GREAT BRITAIN: Piece of Earth

Liberal M.P. Leslie Hore-Belisha, returning last week to London after Parliament’s August recess, felt a new and better man. He was, said he, refreshed in body, spirit and mind. Also, to his satisfaction, he had confirmed two of his favorite contentions:

> That politicians need periods of retreat for contemplation and reflection upon the ultimate reasons for existence.

> That the best retreat, now that the Continent is cut off from Britain, is the Abbey of the Cistercian monks in Leicester.

Britain’s onetime War Secretary had proved his contentions by practicing them. He had chosen the Leicester Abbey because the Cistercians isolate themselves as completely as possible, adhering to a strict rule of silence. When they must communicate with one another, they use a sign language.

For ten days Leslie Hore-Belisha, who used to take his holidays on the Riviera, immersed himself in the Cistercian routine. He rose at 2 a.m. for the night offices in the Abbey’s austere white chapel. He assisted at Matins, Lauds, Prime Terce, High Mass, Nones, Vespers, Complin. Among white-habited monks he worked on the farm, helping to cut and shock corn. He watched the monks weave cloth, bake bread, bind manuscripts, work at sculpture and wood carving. He shared their single daily vegetarian meal.

That still left him time for contemplation, and he had several subjects worth reviewing. There was, for one, the consideration that as a forthright critic of Churchill’s war prosecution he has for two years served as whipping boy for the Prime Minister’s parliamentary tempers, receiving rebukes distinguished for their sting, even in the House of Commons. He could also reflect that it is nearly three years since he held Government office, and that the British people are looking for new leaders. He could reflect that, like the great Cardinal Wolsey in 1530, he arrived at the Abbey stripped of political grandeur, begging: “Of your charity, spare me a piece of earth.”