silent men—the men who bend over nets and who rest on their plows and
who say nothing—the men who still bear within themselves the dreams and
passions of Christendom: the love of one’s own, the feel for the soil,
the sense of arms, the hunger for certitude. Belloc speaks for the
underground of Europe.
But in some future time, possibly not remote, when New Man will have
exhausted himself attempting to escape his destiny, when he will have
tried all the doors leading nowhere, when he will have sickened of
paper humanisms, he may turn to the gnarled wisdom and the eternal
youth of this last guardian of the West. If he does, he will learn what
it means to be a man.
NOTES
[1] G. K. Chesterton, _The Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton_ (Sheed &
Ward, New York, 1936), pp. 222-8.
[2] _The Four Men_, p. 3.
[3] _Ibid._, p. 300.
[4] _Ibid._, pp. 302–3.
[5] _Ibid._, p. 303.
[6] _Ibid._, pp. 304–5.
[7] Raymond Las Vergnas, _Chesterton, Belloc, and Baring_ (Sheed &
Ward, New York, 1938), pp. 79–80.
[8] On at least three different occasions, in the midst of passages
that relate intense spiritual crisis, Belloc reverts to the “Myself”
device. These passages will be discussed later on in the chapter.
[9] _The Four Men_, p. 56.
[10] T. S. Eliot, _Notes Towards the Definition of Culture_ (Harcourt,
Brace & Co., New York), p. 42.
[11] Belloc’s “Poet,” as indicated, is in the Platonic conception of
poetry: poetry as the intimation of the “divine.” What a contemporary
critic would consider essential to a poet, keen sensibility, is found
in Belloc’s “Sailor.”
[12] “The Autumn and the Fall of Leaves,” _Hills and the Sea_, pp.
300–1.
[13] _Path to Rome_, p. 118.
[14] “The Autumn and the Fall of Leaves,” _Hills and the Sea_, p. 311.
[15] _Ibid._, p. 311.
[16] Hugh Kenner, _Paradox in Chesterton_ (Sheed & Ward, New York,
1947), _passim_.
[17] _Elizabethan Commentary_, p. 170.
[18] _Towns of Destiny_, p. 235.
[19] _Ibid._, p. 238.
[20] “A Remaining Christmas,” _A Conversation With a Cat_, p. 296.
[21] “The Opportunity,” _Short Talks With the Dead_, p. 59.
[22] _Why I Am and Why I Am Not a Catholic_, pp. 10–11.
[23] “Gilbert Keith Chesterton,” _The Saturday Review of Literature_,
July 4, 1936, p. 4.
[24] Quoted in: Maisie Ward, _Gilbert Keith Chesterton_ (Sheed & Ward,
New York, 1943), p. 474.
[25] P. D. Murphy, “Hilaire Belloc,” _America_, September 25, 1920, pp.
539–40.
[26] _The Path to Rome_, p. 161.
[27] _Ibid._, p. 118.
[28] “The Idea of a Pilgrimage,” _Hills and the Sea_, p. 266.
[29] _Esto Perpetua_, pp. 188–9.
[30] “Arles,” _Hills and the Sea_, p. 87.
[31] _The Old Road_, p. 11.
[32] “A Remaining Christmas,” _A Conversation With a Cat_, pp. 296–7.
[33] W. H. Auden, _The Enchafed Flood_ (Random House, New York, 1951),
pp. 3–42.
[34] “The Barbarians,” _This and That and the Other_, p. 226.
[35] _Ibid._, pp. 226–7.
[36] _Esto Perpetua_, p. 177.
[37] _The Old Road_, p. 9.
[38] “A Remaining Christmas,” _A Conversation With a Cat_, pp. 296–7.
[39] _Mr. Belloc Still Objects_, p. 42.
[40] Douglas Jerrold, “Hilaire Belloc and the Counter Reformation,”
_For Hilaire Belloc_, ed. by Douglas Woodruff (Sheed & Ward, New York,
1942), pp. 1–10.
