cygnet necks and full pomegranate lips. He is a child of
nature, whose verse is free from all artificial inspiration or
expression, and seems to flow easily, clearly, and tenderly from his
pen. Some of it errs in being too fanciful. In the Flower-Songs, indeed,
he sometimes becomes trivial in his comparison of each English poet to a
special flower; but his poetry is usually sincere with an undercurrent
of pathos, as in 'The Ruined Chapel,' 'The Winter Pear,' and the 'Song.'
For lightness of touch and aerial grace, 'The Bubble' will bear
comparison with any verse of its own _genre_. 'Robin Redbreast' has many
delightful lines; and in 'The Fairies' one is taken into the realm of
Celtic folklore, which is Allingham's inheritance, where the Brownies,
the Pixies, and the Leprechauns trip over the dew-spangled meadows, or
dance on the yellow sands, and then vanish away in fantastic mists.
Quite different is 'Lovely Mary Donnelly,' which is a sample of the
popular songs that made him a favorite in his own country.

After his death at Hampstead in 1889, his body was cremated according to
his wish, when these lines of his own were read:--

"Body to purifying flame,
Soul to the Great Deep whence it came,
Leaving a song on earth below,
An urn of ashes white as snow."

THE RUINED CHAPEL

By the shore, a plot of ground
Clips a ruined chapel round,
Buttressed with a grassy mound;
Where Day and Night and Day go by
And bring no touch of human sound.

Washing of the lonely seas,
Shaking of the guardian trees,
Piping of the salted breeze;
Day and Night and Day go by
To the endless tune of these.

Or when, as winds and waters keep
A hush more dead than any sleep,
Still morns to stiller evenings creep,
And Day and Night and Day go by;
Here the silence is most deep.

The empty ruins, lapsed again
Into Nature's wide domain,
Sow themselves with seed and grain
As Day and Night and Day go by;
And hoard June's sun and April's rain.

Here fresh funeral tears were shed;
Now the graves are also dead;
And suckers from the ash-tree spread,
While Day and Night and Day go by;
And stars move calmly overhead.

From 'Day and Night Songs.'

THE WINTER PEAR

Is always Age severe?
Is never Youth austere?
Spring-fruits are sour to eat;