h
the Graeco-Latin classical spirit. His prosody nears
perfection; but is marred by an occasional abuse of
verbal endings in rime, and the inadvertent employment of
assonance where there should be none, a fault common to
most of the earlier Spanish-American poets. Olmedo's
greatest poem is _La victoria de Junin_, which is filled
with sweet-sounding phrases and beautiful images, but
is logically inconsistent and improbable. Even page 299
Bolivar, the "Libertador," censured Olmedo in a letter for
using the _machina_ of the appearance at night before the
combined Colombian and Peruvian armies of Huaina-Capac the
Inca, "showing himself to be a talkative mischief-maker
where he should have been lighter than ether, since
he comes from heaven," and instead of desiring the
restoration of the Inca dynasty, preferring "strange
intruders who, though avengers of his blood, are
descendants of those who destroyed his empire."

The _Canto al general Flores_ is considered by some
critics to be the poet's most finished work, though of
less substance and inspiration than _La victoria de
Junin_. This General Flores was a successful revolutionary
leader during the early days of the Republic; and he
was later as bitterly assailed by Olmedo as he is here
praised. Of a different type is the philosophic poem, _A
un amigo en el nacimiento de su primogenito_, which is
filled with sincere sympathy and deep meditation as to the
future. With the coming of middle age Olmedo's poetic
vein had apparently been exhausted, and the Peruvian bard
Felipe Pardo addressed to him an ode in which he sought,
though to no avail, to stimulate the older poet to renewed
activity (_Poesias_, Valparaiso, 1848, Paris, 1853;
_Poesias ineditas_, Lima, 1861).

For a time after Olmedo's muse had become mute, little
verse of merit was produced in Ecuador. Gabriel Garcia
Moreno (1821-1875), once president of the Republic and a
champion of Catholicism, wrote a few strong satires in
the style of Jovellanos. Dolores Veintemilla de Galindo
(1831-1857), who committed suicide on account of domestic
infelicity, left a short poem, _Quejas_, which is unique
in the older Spanish-American literature by reason of its
frank confession of feeling. The reflexive and didactic
poet Numa P. Llona (1832-___) was the author of passionate
outpourings of doubt and despair after the fashion of
Byron and Leopardi (_Poesias_, Paris, 1870; page 300
_Cantos