8. In the course of the century that followed Caxton's labours, some years before any emigrants left our shores, the English language assumed its final form. When at length Englishmen began to emigrate, they carried with them the same tongue that continued to be spoken at home. This is a matter of no small importance; for a common language is a strong bond of union. Happily, all who have left the old country to form colonies in other parts, however distant or widely separated, still speak the same language as ourselves. We all read the same books, and clothe our thoughts and feelings in almost the same words. This tends to keep us in heart and mind one people, however wide the seas between us. 9. When now-a-days an Englishman lands in the United States, or in any British Colony, he hears men speaking his own tongue. The people of other nations rarely enjoy this privilege. The German emigrant, for example, seldom desires to settle in a German Colony. He usually makes his new home in the United States or in some British Colony, and there he finds himself in the midst of an English-speaking people, and forced to learn their language in order to get on. An Englishman it is said, is always ready to grumble, but no nation has less cause than our own to be discontented with its lot. 10. Lastly, printing had a great effect in giving a lift to men of the humbler classes. Thousands of people who never before had a chance of learning were now able to buy and read books, and gain valuable knowledge. Of course, in our own day, books are so cheap, and free libraries so common, that all who have the will can read and learn. But even in Tudor times--in the century that followed the introduction of printing into England--the wider spread of knowledge, due to the new invention, made people more equal than before, and gave a clever boy in humble life a better chance of turning his talents to good account, both for himself and his fatherland. (2) INVENTION OF FIRE-ARMS. 1. Gunpowder had been invented long before printing, but it was much longer in making its influence felt. Cannon had been used as early as the battle of Crecy, 1346, but they were of little use, being rudely constructed of wood, hooped with iron, and almost as dangerous to the gunners who fired them as to the enemy they were intended to kill. In time, however much better cannon were turned out, and before the end of the War of the Roses great guns were used with much success both on board ship and in the siege of castles and walled-towns.