Rise and Progress of Englsh Poetry. 322 
gives off inflammable vapour, or, in other words, if it affords 
an explosive mixture below 100 degrees Fahrenheit. But 
with which of the above-named classes of the trade will 
this reform begin? Who will find it to his interest to dis- 
card his old standard of 100 degrees as the temperature 
below which the oil itself should not ignite, and adopt in- 
stead the higher standard just given? Perhaps the Com- 
mittee of the Petroleum Association will bring about this 
reform, and thus ensure safety to the public? If the trade 
will not help the consumer, possibly the excise, the press, 
or Parliament will take the matter up? If neither comes 
to the rescue, we must put up with an occasional explosion 
and its attendant fright, fire, or loss of life, or else leave off 
burning these valuble oils altogether. 
17 Bloomsbury Square, London. 
THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF BRITISH 
POETRY. 
BY HUNTINGDON BOYLE, M.A. 
(Continued from page 296.) 
E now come to notice the productions of one of 
whom it may with the utmost verity be remarked 
that no event, perhaps, conspired to render the reign of 
Elizabeth at once conspicuous, if not glorious in history, his 
birth would alone have done so. The birth of Shakespere, 
the immortal Swan of Avon, gavea literary lustre to this 
period of our subject. He was truly Nature’s poet in no 
small degree. No one we are convinced, probed deeper 
into the hidden throes of human impulse than Shakespere 
did. The versatility of whose genius, the depth of whose 
observation are unparalleled; and whether we survey his dra- 
matic productions by our quiet homes, our family hearths, or 
see them surrounded byall the pomp and pageantry of scenic 
effect upon the stage, they carry us back to the times of 
which they treat, enabling us, as it were, to lift the veil o’er 
antecedent ages, and leaving, not merely the imagination, 
but the reality of the past before us. The influence of regal 
patronage did much, the innate genius of the poet did 
more to produce one, of all others, who looked while hold- 
