The Napoleon of Notting Hill

IN THE DARK ENTRANCE THERE APPEARED A FLAMING FIGURE

THE NAPOLEON

of

NOTTING HILL

By

GILBERT K. CHESTERTON

With Seven Illustrations by
WILLIAM GRAHAM ROBERTSON
and a Map of the Seat of War

LONDON : JOHN LANE : THE
BODLEY HEAD :: NEW YORK
JOHN LANE COMPANY :: MCMXIV

Copyright 1904
By John Lane

To Hilaire Belloc

For every tiny town or placeGod made the stars especially;Babies look up with owlish faceAnd 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 homeThe big blue cap that always fits,And so it is (be calm; they comeTo goal at last, my wandering wits),So is it with the heroic thing;This shall not end for the world's endAnd though the sullen engines swing,Be you not much afraid, my friend.

This did not end by Nelson's urnWhere an immortal England sits—Nor where your tall young men in turnDrank death like wine at Austerlitz.And when the pedants bade us markWhat cold mechanic happeningsMust come; our souls said in the dark,"Belike; but there are likelier things."

Likelier across these flats afarThese sulky levels smooth and freeThe drums shall crash a waltz of warAnd Death shall dance with Liberty;Likelier the barricades shall blareSlaughter below and smoke above,And death and hate and hell declareThat men have found a thing to love.

Far from your sunny uplands setI saw the dream; the streets I trodThe lit straight streets shot out and metThe starry streets that point to God.This legend of an epic hourA child I dreamed, and dream it still,Under the great grey water-towerThat strikes the stars on Campden Hill.G. K. C.

Contents
Chapter		Page
Book I
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

List of Illustrations
		Facing page
In the dark entrance there appeared a flaming figure		Frontispiece
City men out on all fours in a field covered with veal cutlets		16
'I'm king of the castle'		70
'I bring homage to my king'		104
Map of the seat of war		190
King Auberon descended from the omnibus with dignity		220
'A fine evening, sir,' said the chemist		264
'Wayne, it was all a joke'		296

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1930.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1936, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 88 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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