The most artistic work that Conscience ever did, however, is found in his tales of Flemish peasant life, one of which, "'Rikke-Tikke-Tak,'" says William Sharp, "has not only been rendered into every European tongue, but has been paraphrased to such an extent that variants of it occur, in each instance as an indigenous folk-tale, in every land, from Great Britain in the west to India and even China in the east." Conscience says of himself, "I write my books to be read by the people.... I have sketched the Flemish peasant as he appeared to me ... when, hungry and sick, I enjoyed hospitality and the tenderest care among them." "After a European success ranking only after that of Scott, Balzac, Dumas, Hugo, and Hans Andersen, Henri Conscience is still," wrote William Sharp in 1896, thirteen years after the great Fleming's death, "a name of European repute; is still, in his own country, held in the highest honour and affection." The Walloon country provided the historians, of whom Vanderkindère was one of the ablest. Charles Potvin, born at Mons in 1818, was a Walloon journalist and prolific writer on a variety of subjects. He held the position of professor of the history of literature at the Royal Museum of Industry in Brussels, was director of the _Revue de Belgique_, which he founded, and was curator of the Wiertz Museum in Brussels. He was poet, writer on political subjects, historian of art and literature, critic and essayist; "a power in Belgian politics and literature, a leader of democrats and free-thinkers." In his long life--he died in 1902--he produced a great number of works, among which were "La Belgique," a poem, the "History of Civilization in Belgium," the "History of Literature in Belgium," and a work on "Belgian Nationality." Camille Lemonnier, of Liège, wrote three or four novels before 1880. He was a brilliant writer, who "touched modern society at almost every point" in his books, but will perhaps be remembered chiefly as the _doyen_ of the little band of "_la jeune Belgique_." The students at Louvain in 1880, with their rival magazines, really laid "the foundation of a literature which is in many respects the most remarkable of contemporary Europe." At the head stand Maeterlinck and Verhaeren. Edmond Glesener, a hero of Liège, is well known for his novels. In 1887, with the publication of the periodical, _La Parnasse de la Jeune Belgique_, began a renaissance of poetry, which became distinctly modern Belgian in character. Maurice Warlemont (Max Waller) was the generally recognized founder of this paper. Verhaeren and other noted contributors also wrote for the _Pléiade_, which was a famous Parisian periodical at that time.