Chapter Conscience Clause to Contenement of C by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Conscience Clause to Contenement

Conscience Clause (A). A clause in an Act of Parliament to relieve persons with conscientious scruples from certain requirements in it.

Conscience Money Money paid anonymously to Government by persons who have defrauded the revenue. Their conscience being uneasy, they send the deficit to the Treasury, and the sum is advertised in the Gazette.

Conscious Water The conscious water saw its God, and blushed (Nympha pudica Deum vidit, et erubuit). Crashaw's epigram on the miracle of Cana in Galilee. “The modest water” would be a closer rendering.

Conscript Fathers In Latin, Patres Conscripti. The Roman senate. Romulus instituted a senate consisting of a hundred elders, called Patres (Fathers). After the Sabines joined the State, another hundred were added. Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king, added a third hundred, called Patres Minorum Gentium. When Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome, was banished, several of the senate followed him, and the vacancies were filled up by Junius Brutus, the first consul. The new members were enrolled in the senatorial register, and called Conscripti; the entire body was then addressed as Patres [et] Conscripti or Patres, Conscripti.

Consentes Dii The twelve chief Roman deities-    Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, Neptune, Mercury, and Vulcan.    Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, and Venus.    Ennius puts them into two hexameter verses:

“Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars,
Mercurius, Jovi', Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo.”

   Called “consentes,” says Varro,

“Quia in consilium Jovis adhibebantur.”- De Lingua Latina, vii. 28.

Consenting Stars Stars forming configurations for good or evil. In Judges v. 20 we read that “the stars in their courses fought against Sisera,” i.e. formed unlucky or malignant configurations.

“... Scourge the bad revolting stars
That have consented unto Henry's death.”
Shakespeare: 1 Henry VI., i. 1.

Conservative (4 syl.). A medium Tory- one who wishes to preserve the union of Church and State, and not radically to alter the constitution. The word was first used in this sense in 1830, in the January number of the Quarterly Review - “We have always been conscientiously attached to what is called the Tory, and which might with more propriety be called the Conservative party” (p. 276).
    Canning, ten years previously, had used the word in a speech delivered at Liverpool in March, 1820. In Lord Salisbury's Ministry those Whigs and Radicals who joined the Conservatives were called “Liberal Unionists” because they objected to give Ireland a separate parliament (1885).

Consistory (A). An ecclesiastical court. In Rome it consists of the cardinals, presided over by the Pope. In England it is a diocesan court, presided over by the chancellor of the diocese.

Consolidated Fund (The). In 1757 an Act was passed for consolidating the nine loans bearing different interests, into one common loan bearing an interest of three per cent. In 1890 this interest was reduced to two and three-quarter per cent.; and in 1903 will be still further reduced to two and a-half per cent. This fund is pledged for the payment of the interest of the national debt, the civil list, the salaries of the judges, ambassadors, and other high officials, etc.

Consols A contraction of Consolidated Fund. (See above.)

Consort is, properly, one whose lot is cast in with another. As the Queen does not lose by marriage her separate existence, like other women, her husband is called a consort, because he consorts with the Queen, but does not share her sovereignty.

“Wilt thou be our consort?”
Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv. 1.

Conspirators Members of a commercial ring or corner. (See Corner, Trusts ) These merchants “conspire” to fix the price of articles,