ed as supping at a celestial "Mermaid." But the "Mermaid"
was English--and so was Keats. And though Hilaire Belloc may have a
French name, I think that Peter Wanderwide is an Englishman.

I have said nothing of the most real thing about Belloc, the religion,
because it is above this purpose, and nothing of the later attacks on
him by the chief Newspaper Trust, because they are much below it. There
are, of course, many other reasons for passing such matters over here,
including the argument of space; but there is also a small reason of my
own, which if not exactly a secret is at least a very natural ground of
silence. It is that I entertain a very intimate confidence that in a
very little time humanity will be saying, "Who was this So-and-So with
whom Belloc seems to have debated?"

G. K. CHESTERTON

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I MR. BELLOC AND THE PUBLIC 1

II MR. BELLOC THE MAN 9

III PERSONALITY IN STYLE 16

IV THE POET 27

V THE STUDENT OF MILITARY AFFAIRS 35

VI MR. BELLOC AND THE WAR 50

VII MR. BELLOC THE PUBLICIST 59

VIII MR. BELLOC AND EUROPE 71

IX THE HISTORICAL WRITER 89

X MR. BELLOC AND ENGLAND 99

XI THE REFORMER 110

XII THE HUMOURIST 116

XIII THE TRAVELLER 126

XIV MR. BELLOC AND THE FUTURE 138

We have to express our thanks to the following publishers for permission
to quote from those books by Mr. Belloc which are issued by
them:--Messrs. Constable & Co., Ltd., _The Old Road_ and _On Anything_;
Messrs. J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., _The Historic Thames_; Messrs. Duckworth
& Co., _Esto Perpetua_, _Avril_, _Verses_, and _The Bad Child's Book of
Beasts_; Mr. T. N. Foulis, _The Servile State_; Mr. Eveleigh Nash, _The
Eyewitness_ and _Cautionary Tales for Children_; Messrs. Thomas Nelson &
Sons, _Danton_, _The Path to Rome_, _The Four Men_, and _A General
Sketch of the European War_; Messrs. C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd., _The Two
Maps of Europe_; Messrs. Williams & Norgate, Ltd., _The French
Revolution_. The frontispiece is reproduc