Chesterton never ceases to surprise or delight.  Given that yesterday was the birthdate of Robert E. Lee, it might be appropriate to share a good quote by Chesterton himself, commenting on the southern gentleman:

For the aristocrat of Old Dixie, with all his faults and inconsistencies, did understand what the gentleman of Old Europe generally did not.  He did understand the Republican ideal, the notion of the Citizen as it was understood among the noblest of pagans.  That combintion of ideal democracy with real chivalry was a particular blend for which the world was immeasurably the better; and for the loss of which it is immeasurably the worse.  It may never be recovered; but it will certainly be missed.

In G.K. Chesterton (and Lawrence J. Clipper, editor), Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, vol. xxxv, The Illustrated London News, 1929-1992), 218.  Quote found in H.W. Crocker, III, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War (Regnery, 2008), 12.

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