of the finest commercial sites in
the world; it became the capital of the Roman empire under Constantine
the Great, who gave name to it; was capital of the Eastern empire from
the days of Theodosius; was taken by the crusaders in 1204, and by
Mahomet II. in 1452, at which time the Greek and Latin scholars fled the
city, carrying the learning of Greece and Rome with them, an event which
led to the revival of learning in Europe, and the establishment of a new
era--the Modern--in European history.

CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS, or THE PALE, Roman emperor; after a
struggle of three years reunited Britain with the empire, which had been
torn from it by Allectus; was equally successful against the Alemanni,
defeating them with great loss; died at York, on an expedition against
the Picts; was succeeded by Constantine, his son (250-305).

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, the legislative body which the National
Assembly of France resolved itself into in 1789, a name it assumed from
the task it imposed on itself, viz., of making a constitution, a task
which, from the nature of it proved impossible, as a constitution is an
entity which grows, and is not made, _nascitur, non fit_.

CONSUELO, the heroine of George Sand's novel of the name, her
masterpiece; the impersonation of the triumph of moral purity over
manifold temptations.

CONSUL, (1) one of the two magistrates of Rome elected annually
after the expulsion of the kings, and invested with regal power; (2) a
chief magistrate of the French Republic from 1799 to 1804; (3) one
commissioned to protect, especially the mercantile rights of the subjects
of a State in foreign country.

CONSULATE, name given to the French Government from the fall of the
Directory till the establishment of the Empire. At first there were three
provisional consuls, Bonaparte, Sieyes, and Roger Ducos; then three
consuls for ten years, Bonaparte, Cambaceres, and Lebrun, which was
dissolved with the establishment of the Empire on the 20th May 1804.

CONTARI`NI, an illustrious Venetian family, which furnished eight
Doges to the Republic, as well as an array of men eminent in the Church,
statecraft, generalship, art, and letters.

CONTE, NICOLAS JACQUES, a French painter; distinguished for his
mechanical genius, which was of great avail to the French army in Egypt
(1755-1805).

CONTI, an illustrious French family, a younger branch of the house
of Bourbon-Conde, all more or less distinguished as soldiers;