eas._--The courts of most British
possessions have acquired and freely exercise the power of the court
of king's bench to deal summarily with contempt of court; and, as
already stated, it is not infrequently the duty of the privy council
to restrain too exuberant a vindication of the offended dignity of a
colonial court. (W. F. C.)

CONTI, PRINCES OF. The title of prince of Conti, assumed by a younger
branch of the house of Conde, was taken from Conti-sur-Selles, a small
town about 20 m. S.W. of Amiens, which came into the Conde family by the
marriage of Louis of Bourbon, first prince of Conde, with Eleanor de
Roye in 1551.

FRANCOIS (1558-1614), the third son of this marriage, was given the
title of marquis de Conti, and between 1581 and 1597 was elevated to the
rank of a prince. Conti, who belonged to the older faith, appears to
have taken no part in the wars of religion until 1587, when his distrust
of Henry, third duke of Guise, caused him to declare against the League,
and to support Henry of Navarre, afterwards King Henry IV. of France. In
1589 after the murder of Henry III., king of France, he was one of the
two princes of the blood who signed the declaration recognizing Henry
IV. as king, and he continued to support Henry, although on the death of
Charles cardinal de Bourbon in 1590 he himself was mentioned as a
candidate for the throne. In 1605 Conti, whose first wife Jeanne de
Coeeme, heiress of Bonnetable, had died in 1601, married the beautiful
and witty Louise Marguerite (1574-1631), daughter of Henry duke of Guise
and Catherine of Cleves, whom, but for the influence of his mistress
Gabrielle d'Estrees, Henry IV. would have made his queen. Conti died in
1614. His only child Marie having predeceased him in 1610, the title
lapsed. His widow followed the fortunes of Marie de' Medici, from whom
she received many marks of favour, and was secretly married to Francois
de Bassompierre (q.v.), who joined her in conspiring against Cardinal
Richelieu. Upon the exposure of the plot the cardinal exiled her to her
estate at Eu, near Amiens, where she died. The princess wrote _Aventures
de la cour de Perse_, in which, under the veil of fictitious scenes and
names, she tells the history of her own time.

In 1629 the title of prince de Conti was revived in favour of ARMAND DE
BOURBON (1629-1666), second son of Henry II. of Bourbon, prince of
Conde, and brother of Louis, the great Conde. He was des