, the foundation at once and the bulwark of the
Reformation drawn up by the learned and venerable Melancthon, defended
by the Elector of Saxony, and the other valiant hearts who stood up
for their faith, even against the front of a powerful and victorious
emperor, and imprinted by the scarcely less venerable and praiseworthy
Aldobrand Oldenbuck, my happy progenitor, during the yet more tyrannical
attempts of Philip II. to suppress at once civil and religious liberty.
Yes, sir--for printing this work, that eminent man was expelled from his
ungrateful country, and driven to establish his household gods even here
at Monkbarns, among the ruins of papal superstition and domination.--Look
upon his venerable effigies, Mr. Lovel, and respect the honourable
occupation in which it presents him, as labouring personally at the
press for the diffusion of Christian and political knowledge.--And see
here his favourite motto, expressive of his independence and self-reliance,
which scorned to owe anything to patronage that was not earned by
desert--expressive also of that firmness of mind and tenacity of purpose
recommended by Horace. He was indeed a man who would have stood firm,
had his whole printing-house, presses, fonts, forms, great and small
pica, been shivered to pieces around him--Read, I say, his motto,--for
each printer had his motto, or device, when that illustrious art was
first practised. My ancestor's was expressed, as you see, in the
Teutonic phrase, Kunst macht Gunst--that is, skill, or prudence, in
availing ourselves of our natural talents and advantages, will compel
favour and patronage, even where it is withheld from prejudice or
ignorance."

"And that," said Lovel, after a moment's thoughtful silence--"that, then,
is the meaning of these German words?"

"Unquestionably. You perceive the appropriate application to a
consciousness of inward worth, and of eminence in a useful and
honourable art.--Each printer in those days, as I have already informed
you, had his device, his impresa, as I may call it, in the same manner
as the doughty chivalry of the age, who frequented tilt and tournament.
My ancestor boasted as much in his, as if he had displayed it over
a conquered field of battle, though it betokened the diffusion of
knowledge, not the effusion of blood. And yet there is a family
tradition which affirms him to have chosen it from a more romantic
circumstance."

"And what is that said to have been, my good sir?"