The Napoleon of Notting Hill Read online

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  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