Among other verse-makers who obtained a certain local celebrity Padre López was especially noted. He was a Dominican friar, and was known as a wit and an improvisator, but very naturally, having gained this reputation, many sayings were attributed to him for which he was not answerable; yet an attempt has been made to attach to him the designation of the Chilean Quevedo. Most of his productions that have survived are occasional satirical pieces; in fact, the serious things of life seem not to have come within the field of his vision. He was a pronounced enemy of the Jesuits but a welcome participant in meetings pervaded by a spirit of revelry. Another ecclesiastic, Padre Escudero, a Franciscan, wrote much in the same vein as Padre López, and showed no more inclination than López to abide by the regulations that are supposed to control the conduct of monks. [Sidenote: Minor poets] In the last quarter of the eighteenth century appeared a number of poems narrating events that had made an impression on the public mind. Those narrating in metrical form the tale of thieves asphyxiated in their attempt to carry off the treasures of a mine, the death of Bishop Alday, and the destructive flood of the Mapocho in 1780 are chiefly noteworthy by reason of having been remembered by the people, thus magnifying and immortalizing their subjects. There is also manifest at this time a tendency to invent new forms of verse in which to express commonplace thoughts. To these late years of the century belong also the satirical verses of Fernández Ortelano, issued under the title: _Ensalada poética jocoseria_.[217] With the spiritual awakening and the extension of education among the creoles it was to be expected that many persons would essay poetic flights; still the most important intellectual tendencies were along political, not poetical, lines. Whatever ideas came from other nations, from North America or from France, tended to arouse the people to practical action rather than to stimulate their poetic fancies. The poets were distinctly minor poets: Jerónimo Hurtado de Mendoza, Antonio Campusano. [Sidenote: Ecuadorian poets]