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Caracas in 1696; it became a university in 1721.
According to some accounts the printing press was
not set up in Venezuela until after the beginning of
the nineteenth century. But already her great man
in the world of scholarship and letters had made his
appearance: Andres Bello was born at Caracas in
1781, two j'ears before Boli\'ar. He early began to
teach the humanities and philosophy. In 1810 he
was sent to London, on a mission to the British
Government, which the rebellious colonies desired to
gain over to their interests. He remained there
nineteen years, devoting himself in part to literary
pursuits and founding two reviews, the "Biblioteca
americana" and the "Repertorio americano". Then
he left England to pass the rest of his life in Chile,
the Government of which had called him to a post in
the ministry of foreign aifairs. He reorganized the
University of Chile, of which he was made rector, and
he did great service to the land by preparing an edi-
tion of its CivU Code. He died "in 1865. In 1881
the Government began to publish his "Obras corn-
pletas". His most finished literary production is
the masterly "Silva & la agricultura de la Zona T6rri-
da", a Georgic celebrating the beauties of external
nature in tropical America and urging his fellow-citi-
zens to engage in agricultural piu-suits. As a result
of this work Bello ranks high among the imitators of
Virgil; in the purity of its Spanish diction it has never
been surpassed; in poetic force it is on the whole
evenly maintained. A leading place among his other
poetical compositions is occupied by the sonnet "A
la victoria de BaUen". His versions of the "Orlando
innamorato" of Boiardo, and of different poems of
BjTon and Hugo (especially of the "Priere pour
tous" of the last-named) are much admired. Not his
least title to the admu-ation and gratitude of the
Spanish-speaking peoples is his "Gramiitica caste-
liana", first published at Santiago de Chile in 1847,
still the most important of all Spanish grammars, es-
pecially in the revised form of it prepared by R. J.
Cuervo. For his investigations into Spanish prosody
and for his scholarly edition of the old Spanish " Poema
del Cid" he will always be remembered favourably.
The names of the more recent Venezuelan authors pale greatly in the light of BeUo's. Rafael Maria Baralt (1810-60), who prepared an "Historia de la Repiiblica de Venezuela" and a useful "Diccionario de galicismos", passed over to Spain, where he was made a member of the Academy. Like him there also went to Spain, where he rose to the position of a general in the army, Antonio Ros de Olano (1802- 87) ; Ros de Olano found time to produce some roman- tic writings, particularly his "Poeslas" (Madrid, 1886) and several novels. Among the minor writers belong: Jose Heriberto Garcia de Quevedo (1819-71), Abigail Lozano (1821-66), Jos6 Antonio Maitin (1804-74), Eloy Escobar (1824-89), and Jose Ram6n Y^pez (1822-81). As verse translators there have gained attention Jose Perez Bonalde (1846-92), with a version of Heine, and Miguel Sdnchez Pesquera, with one of part of Moore's "Lalla Rookh".
Chile. — A predominance of the practical sense over the imagination has greatly hindered the development of belles-lettres in Chile, which from first to last has been one of the least disturbed politically among the South American states and has been able to pursue rather calmly an even tenor of way. A profound re- spect for science and the didactic arts seems charac- teristic of the peoi)le of Chile. The history of real hterature in the land begins with the epic, "La Arau- cana",of Alonso de Ercilla in the sixteenth century, but that work, since it was com))lefed by its author in Spain, is u.sually treated under the head of the litera- ture of Spain. On the model of Ereilla's poem a Chilian, Pedro de Ofia, began, but did not finish, although it has 16,000 lines, his "Arauco domado" (Lima, 1596), in virtue of which he is the first native
author in Chile. To the life and customs of the Arau-
canian Indians, already treated by Ercilla and Oiia,
Francisco Nimez de Pineda (1607-82) devoted himself
in his poems and above all in his "Cautiverio feliz".
Much history writing of a serious nature followed these early attempts at an epic rendering of actual historical happenings, and no poets of greater im- portance than Oiia and Niinez de Pineda appeared during colonial times. On the other hand, periodical literature flourished. In 1820 a theatre was set up for the purpo.se of providing an espejo de virtud y ncio, i. e. for purely didactic ends. The dramatic htera- ture provided therefore was of slight account. Among the dramatists was Camilo Henriquez (1769-1825), whose pieces represent the pedantic tendencies. Some stimulus to general culture and to the study of the humanities, philosophy, and law was given by the coming to Santiago in 1828 of the Spanish litterateur Jose Joaquin de Mora, and of the Venezuelan Andres Bello in 1829. In 1824 there was started the periodi- cal "El Semanario de Santiago", in the management of which there collaborated many young men of let- ters; it led to the establishment of other hterary journals. In 1843 the LTniversity of Santiago de Chile was inaugurated officially with Bello as its rector. In the fifth decade of the nineteenth cen- tury the French and Spanish dramas of romantic im- port invaded the theatre. The ^Titers of the middle and second half of the century have not been pre- eminent in ability as regards hterary creation. These may be listed, however: Dona Mercedes Marin del Solar (1810-66); Herm6genes de Irisarri, for his verse translations of French and Italian poets; Eusebio Lillo; Guillermo Blest Gana; Eduardo de la Barra, both poet and prosodist; etc. Among those culti- vating the novel is Alberto Blest Gana. Of the scholars engaged in historical study and publication during the nineteenth century the more notable are: Jose Victoriana Lastunia (1817-88); Miguel Luis de Amundtegui (1828-S.Si; Benjamin Vicuna Mackenna (1831-86); and Jo.se Tonbio Medina.
Argentine Republic. — Literary culture developed later in Argentina than in most of the other states for the obvious reason that it was colonized later than the others. From the colonial period there comes but one work deserving of mention, and its literary value is scant; it is the "Argentina y conquista de la Plata" (1602) of the Spaniard Martin del Barco Centenera. ]NIuch patriotic verse of mediocre value was called forth by the British attack upon Buenos Aires in the first decade of the nineteenth century. During the revolutionary period there came to the fore a number of neo-classicists such as: Vicente L6pez Planes (1784- 1856), who wrote the Argentina national hymn; Es- teban Luca (1786-1824); and Juan Cruz Varela (1794-1839), who was both a lyric poet and a drama- tist. The first great poet of the Argentine Repubhc was Esteban Echeverria (1805-81), who was educated at the L'niversity of Paris and, returning thence in 1830, introduced romanticism directly from France. Of his various compositions "La cautiva" is full of local colour and distinctively American. Ventura de la \ ega (1807-65) was born in Buenos Aires, but he spent most of his fife in Spain and his admirable dramas are claimed by the mother coimtry. To the authors of the earlier period of independence there belong: Juan Maria Gutierrez (1809-78), a good liter- ary critic; Claudio Mamerto Cuenca (1812-66); and Jose Marmol (1818-71 ), who jiroduced some verse and also the best of Argentine novels, his "Amalia". In the language of the gauclios or cow-boys of the Rio de la Plata district, there has been published by Josd Ferndndez a collection of songs in "romances", en- titled "Martin Fierro" (1872). These are very pop- ular. In the .second half of the ninetiMTilh century the poets of prime importance have been \nilrade and Obhgado. Olegario Victor Andrade (1838-82), the
