terature:--

"Mr. Hilaire Belloc
Is a case for legislation _ad hoc_:
He seems to think nobody minds
His books being all of different kinds."

That is the charge. A plea of guilty and, at the same time, a defence
based on justification might be found in Mr. Belloc's words (which occur
at the end of one of his essays): "What a wonderful world it is and how
many things there are in it!"

Thus might we bolster up the answer which is but partially true until
it seemed wholly true. We might make Mr. Belloc's diversity his
disguise. We might hoodwink the public.

But that is a dangerous game. The public has a habit of finding out. Mr.
Belloc himself is always on the watch to expose impostors (especially
the Parliamentary kind) and he has described most graphically the fate
awaiting them:--

"For every time She shouted 'Fire!'
The people answered 'Little Liar!'"

So let us view the matter squarely.

The aim of this little study, if so ambitious a phrase may be used of
what is purely a piece of self-indulgence, is to present the public with
as complete an idea as possible of Mr. Belloc and his work. Up to the
present, the relations between Mr. Belloc and the public have been, to
say the least, peculiar. If we regard the public as a mass subject to
attack and the author as the attacker, we may say that, whereas most
contemporary authors have attacked at one spot only and used their
gradually increasing strength to drive on straight into the heart of the
mass, Mr. Belloc has attacked at various points. It is obvious, however,
that these various separate attacks, if they are to achieve their
object, which is the subjection of the mass, must be thoroughly
co-ordinated and have large reserve forces upon which to draw.

Some slight outline of the nature of the various attacks on the public
made by Mr. Belloc has already been given. We stand amazed to-day by the
unqualified success which has attended the attack carried into effect by
his writings on the war. But if we are to form even an approximation to
a complete idea of Mr. Belloc, it is necessary to examine these various
attacks, not merely separately and in detail, but in their relation to
each other and as a co-ordinated plan. And before we can hope to measure
the strength of that plan, we must examine the mind which ordains its
co-ordination and the forces which render possible its execution: in
other words, the personality of Mr. Belloc.

Any