The octo-syllabic metre in which the drama is written was also used by Spanish dramatists, and, consequently, according to General Mitré, the drama of _Ollantay_ was written by a Spaniard. But it is also a native Peruvian metre. The ancient song given by Garcilasso de la Vega, though printed in lines of four syllables, is really octo-syllabic. These eight-syllable lines are composed with great facility in many languages, and are natural to the Quichua, most of the ancient songs in the collection of Dr. Justiniani being octo-syllabic. Consequently, though also used in Spanish literature, they do not therefore indicate a Spanish origin. The greater part of General Mitré’s argument amounts to little more than this. There is a river in Macedon, and there is a river in Monmouth, therefore Macedon and Monmouth are the same place. It is a very old argument, but it has never been looked upon as conclusive. The General’s theory requires an unknown Spanish author living in the eighteenth century, and writing in the Quichua language, of portentous erudition, who borrowed his ideas from the Pentateuch, the Song of Solomon, Homer, Tacitus, Herodotus, Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Mrs. Ratcliffe, and the ballads of the Cid; and who yet excluded the most distant allusion to Christianity or to anything Spanish. He could not have been a priest, for we possess Quichua plays composed by Spanish priests, and they are entirely and radically different from _Ollantay_, containing, as was inevitable, constant allusions to Christianity, and none to the classic authors of antiquity. Yet the imaginary author must have known Quichua perfectly, in its earliest and most archaic form, and have been versed in all the plays upon words and double meanings used by initiated natives. It may safely be affirmed that no such prodigy ever existed in the eighteenth century, and, consequently, the General’s theory falls to pieces like a house of cards. At the same time, General Mitré has done good service to literature by the publication of this elaborate criticism. Every argument that the ingenuity of an accomplished scholar could bring forward against the authenticity of _Ollantay_ has been adduced. Quichua students now know all that can possibly be said against the antiquity of the play, and they know that what is not based on incorrect readings, is far-fetched and fanciful. The former considerations which led them to the conclusion that most of the dialogues and songs dated from the time of the Yncas, remain in full force, unshaken by anything General Mitré has written. The new points he has raised, prove to be either based on corrupt readings, or to be of no validity in themselves.