cannot be known without studying with pen in hand." Overcoming racial discrimination, he graduated from medical school on July 10, 1767, and shortly afterwards graduated in jurisprudence and canon law (having studied law under Dr. Ramón Yépez from 1780 to 1793). On August 14, 1772, he asked for permission to practice medicine in Quito, and it was granted on November 28, 1772. After that, no information exists about Espejo's whereabouts until 1778, when he wrote a somewhat polemical sermon. Activities in the Royal Audiencia Work as a polemicist Between 1772 and 1779, Espejo provoked the colonial authorities, who regarded him as responsible for several satirical and mocking posters. These posters were attached to the doors of churches and other buildings, and their anonymous author tended to attack the colonial authorities, the clergy or any other subject he deemed convenient. Although no surviving posters have been found, evidence from comments Espejo made in his writings suggests that he wrote them. In 1779, a reproachful and satirical manuscript was circulated, the El nuevo Luciano de Quito (The New Lucian of Quito), signed by "don Javier de Cía, Apéstegui y Perochena," a pseudonym for Espejo. This work imitated the satire of Lucian, and was especially unsympathetic to the Jesuits. It showed the culture of its author, who lived in the isolated and intellectually backward city of Quito. El Nuevo Luciano de Quito was written in dialogues, in order to present his ideas to the common people in an easy way, instead of using tedious explanations meant for scholars. It satirized the many defects of the society of Quito, especially the corruption of the colonial authorities and the people's lack of education. The use of a pseudonym, a common practice in Europe and the Americas during the Age of Enlightenment, was important to Espejo. Not only did it provide anonymity, it attempted to remove any hint of his crossbreeding in a culture which granted any white person importance and prestige. His pseudonym implied that he had white or European relatives in his mother's lineage. Beginning in 1779, Espejo continued writing satires against the government of the Audiencia, stirred by the condition of society. In June 1780, Espejo wrote Marco Porcio Catón (Marcus Porcius Cato), Once again, Espejo used a pseudonym, "Moisés Blancardo." In this work, a parodied censor's response to the Nuevo Luciano, he scorned the notions and ideas of its critics. In 1781