JOSÉ FRANCISCO DE ISLA

JOSÉ FRANCISCO DE ISLA (1703-1781), a Spanish Jesuit, celebrated as a preacher and a humorist and satirist of the stamp of Cervantes; his principal work "Friar Gerund," a satire on the charlatanism and bombast of the popular preaching friars of the day, as Don Quixote was on the false chivalry; the friars he satirised were too strong for him, and he was expelled from Spain, retired to Italy, and died at Bologna in extreme poverty.