The Washington times., 1935-01-28
NOW
Critic Speaks s
At Dinner
GHOSTS, TOO
By HELEN ESSARY

eve aren't laughing at the
VictOrians as we once did. We
are envying them their faith
and their security"
So said Shane Leslie, Irish
biographer, critic and essayist,
on Saturday night at Esta
Brook, the home of Col. and
Mrs. Arthur O'Brien.
Said Mr.. Leslie:
"The VictOrianS believed in
ghosts. They were haunted by
The past. But we've are
haunted by the future"
It was rare entertainment
that Colonel and Mrs. O'Brien
gave their guests in Some Vic
torian Impressions" of one Of
1reland's most distinguished
young men of letters, now on
his way to Notre Dame Univer.
sity to lecture on English litera-
ture.
Esta Brook, on it's snowy hill
side overlooking Rock Creek
Park. was glowing like the me-
dieval castle it is. In the early
part of the evening the music
Of a pipe organ played by DR..
Kurt Hetzel sounded softly
through the luxurious two
storied library.
At II o'clock about a hun
dred people were seated in the
ballroom where Mr.. Leslie and
Colonel O'Brien stood before a
beautiful Elizabethan fireplace.
Colonel O'Brien then introduced
his guest of honor in a witty
little speech.
Mr.. Leslie was an enlivening
change from some of the in
tense orators one hears in
Washington. He had no cause
with which to batter his au-
dience. He rambled along gaily
and informally in his Irish
voice that had gone to Cam
bridge for an English intona-
ton.
He gossiped delightfully."- about
the great Victorians. And I
thought, as 1 watched him
speak, that he himself was a
Victorian-With a sense of hu-
mor-temporarily transported
into a RooSeveltian America.
In manner. Shane Leslie is
sometimes whimsical, some
times dramatic. In appearance,
he is slim and long-legged, with
the vague suggestion of fawn
in quizzical slanting eyes and
high cheek bones, covered be-
low the ears with little patches
Of dark hair. Indeed, Mr.. Leslie
would fit nicely into one of Mr..
Dickens novels. He is reminis-
cent of the sketches by Boz"
I suspect he is David Copper
field.
Disraeli. Mr.. Leslie said was
the only Victorian a later and
more cynical generation did not
laugh at. But perhaps that
was because Disrael was
greater cynic than any of them.
Mr.. Leslie told too of a love
affair of the aging Disraeli-
pursued with the desperation
OF a man of 10 and received
with the coyness of co."
The ghost stories remembered
from Shane Leslie's own family
history were fascinating. One
was based on the legend that
no heir would be born to his
uncle's house until the River
Kent went dry. The River Kent
did go dry. It froze solid the
week the first heir was born.
incidentally, Mr.. Leslie is half
American. He is a cousin of Win
ston Churchill, whose father,
Lord Randolph Churchill, mar
ried his aunt, the famous Jennie
Jerome. His father is Sir John
Leslie, now more than 80 years
old. Shane Leslie lives in Glass
Tough Castle in County Mono
han, near Dublin, on large
estate. ~.e has a passion for
woods. And has the largest
number of exotic trees Of any
land owner in the British Isles.
Tonight, Mr.. Leslie, who had
yearnings for the priesthood
when he was younger, will
speak at the Catholic Univer-
sity on "St. Patrick's Purga-
tory" st. Patrick's Purgatory is
. real place in Ireland and was
the Irish Precursor" of the
Purgatory of Dante.
Among the many interesting
guests at ESta Brook on Satur.
day, I saw the Irish Minister
and Mrs. MacWhite, Mrs.
Duncan Herridge, the Aus
trian Minister and Madame
Prochnik, the Hungarian Min
lister and Madame Pelenyi, the
Danish Minister and Madame
Wadstedt, Mrs. Alice Long
worth, Mr.. and Mrs. James
Clement Dunn, the Attorney
General and Mrs. Homer S.
Cummings, the Secretary of Ag-
r1culture and Mrs. Wallace,
Mrs. Tracy Dows, Mrs. Francis
Whitten, Robert Jackson,
Mrs. Wallach Merriam. Rear