[41] _Europe and the Faith_, pp. viii–ix.
[42] _This and That and the Other_, p. 220.
[43] _Charles I, King of England_, pp. 72–3.
[44] _The Stane Street_, pp. 144–5.
[45] Cf. Belloc’s analysis in “Reality,” _First and Last_, pp. 69–74.
[46] “On Mundane Acquaintances,” _Sonnets and Verse_ (Sheed & Ward, New
York, 1944), p. 168.
[47] “The Roman Road,” _Hills and the Sea_, pp. 222–3.
[48] “The Higher Criticism,” _This and That and the Other_, p. 247.
[49] _Marie Antoinette_, pp. 553–4.
[50] Cf. note 52.
[51] “The Men of the Desert,” _Hills and the Sea_, p. 249.
[52] _Europe and the Faith_, pp. 4–5.
[53] _The Path to Rome_, p. 351.
[54] _Loc. cit._
[55] Prudentius, _Contra Symmachum_, PM, 2.609-635.
[56] _Esto Perpetua_, pp. 188–9.
[57] The phrase is Lord Tweedsmuir’s; _Pilgrim’s Way_, pp. 48–9.
[58] _Survivals and New Arrivals_, p. 219.
[59] Sidney Hook, _The Hero in History_ (The Humanities Press, New
York, 1943), pp. 119, 123. (There is hidden irony, and humour as well,
in Hook’s judgment. He discusses a short essay written by Belloc
that appeared in a volume called “If, Or History Rewritten”; Belloc
speculated, in his essay, on what France would have been like had the
Revolution failed through the Royal Family’s escaping from the country.
Hook, aware of Belloc’s fame as a Catholic apologist, simply assumes
Belloc to imagine a modern Europe continuing the best traditions of
Christendom, had the Revolution failed. But the contrary is the case.
Belloc guesses—rightly or wrongly is beside the point here—that the
Faith would practically be dead on the Continent had the Revolution
failed. It is difficult to see how Hook could have read the piece and
said what he did.)
[60] _Sonnets and Verse_, p. 29.
[61] _The Contrast_, pp. 83–136.
[62] “Talking of Byron,” _Short Talks With the Dead_, p. 33.
[63] _Essays of a Catholic Layman in England_, pp. 157, 305.
[64] John Edward Dineen, introduction to _Selected Essays by Hilaire
Belloc_, compiled by J. E. Dineen (J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia,
1936), p. 6.
[65] Lord Tweedsmuir, _Pilgrim’s Way, An Essay in Recollection_, pp.
48–9.
LIST OF EDITIONS CITED
_The Four Men_ (Thomas Nelson & Sons, London, 1906).
_Hills and the Sea_ (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1906).
_The Path to Rome_ (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York and London,
1902).
_Elizabethan Commentary_ (Cassell & Co., London, 1942).
_Towns of Destiny_ (Robert M. McBride & Co., New York, 1931).
_A Conversation With a Cat_ (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1929).
_Short Talks With the Dead and Others_ (The Cayme Press,
Kensington, 1926).
_Esto Perpetua_ (Duckworth, London, 2nd. imp., 1925).
_The Old Road_ (Constable & Co., London, 1911).
_This and That and the Other_ (Methuen & Co., London, 1927).
_Europe and the Faith_ (The Paulist Press, New York, 1920).
_Charles I, King of England_ (J. B. Lippincott Co., London, 1933).
_The Stane Street_ (Constable & Co., London, 1913).
_First and Last_ (Methuen & Co., London, 1924).
_Sonnets and Verse_ (Sheed & Ward, New York, 1944).
_Marie Antoinette_ (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York and London,
1931).
_Survivals and New Arrivals_ (Macmillan, New York, 1929).
_The Contrast_ (Robert M. McBride & Co., New York, 1924).
_Essays of a Catholic Layman in England_ (Macmillan, New York,
1931).
_Mr. Belloc Still Objects_ (Ecclesiastical Supply Association, Publ.
and Imports, San Francisco, 1927).