ISLA, JOSE FRANCISCO DE ( Spanish sati rist and Jesuit, first showed his gifts in the Triunfo del amor y de la lealtad: Die Grande de Navarra, a satirical description of the ceremonies at Pamplona in honour of Ferdinand VI.'s accession ; its sly humour so far escaped the victims that they thanked the writer for his appreciation of their local efforts, but the true significance of the work was discovered shortly afterwards, and the protests were so violent that Isla was transferred by his supe riors to another district. He gained a great reputation as an ef fective preacher, and his posthumous Sermones morales (1792 93) justify his fame in this respect. His position in the history
of Spanish literature is due to his Historic del famoso predicador fray Gerundio de Campazas, alias Zotes (1758), a novel which wittily caricatures the bombastic eloquence of pulpit orators in Spain.
See B. Gaudeau, Les Precheurs burlesques en Espagne au XVIlle siecle (1891) ; V. Cian, L'Immigrazione dei Gesuiti spagnuoli letterati in Italia (Torino, 1895).