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.