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 ?" inquired his young friend.
"Why, it rather encroaches on my respected predecessor's fame for prudence and wisdom--Sed semel insanivimus omnes--everybody has played the fool in their turn.

It is said, my ancestor, during his apprenticeship with the descendant of old Faust, whom popular tradition hath sent to the devil under the name of Faustus, was attracted by a paltry slip of womankind, his master's daughter, called Bertha--they broke rings, or went through some idiotical ceremony, as is usual on such idle occasions as the plighting of a true-love troth, and Aldobrand set out on his journey through Germany, as became an honest hand-werker; for such was the custom of mechanics at that time, to make a tour through the empire, and work at their trade for a time in each of the most eminent towns, before they finally settled themselves for life.