One of the true lords of the English language, Belloc was not an Englishman by birth. He was born near Paris in1870. His father was French, his mother Irish. But he looked more like the traditional figure of John Bull than any Englishman could. A torrent of books, pamphlets, letters, etc., poured from his pen. His published books number one hundred and fifty-three. A. P. Herbert described him as “the man who wrote a library.” His place in English letters is secure.