CONSCIENCE.
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Earl of Sussex, May 26> 1874, and took his seat in the House of Lords on the 8th of the followinc month. At a Council held at Windsor, May 16, 1878, the Queen declared the in- tended marriage of the Duke of Connaught and Stratheam to Prin- cess Margaret Louise, of Prussia, third daughter of Prince Fredurick Charles, and grand niece of the Em- peror of Germany. The marriage was celebrated at Windsor, March 13, 1879. His Eoyal Highness's staff serrices are : —Brigade Major at Aldershot in 1873 ; Brip^e Ma- jor to the Cavalry Brigadier at the same quarters in 1875, in the Octo- ber of which year he was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General at Gib- raltar, which post he held until April, 1876. In 1880 he was made a General of Brigade at Aldershot. He commanded the Guards Brigade in the First Division in the expedi- tion to E^^t in 1882. He was ap- pointed in Oct., 1882, honorary Colonel of the 13th Bengal Lancers serving in Egypt.
CONSCIENCE, Hbnbi, novelist, was born at Antwerp, Dec. 3, 1812. His father, who was of French origin, was long employed 4n the French marine, and became a buyer and seller of ships. The son, to gratify, as far as he could, his avidity for reading, became a private teacher, and being thus engaged when the Belgian revolution of 1830 broke out, he entered the army, serving six years as a volunteer. An active military life had a whole- some effect on his dreamy disposi- tion, and he became the poet of the army. His French songs, full of point and spirit, were very popular amongst his comrades. He was dis- charged in 1836, after having at- tained the rank of sergeant-major, but through some misunderstand- ing he quarrelled with his family. He was by turns a working gardener, an employ^ in the archives of Ant- werp, and clerk to an Academy of Arts. After (quitting the military service, he allied himself to a party
which had in view the establish- ment of a Flemish literature, in op- position to the French literature of the 18th century. To this task he devoted all his powers, and his first work, " The Year of Miracles," pub- lished in 1837, contains a series of brilliant dramatic pictures of the Spanish rule in Flanders. It was received by the public with great favour. The success of this publi- cation excited the resentment of his father, who renoimced him com- pletely ; but by the kindness of a friend, the painter Wappers, he ob- tained a small pension from Leo- pold I., which saved him from des- titution, and enabled him to publish in 1837 another volume, "Phan- tasia," a ooUection of Flemish poetry and legends; "Leeuw van Vlan- dem,"the Lion of Flanders, a truly original work, which will sustain his reputation as a national romance writer, appeared in 1838. In 18 i5 he obtained the appointment of As- sistant Professor in the University of Ghent, where he had to instruct the Boyal children in the Flemish language and literature. Henri Conscience has produced a variety of interesting sketches, illustrative of Flemish manners ; such as "Evening Hours," "The Execu- tioner's Child," "The New Niobe," " The Conscript," " The Poor Gen- tleman," "Quintin Metzys," " Pages from the Book of Nature," "Jacob van Artevelde," " Blind Rosa," and several other works which have been translated into English, German, Danish, and Italian. He published his memoirs in the Revue Coniempo- raine in 1858. In 1870 he once more gained the prize of literature, given every fifth year, by his romance " Bavo en Lieveken," which may be classed among his best works. In this work, as in all his writings, M. Conscience contrives to insinuate the g^vest and best advice under the most amusing forms, and, ac- cording to his wont, he pleads the cause of virtue, by proving that after all it is the b^ policy. One
