A Short History of England

G. K. Chesterton has committed a great sin; he has written a didactic poem, a work of art, and has called it history. It is no easy thing to give a list of all the complex sanctities that he has violated by this one act; as a mere incident in the accomplishment of his main purpose he has arrayed against himself anti-Catholics, materialists, aristocrats, plutocrats, and the whole tribe of scientific historians. But it is true of Chesterton's "History of England," as it is true of any work of art, that the sanctities which it violates are not so important as the vision which inspires it. --The Dial, 1918