EMMANUEL BURDEN
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
| PARIS |
| MARIE ANTOINETTE |
| THE PYRENEES |
| HILLS AND THE SEA |
| ON NOTHING AND KINDRED SUBJECTS |
| ON EVERYTHING |
| ON SOMETHING |
| FIRST AND LAST |
| THIS AND THAT AND THE OTHER |
| A CHANGE IN THE CABINET |
A SKETCH OF MR BURDEN—FROM MEMORY
EMMANUEL BURDEN
MERCHANT
OF THAMES ST., IN THE CITY OF
LONDON, EXPORTER OF HARDWARE
A RECORD OF
HIS LINEAGE, SPECULATIONS,
LAST DAYS AND DEATH
BY
HILAIRE BELLOC
WITH THIRTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
BY G. K. CHESTERTON
THIRD AND CHEAPER EDITION
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
First Published
September 1904
Second Edition
December 1904
Third Edition (2s. net)
April 1915
TO
HERBERT A. L. FISHER
[Pg vii]
INTRODUCTION
Though no prominent citizen isnow-a-days permitted to pass “beyondthe veil” without an account ofhim being drawn up for posterity, yetbooks of this sort have recently grownso common that some warrant for thepublication of a new biography may wellbe demanded.
Mr Burden’s public position, combinedwith his sterling piety and considerablewealth, would alone merit suchrecognition: to these must be added thefact that he was a Justice of the Peacefor the County of Surrey. His connection,moreover, with Imperial Financehas, through the medium of the Press,lent a very general interest to his nameeven in those parts of London withwhich he was personally unfamiliar.
[Pg viii]
I am well aware that the task ofwriting this history could have falleninto abler hands, but it could have beenachieved by no one more devoted to hissubject, or more familiar with the finalcatastroph