ee CARLYLE'S
"FREDERICK THE GREAT" FOR THE CONRADS.

CONSALVI, Italian cardinal and statesman, born at Rome, secretary of
Pius VII.; concluded the Concordat with Napoleon in 1801; represented the
Pope at the Congress of Vienna; was a liberal patron of literature,
science, and arts; continued minister of the Pope till his death
(1757-1824).

CONSCIENCE, HENDRIK, a brilliant Flemish novelist, born at Antwerp;
rose to popularity among his countrymen by his great national romance the
"Lion of Flanders," a popularity which soon extended all over Europe; his
writings display great descriptive power and perfect purity of sentiment
(1812-1883).

CONSCRIPT FATHERS, the collective name of members of the Roman
Senate, and addressed as such, fathers as seniors and conscripts as
enrolled.

CONSERVATION OF ENERGY, the doctrine that, however it may be
transformed or dissipated, no fraction of energy is ever lost, that the
amount of force, as of matter, in the universe, under all mutation
remains the same.

CONSERVATISM, indisposition to change established laws and customs
that have wrought beneficially in the past and contributed to the welfare
of the country; in practical politics often a very different thing, and
regarded by Carlyle in his time "a portentous enbodied sham; accursed of
God, and doomed to destruction, as all lies are."

CONSIDERANT, VICTOR PROSPER, a French Socialist and disciple of
Fourier; founded a colony in Texas on Fourier's principles, which proved
a failure; wrote much in advocacy of his principles, of which the most
important is "La Destinee Sociale"; _b_. 1808.

CONSOLS, the Consolidated Fund, loans to Government made at
different times and at different rates of interest, consolidated for
convenience into one common loan, bearing interest at 3 per cent.,
reduced in 1830 to 23/4, and in 1893 to 21/2.

CONSTABLE, a high officer of State in the Roman empire, in France,
and in England, charged at one time with military, judicial, and
regulative functions.

CONSTABLE, ARCHIBALD, Edinburgh publisher, born in Carnbee, Fife;
started as a bookseller near the Cross in Edinburgh; published the _Scots
Magazine_, the _Edinburgh Review_, and the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," and
from 1802 to 1826 the works of Sir Walter Scott, when the bankruptcy
connected with the publication of these so affected him that it ruined
his health, though he lived after the crash came to start the
"Miscellany" whic