478 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
(204 S, No 24., June 14,56, 
SPANISH ENIGMA. 
2" §, i. 193.) 
A correspondent gives an enigma in Spanish 
verse by Luis de Leon, and requests a trans- 
lation and interpretation of it. The following is 
a translation of it; and the original being only of 
a few lines I here copy it: 
“ Sentdronse 4 una Mesa Pobre y Rica 
Un sano y un enfermo y un defunto: 
Al enfermo il manjar le fue botica, 
Pagando el muerto escote toto junto ; 
Mas el que llegé sano se applica 
Que 4 sepultar llegaba el cuerpo junto: 
Decidme de este enigma lo que toca, 
Si se atreve 4 explicarlo vuestra boca.” 
( Translation.) 
“To the same board the rich and poor were led, 
One sick, one sound, and one, behold, was dead, 
To the one sick, as food, were drugs supplied, 
To serve the dead the rest their care applied ; 
But when the sound one came, he claimed, he said, 
To bear to his last resting-place the dead. 
Now tell me what deep meaning’s shrouded here, 
And let your tongue proclaim it, if you dare. ” 
The personages introduced in this extraordinary 
enigma are, I apprehend, allegorical, and’ repre- 
sent certain sections of the Christian Church, or 
the doctrines severally held by them; while the 
challenge contained in the last line conveys the 
impression that he who shall proclaim the solution 
of the enigma may incur the risk of ecclesiastical 
or other censures. To make, however, a yet 
nearer approach to its solution, I must offer a 
few words on the unfortunate history of its extra- 
ordinary author, Fray Luis de Leon. He was | 
born early in 1500, assumed the habit of a reli- 
gious order in a convent in Salamanca, where 
he pursued his studies, and was elected to the | 
Chair of Theology in that university. He was 
united in friendship with all the wise and virtuous 
of his time, and he is named by the historians of 
his country as one of those writers to whom the 
Castilian language is indebted most for its pro- 
priety and nervousness, and for the grace of its 
poetical expression, unknown until his time. He 
was, however, as your correspondent Q. Q. re- 
lates, contemporary with Luther, and early be- 
came known for his advocacy of the reformed 
faith, by his translation and diligent circulation 
of portions of the sacred Scriptures, and by his 
prelections from his chair. For these offences he 
was cited before the Inquisition, and* it was not 
until after a confinement of five years in its prison 
that he made his renunciation and was released. 
He was restored to his Chair of Theology, and 
doubtless for the purpose of his undoctrinising 
those whom his errors had misled, and to expose 
to his country, and perhaps to the world, the 
power of the Inquisition to correct the greatest 
minds of their errors. I am‘not acquainted with 
any of his prose writings ; but the following lines, 
written, I presume, before his arrest by the Grand 
Inquisitor, will show how strong were his mis- 
givinys on the soundness of the faith he professed. 
The lines are curious as containing so succinctly 
the main objections to the great doctrine of his 
Church, and as written by one who occupied the 
Chair of Theology in its principal university, and 
who for this and others of his writings was com- 
mitted to the prison of the Inquisition. My 
translation of the lines, on a comparison with the 
original, will be found, I think, to give a just and 
truthful version of it : 
“AL PROPRIO ASUNTO. 
Soneto. 
“Si pan es lo que vemos, como dura 
Sin zgque comundo del se nos acabe? 
Si Dios — z como en el gusto a pan nos sabe? 
2Como de solo pan tiene figura? 
Si pan zgcomo le adora la criatura? 
Si Dios — gcomo en tan chico espacio cabe? 
Si pan — ¢como por ciencia no se sabe? 
Si Dios — ¢ como le come su hechura? 
Si pan — ¢como nos harta siendo poco? 
Si Déos es— gcomo puede ser partido? 
Si pan — ¢como en el alma hace tanto? 
Si Dios— zcomo le mero yo y le toco? 
Si pan — ¢gcomo del cielo ha descendido? 
Si Dios — ¢como no muero yo de espento?” 
( Translation.) 
“Tf bread be that we look on, canst thou say 
It will, when eaten, clear our sins away? 
If God, how can it verily be said, 
Despite its taste and form, that ’tis not bread? 
If bread, — how we before it suppliants fall? 
If God, — how present in a thing so small? 
If bread, — how left by science undisplayed ? 
If God, — how eat we what our hands have made? 
If bread, — how hath it been by Heaven provided? 
If God, — how can it ever be Civided ? 
If bread, — how can it satisfy so much? 
If God, — how seen and recognised by touch? 
If bread, — how hath it from on high come here? 
If God, — how view it and not die with fear?” 
Mepicus. 
Hull. 
Replies ta fMinor Ruertes. 
The Oldest Insurance Newspaper (24 §, i. 445.) 
— The account is, I believe, correct. It may be 
well, however, to continue the history of these in- 
surance papers. In 1716 the Sun Fire Office 
“resolved to give their subscribers, for the future, 
a Quarterly Book, instead of their Weekly News- 
paper,” and the reasons for the change are set 
forth in the Introduction to the first volume of 
the new work — The Historical Register for the 
year 1716 — published in 1717. This Historical 
Register is one of our most useful works of re- 
ference. It was annually published for many 
years, —down at least to 1736. In 1724 it was 
resolved to publish two volumes, which should in- 
