stood slightly aloof from him, and before long in certain obscurantist
circles cautious hints of latitudinarianism were murmured against him.
For these mumblings there was absolutely no sort of foundation.[32]
As might be inferred from the simple fact that he was afterwards
chosen to be the first editor of St. Theresa's works, Luis de Leon was
the most orthodox of men. His selection for this piece of work may
have been due to the influence of the saint's friend and successor,
Madre Ana de Jesús, who had the highest opinion of him.[33] But it was
not often that he produced so favourable a personal impression; he had
not mastered the gentle art of ingratiation; it is even conceivable
that he did not strictly observe St. Paul's injunction to 'suffer
fools gladly'.[34] Though fundamentally humble-minded, he was
intolerant of what he thought to be nonsense: a quality which would
perhaps not endear him to all his colleagues. He set a proper value on
himself and his attainments; he was prone to sift the precious metal
of truth from the dross of uninformed assertion; he had an incurable
habit of choosing his friends from amongst those who shared his
tastes. A good Hebrew scholar, he was on terms of special intimacy
with Gaspar de Grajal and with Martin Martinez de Cantalapiedra,[35]
respectively Professors of Biblical Exegesis and of Hebrew in the
University of Salamanca. Frank to the verge of indiscretion and
suspecting no evil, Luis de Leon scattered over Salamanca fagots each
of which contained innumerable sticks that his opponents used later to
beat him with. Lastly, he had the misfortune, as it proved later, to
differ profoundly on exegetical points from a veteran Professor of
Latin, Rhetoric, and Greek.[36] This was Leon de Castro, a man of
considerable but unassimilated learning, an astute wire-puller and
incorrigible reactionary whose name figures in the bibliographies as
the author of a series of commentaries on Isaiah--a performance which
has not been widely read since its tardy first appearance in 1571. The