac Manuscript. — This MS. is preserved by the Rigaud family. The ink has faded very much, and in a few places the words are nearly obliterated. The late Professor Rigaud made a fair copy of it. He also composed the following abstract of its contents:— “In consequence of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the orders of the French court for all the Protestant clergy to leave the kingdom in a fortnight, M. de Schirac went to Bordeaux. He lodged in the house of a friend, who desired him to read prayers, and he considered it to be contrary to his duty to refuse. A female servant, who had been permitted' to attend, betrayed him (as he was told) to the jurats of the city; he was seized and sent to prison. They visited him there four or five times every day, and pressed him to abjure his faith, as the evidence was so strong, and the king’s orders so precise, that they could not otherwise avoid condemning him to the galleys. He resisted; but the magistrates importuned him at least to comply with the outward ceremony of going over to the Roman Catholic faith. To this he was at last induced to submit, by the fear of the utter ruin which otherwise hung over his family. He resolutely refused, however, to go to church, or to do more than sign an abjuration either in prison or in a private room. This was contrary to the directions of the Church; but when the archbishop was consulted, and assured that more could not be obtained, he consented to dispense with his own orders in this respect. Having regained his liberty, M. de Shirac endeavoured to send his family out of the country. The ship in which his wife embarked was burnt, and the report was that none on board had escaped but a few sailors. Notwithstanding this, he sent his two eldest daughters, who could not embark with