C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Hendrik Conscience (1812–1883)
Conscience, Henri (kô
-syos’). A great Flemish novelist, one of the re-creators of Flemish literature; born at Antwerp, Dec. 3, 1812; died in Brussels, Sept. 10, 1883. His first story, ‘In the Wonder Year 1566,’ was received with unbounded popular favor, and his delineations of lowly Flemish home life soon became familiar throughout Europe. His historical novels, ‘The Lion of Flanders’ (1838) and others, won his widest fame; but his distinctive power and merit were in his peasant studies, of which the masterpieces are: ‘Siska van Roosmael’ (1844); ‘The Conscript’ (1850); ‘Rikke-tikke-tak’ (1851); ‘The Poorer Nobleman’ (1851); ‘The Luck to Be Rich’ (1855); ‘The Young Doctor’ (1860). He wrote a musical drama, ‘The Poet and His Dream’ (1872). (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).