soldier, "faithful found," had fallen in that lion rush which Richard
made at his foe. "Your father tells me that Richard was a murderer and
usurper," quoth my uncle. "Sir, that might be true or not; but it was
not on the field of battle that his followers were to reason on the
character of the master who trusted them, especially when a legion of
foreign hirelings stood opposed to them. I would not have descended
from that turncoat Stanley to be lord of all the lands the earls of
Derby can boast of. Sir, in loyalty, men fight and die for a grand
principle and a lofty passion; and this brave Sir William was paying
back to the last Plantagenet the benefits he had received from the
first!"

"And yet it may be doubted," said I, maliciously, "whether William
Caxton the printer did not--"

Plague, pestilence, and fire seize William Caxton the printer, and his
invention too!" cried my uncle, barbarously.

"When there were only a few books, at least they were good ones; and now
they are so plentiful, all they do is to confound the judgment, unsettle
the reason, drive the good books out of cultivation, and draw a
ploughshare of innovation over every ancient landmark; seduce the women,
womanize the men, upset states, thrones, and churches; rear a race of
chattering, conceited coxcombs who can always find books in plenty to
excuse them from doing their duty; make the poor discontented, the rich
crotchety and whimsical, refine away the stout old virtues into quibbles
and sentiments! All imagination formerly was expended in noble action,
adventure, enterprise, high deeds, and aspirations; now a man can but be
imaginative by feeding on the false excitement of passions he never
felt, dangers he never shared, and he fritters away all there is of life