The defendant

Chesterton wrote sixteen 'defences', which appeared in 'The Speaker' and were later reprinted in 'The defendant'. These defences are written with an optimistic viewpoint: as Chesterton says 'it requires some cheerfulness to continue in revolt'. Some things are called 'bad' because they are 'not good enough'; Chesterton chooses to write in defence of skeletons, of planets, of heraldry, of farce, etc.
Usually, once one examines these normally slighted subjects, one finds that nothing is as simple as it looks. For example: patriotism is more than love of 'my country, right or wrong': someone who really loves his country cannot be indifferent about its wrongs. This last form of patriotism seems to be disappearing, leaving 'a deaf and raucous jingoism'. One key to achieve this is education.
One of Chesterton's pet topics is a defence of what one could call 'low culture': penny dreadfuls, useful information, farce, slang and detective stories. He argues that there can be real merit in simple forms of art: simple straightforward morality in penny dreadfuls, a satisfaction of honest curiosity in useful information, a  sense of real poetical imagery in slang and in detective stories.