PONCE DE LEON, FRAY LUIS, a celebrated Spanish poet, was b. in 1527, probably at Granada. In 1544 he entered the order of St. Augustine, at Salamanca, where he studied, took his degree in theology in 1360, and was appointed professor of the same in 1301. The reputation that lie acquired as a learned commentator on the Bible induced some persons. who were envious of his success, to accuse him of having disregarded the prohibition of the church, inasmuch as, at the request of a friend, he made a new trans lation of the Song of Solomon, and brought out prominently, in his arrangement-of the verses, the true character of the original—viz.. that of a pastoral eclogue. This inter pretation was not that adopted by the Catholic church, and Ponce de Leon was sum moned, in 1572, before the formidable tribunal of the inquisition at Valladolid to answer the charges of Lutheranism, and of translating the sacred writings contrary to the decrees of the council of Trent. The first accusation he quickly disposed of—for he had in reality no inclination to a foreign Protestantism; but the. second was undoubtedly true, and Ponce de Leon was imprisoned. After five years he was released through the interven tion of powerful friends, and was even reinstated in his chair at the university with the greatest marks of respect. The numerous auditory that assembled to witness the resumption of his lectures were electrified when Ponce de Leon began with these simple words, "As we observed in our last discourse"—thus sublimely ignoring the cause and the duration of his long absence from his lecture-room. In 1580 Ponce de Leon pub lished a Latin commentary on the Song of Solomon, in which he explained the poem directly, symbolically, and mystically; and, therefore, as obscurely, says Mr. Ticknor,
" as the most orthodox could wish." Ponce de Leon lived 14 years after his restoration to liberty, but his terror of the inquisition never quite left him, and he was very cautious in regard t6 xv;aar he gave to the world during his lifetime. lie died in 1591. Ponce de Leon's poetical reputation was wholly posthumous, for though his De los .NOmbros de Christ() (On the Names of Christ) (Salamanca, 1583-85), and La Perfecta Casada (The Per fect Wife) (Salamanca, 1583), are full of imagery, eloquence, and enthusiasm, yet they are in prose. His poetical remains were first published by Quevedo at Madrid in 1631, under the title, Obras Proprias, y Ttaduciones Latinas, Griegas, y Italianas: con in Para pfirrisi de Aigunos SaWas y Capitulos de Job, and have since been often reprinted. These consist of translations from Virgil's Eclogues and the Georgics; from the Odes of Horace, and other classical authors, and from the Psalms. His original poems are few, but they are considered among the most precious in the author's language, and have given Ponce de Leon a foremost place among the Spanish lyrists. According to Ticknor, "Luis dc Leon had the soul of a Hebrew, and his enthusiasm was almost always kindled by the reading of the Old Testament. Nevertheless, he preserved unaltered the national char acter. His best compositions are odes composed in the old Castilian versification, will' a classic purity and a vigorous finish that Spanish poetry had never till then known, and to which it has with difficulty attained since." See Nicholas Antonio, Bibliotheca llispnua :Nom,: Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature; and Villemain, Essais sur kh Poesie Lyrique.