The Napoleon of Notting Hill
G. K. Chesterton
Produced by Jason Isbell, Diane Monico, and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
IN THE DARK ENTRANCE THERE APPEARED A FLAMINGFIGURE.]
The Napoleon ofNotting Hill
THE NAPOLEON_of_NOTTING HILL
_By_GILBERT K. CHESTERTON
_With Seven Full-Page Illustrations byW. GRAHAM ROBERTSONand a Map of the Seat of War_
REV. WILLIAM J. GORMLEY, C. M.
JOHN LANE: THE BODLEY HEADLONDON & NEW YORK. MDCCCCIV
_Copyright inU.S.A., 1904_
William Clowes & Sons, Limited, London and Beccles.
_TO HILAIRE BELLOC_
_For every tiny town or place God made the stars especially; Babies look up with owlish face And see them tangled in a tree: You saw a moon from Sussex Downs, A Sussex moon, untravelled still, I saw a moon that was the town's, The largest lamp on Campden Hill._
_Yea; Heaven is everywhere at home The big blue cap that always fits, And so it is (be calm; they come To goal at last, my wandering wits), So is it with the heroic thing; This shall not end for the world's end, And though the sullen engines swing, Be you not much afraid, my friend._
_This did not end by Nelson's urn Where an immortal England sits-- Nor where your tall young men in turn Drank death like wine at Austerlitz. And when the pedants bade us mark What cold mechanic happenings Must come; our souls said in the dark, "Belike; but there are likelier things."_
_Likelier across these flats afar These sulky levels smooth and free The drums shall crash a waltz of war And Death shall dance with Liberty; Likelier the barricades shall blare Slaughter below and smoke above, And death and hate and hell declare That men have found a thing to love._
_Far from your sunny uplands set I saw the dream; the streets I trod The lit straight streets shot out and met The starry streets that point to God. This legend of an epic hour A child I dreamed, and dream it still, Under the great grey water-tower That strikes the stars on Campden Hill._
G. K. C.
_CONTENTS_
BOOK I
_Chapter_ _Page_
I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON THE ART OF PROPHECY 13
II. THE MAN IN GREEN 21
III. THE HILL OF HUMOUR 49
BOOK II
I. THE CHARTER OF THE CITIES 65
II. THE COUNCIL OF THE PROVOSTS 82
III. ENTER A LUNATIC 102
BOOK III
I. THE MENTAL CONDITION OF ADAM WAYNE 125
II. THE REMARKABLE MR. TURNBULL 147
III. THE EXPERIMENT OF MR. BUCK 163
BOOK IV
I. THE BATTLE OF THE LAMPS 189
II. THE CORRESPONDENT OF THE "COURT JOURNAL" 208
III. THE GREAT ARMY OF SOUTH KENSINGTON 224
BOOK V
I. THE EMPIRE OF NOTTING HILL 259
II. THE LAST BATTLE 279
III. TWO VOICES 291
