CONTY CONVERSATION. 



437 



generally set aside, if the accused person appears 

 and submits to trial. During the late political per- 

 secutions in Prussia, Austria, Italy, Spain, and 

 France, a great number of sentences in contumaciam 

 have taken place, and even sentences of death have 

 been passed in this way. 



CONTY, or CONTI. See Bourbon. 



CONVENTICLE ; a private assembly, or meeting, 

 for the exercise of religion. The name was at first 

 given as an appellation of reproach, to the religious 

 assemblies of Wickliffe, in the reigns of Edward III. 

 and Richard 1 1., and is now applied to illegal meet- 

 ings of non-conformists. There were several statutes 

 made, in former reigns, for the suppression of conven- 

 ticles ; but, by 1 William and Mary, it is ordered 

 that dissenters may assemble for the performance of 

 religious worship, provided their doors be not locked, 

 barred, or bolted. Conventicle, in strict propriety, de- 

 notes an unlawful assembly, and cannot, therefore, be 

 justly applied to the legal assembling of persons in 

 places of worship, certified or licensed according to 



the requisitions of law. 



CONVENTION (from the Latin) ; a meeting. The 

 word, in a political sense, is generally used for a 

 meeting of delegates convened fora special purpose. 

 Thus it was a convention which deposed James II. 

 National convention was the name of the assembly of 

 the delegates of the French nation ; so, in America, 

 there have been, of late years, various conventions to 

 amend the constitutions of the several states respec- 

 tively, as the Virginia convention, &c. 



CONVENTION MONEY (in German, Conven- 

 tionsgeld); money coined according to the twenty 

 gilder standard of 1753. The courts of Vienna and 

 Munich made a convention, in that year, to coin 283 

 gilders five kreuzers and 3?? pence (Pfennigs) 

 of one fine mark of gold ; and twenty gilders, or 

 13J convention dollars, or Species-Thaler, of one fine 

 mark of silver. This standard was afterwards adopt- 

 ed by all the states of Germany excepting Holstein, 

 Lubeck, Hamburg, Mecklenburg, Bremen, Olden- 

 burg, and Prussia. The twenty-four gilder standard, 

 so called, is not another actual standard, but only a 

 nominal division of the coins coined according to the 

 above standard. Twenty kreuzers of convention mon- 

 ey, according to this, are counted as twenty-four, &c. 



CONVERSATION. With all civilized nations, 

 agreeable conversation has been considered as one 01 

 the most important productions and promoters of so- 

 cial intercourse. The standard of good conversation 

 must be different in different ages, countries, individ- 

 uals, and even sects. A sober Quaker's idea of good 

 conversation is probably very unlike what a gay man 

 of the world would term such. The monotonous life 

 which is led in Asia indisposes the natives to the 

 quick interchange of thought, and makes them pa- 

 tient listeners to long narrations, or the endless crea- 

 tions of a fertile imagination ; while the diversities 

 and rapid changes of life in Paris afford a vast stock 

 of subjects, so that a ready converser may touch on 

 twenty different topics in the course of five minutes. 



When Leibnitz returned from a learned dinner, and 

 said he had been entertained with fine conversation, 

 he meant something very different from what an of- 

 ficer in the London horse-guards would designate by 

 this phrase. In the same way, the conversation must 

 always bear the impress of the age. A conversation 

 at the frivolous courts of Louis XIV., and XV., or in 

 the dissolute circle of Charles II., must have had a 

 different character from that which prevails at present 

 in the courts of Versailles and St James. 



Notwithstanding the numerous varieties of charac- 

 ter which conversation assumes under different circum- 

 stances, there are certain general rules, which ought 

 to be followed, wherever it takes place, according to 



the meaning given to it among the civilized nations 

 of the West. Our rules would not, indeed, be ap- 

 plicable to some nations ; e. g., the Chinese, among 

 whom the better classes are said to converse often by 

 alternate improvisation. Conversation is an art 

 which must be learned like every other ; and, as is 

 the case in other arts, there are individuals and whole 

 nations who have peculiar talents for it. Yet, as it 

 is practised by every accomplished man, it is the duty 

 of every such man to perfect himself in it as much as 

 possible. It is, however, as in the case of every art, 

 much easier to say what should be avoided, than what 

 is to be done. A friend of ours, whose servants were 

 Methodists, gave them leave to invite a party of their 

 friends, which they did. Males and females of their 

 sect came, but seated themselves apart from each 

 other. Not a word was spoken. At last, recourse 

 was had to the Bible. Who of us has not witnessed 

 the reverse of this ? some noisy company, where 

 every one spoke, and no one could distinguish even 

 his own voice. These are the two extremes of un- 

 skilfulness in conversation. The intermediate shades 

 we need not describe. 



The object of conversation is to afford entertain- 

 ment or agreeable information ; and one of its first 

 rules is to allow every body to contribute his share ; 

 at the same time, we should not be entertained pas- 

 sively, but exert ourselves for the gratification of the 

 company. Egotism is the very bane of conversation, 

 the purpose or which is not to please ourselves, nor 

 to obtain admiration, but to please others. We must 

 carefully avoid tediousness in narration, and any dis- 

 play of self-conceit. We cannot, however, assent to 

 the rule of the venerable Franklin, never to contra- 

 dict in company, nor even correct facts, if wrong- 

 ly stated, because difference of opinion is the soul 

 of conversation. To adapt yourself to the com- 

 pany, and your conversation to your talents and in- 

 formation, is another rule ; as, also, to keep the con- 

 versation flowing ; to seize upon points which can 

 turn it into new channels; and, above all, not to talk 

 about the weather. The British and Americans talk 

 more on this subject than any other nation. Perhaps 

 this may be partly owing to their variable climate. 

 If you see that your hearers understand already all 

 you are going to say, proceed to something else. If 

 you relate an anecdote, be quick : avoid episodes, and 

 oblige others to support yon : don't langh at your own 

 wit it takes away all the point. Nothing is more 

 disagreeable than a speaker's laugh outlasting his 

 joke. Good sense and good feeling should guide in 

 the selection of topics for conversation, and prevent 

 you from touching subjects unpleasant to your com 

 panions. Conversation, moreover, is not a parlia- 

 mentary debate ; and, if the demonstration of whaC 

 you said becomes tedious, let it go. When you are 

 inclined to complain of a dull conversation, remem- 

 ber that two are necessary for a lively exchange of 

 ideas, and consider whether you were not the party 

 in fault. This complaint of tediousness is too often 

 made by ladies, who forget that it is their duty to 

 contribute to the conversation. 



The natural tact and politeness of the French, 

 founded on a humane feeling, have made them dis- 

 tinguished above all other nations for sparkling, fluent, 

 animated, and delightful conversation. The Encyclo- 

 pedic Moderne gives the following definition of its 

 character : La conversation n'est point une course 

 vers un but, une attaque reguliere stir un point, c'est 

 une promenade au hasard dans un champ spacieujc, 

 ou Von s'approche, on s'evite, on sefroisse quelquefois 

 sans se heurter jamais. Rousseau justly remarks, 

 that " the tone of good conversation is neither dull nor 

 frivolous. It is fluent and natural ; sensible, without 

 being pedantic ; cheerful, without being bolster 



