THE DEFENDANT BY G. K. CHESTERTON AUTHOR OF 'THE WILD KNIGHT' AND 'GREYBEARDS AT PLAY' SECOND EDITION LONDON. MDCCCCII R. BRIMLEY JOHNSON * * * * * The 'Defences' of which this volume is composed have appeared in _The Speaker_, and are here reprinted, after revision and amplification, by permission of the Editor. Portions of 'The Defence of Publicity' appeared in _The Daily News_. _October_, 1901. * * * * * CONTENTS IN DEFENCE OF A NEW EDITION INTRODUCTION A DEFENCE OF PENNY DREADFULS A DEFENCE OF RASH VOWS A DEFENCE OF SKELETONS A DEFENCE OF PUBLICITY A DEFENCE OF NONSENSE A DEFENCE OF PLANETS A DEFENCE OF CHINA SHEPHERDESSES A DEFENCE OF USEFUL INFORMATION A DEFENCE OF HERALDRY A DEFENCE OF UGLY THINGS A DEFENCE OF FARCE A DEFENCE OF HUMILITY A DEFENCE OF SLANG A DEFENCE OF BABY-WORSHIP A DEFENCE OF DETECTIVE STORIES A DEFENCE OF PATRIOTISM * * * * * _IN DEFENCE OF A NEW EDITION The reissue of a series of essays so ephemeral and even superfluous may seem at the first glance to require some excuse; probably the best excuse is that they will have been completely forgotten, and therefore may be read again with entirely new sensations. I am not sure, however, that this claim is so modest as it sounds, for I fancy that Shakespeare and Balzac, if moved to prayers, might not ask to be remembered, but to be forgotten, and forgotten thus; for if they were forgotten they would be everlastingly re-discovered and re-read. It is a monotonous memory which keeps us in the main from seeing things as splendid as they are. The ancients were not wrong when they made Lethe the boundary of a better land; perhaps the only flaw in their system is that a man who had bathed in the river of forgetfulness would be as likely as not to climb back upon the bank of the earth and fancy himself in Elysium.