Conscience

Conscience, HENDRIK, a popular Flemish novelist, was born December 3, 1812, at Antwerp. His father, the inspector of the dockyards there, was a native of Besançon, but his mother was of Flemish birth. At fifteen the boy had to shift for his living as an under-master in a school, but at the outbreak of the revolution in 1830 he joined the Belgian ranks, and served till 1836. Patriotism and poverty together impelled him to write, and between them produced in 1837 his first volume in Flemish, In't Wonderjaer, 1566. Wappers the painter finally got him appointed in 1841 to an office in the Antwerp Academy, which he continued to fill until 1854. Three years later he received a place in the local administration of Courtrai, and became in 1866 director of the Wiertz Museum at Brussels. Here he died, September 10, 1883. His Phantazy (1837), a fine collection of tales, and his most popular romance, De Leeuw van Vlaenderen (1838), early made his name dear to his fellow-countrymen; but it was his series of charming pictures of quiet Flemish life, beginning with the little book, Hoe men schilder wordt (1843), that, through French, German, and English translations, carried his fame over Europe. Amongst those translated into English, besides the Lion of Flanders, are Blind Rosa, Ricketicketack, The Poor Gentleman, The Miser, and The Demon of Gold. The historical accuracy of his Geschiedenis van Belqien (1845) was somewhat impaired by his Catholic predilections. The vast popularity of Conscience's novels depended mainly on the unflagging vigour and interest of the incidents in which they abounded, although these often enough defied all historical consistency and verisimilitude alike. It should be remembered to his credit, as, indeed, it was his own proudest boast, that in his hundred volumes he had never painted vice in seductive colours. A complete collection of his works appeared at Antwerp in 10 volumes, 1867-80; a German translation of the same at Münster in 75 small volumes, 1846-84. See his Life, in French, by Cekhoud (Brussels, 1881).