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Allingham nevertheless soon withdrawn, and his next venture, 'Day and Night Songs' (1854, London, 8vo), though reproducing many of the early poems, was on a much more restricted scale. Its decided success justified the publication of a second edition next year, with the addition of a new title-piece, 'The Music Master,' an idyllic poem which had appeared in the volume of 1850, but had undergone so much refashioning as to have become almost a new work. A second series of 'Day and Night Songs' was also added. The volume was enriched by seven very beautiful wood-cuts after designs by Arthur Hughes, as well as one by Millais and one by Rossetti, which rank among the finest examples of the work of these artists in book illustration. Allingham was at this time on very intimate terms with Rossetti, whose letters to him, the best that Rossetti ever wrote, were published by Dr. Birkbeck Hill in the 'Atlantic Monthly' for 1896. Allingham afterwards dedicated a volume of his collected works to the memory of Rossetti, 'whose friendship brightened many years of my life, and whom I never can forget.' Many of the poems in this collection obtained a wide circulation through Irish hawkers as broadside halfpenny ballads. On 18 June 1864 he obtained a pension of 60l. on the civil list, and this was augmented to 100l. on 21 Jan. 1870.

In 1863 Allingham was transferred from Ballyshannon, where he had again officiated since 1856, to the customs house at Lymington. In the preceding year he had edited 'Nightingale Valley' (reissued in 1871 as 'Choice Lyrics and short Poems; or, Nightingale Valley'), a choice selection of English lyrics; in 1864 he edited 'The Ballad Book' for the 'Golden Treasury' series, and in the same year appeared 'Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland,' a poem of considerable length in the heroic couplet, evincing careful study of Goldsmith and Crabbe, and regarded by himself as his most important work. It certainly was the most ambitious, and its want of success with the public can only be ascribed to the inherent difficulty of the subject. The efforts of Laurence Bloomfield, a young Irish landlord returned to his patrimonial estate after an English education and a long minority to raise the society to which he comes to the level of the society he has left, form a curious counterpart to the author's own efforts to exalt a theme, socially of deep interest, to the region of poetry. Neither Laurence Bloomfield nor Allingham is quite successful, but neither is entirely unsuccessful, and the attempt was worth making in both instances. The poem remains the epic of Irish philanthropic landlordism, and its want of stirring interest is largely redeemed by its wealth of admirable description, both of man and nature. Turgeneff said, after reading it, 'I never understood Ireland before.' Another reprint from 'Fraser' was the 'Rambles of Patricius Walker,' lively accounts of pedestrian tours, which appeared in book form in 1873. In 1865 he published 'Fifty Modern Poems,' six of which had appeared in earlier collections. The most important of the remainder are pieces of local or national interest. Except for 'Songs, Ballads, and Stories' (1877), chiefly reprints, and an occasional contribution to the 'Athenæum,' he printed little more verse until the definitive collection of his poetical works in six volumes (1888–93); this edition included 'Thought and Word,' 'An Evil May-Day: a religious poem' which had previously appeared in a limited edition, and 'Ashley Manor' (an unacted play), besides an entire volume of short aphoristic poems entitled 'Blackberries,' which had been previously published in 1884.

In 1870 Allingham retired from the civil service, and removed to London as sub-editor (under James Anthony Froude [q. v. Suppl.] of 'Fraser's Magazine,' to which he had long been a contributor. Four years later he succeeded Froude as editor, and on 22 Aug. 1874 he married Miss Helen Paterson {b. 1848), eldest child of Dr. Alexander Henry Paterson, known under her wedded name as a distinguished water-colour painter. He conducted the magazine with much ability until the commencement, in 1879, of a new and shortlived series under the editorship of Principal Tulloch. His editorship was made memorable by the publication in the magazine of Carlyle's 'Early Kings of Norway,' given to him as a mark of regard by Carlyle, whom he frequently visited, and of whose conversation he has preserved notes which it may be hoped will one day be published. After the termination of his connection with 'Fraser,' lie took up his residence, in 1881, at Witley, in Surrey, whence in 1888 he removed to Hampstead with a view to the education of his children. His health was already much impaired by the effiects of a fall from horseback, and he died about a year after his settlement at Lyndhurst Road, Hampstead, on 18 Nov. 1889. His remains were cremated at Woking.

Though not ranking among the foremost of his generation, Allingham, when at his best, is an excellent poet, simple, clear, and graceful, with a distinct though not obtrusive individuality. His best work is concentrated in his 'Day and Night Songs'