The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-15 00:00:00

"Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping altogether ;
Green jacket, red cap,
And grey-cock's feather !"
Perhaps the two loveliest stanzas in the whole col-
lection of these " Day and Night Songs" are those
in the poem already mentioned as " The 'Wayside
Well," and. to the music of which we remember to
have first listened through the pages of Household
Words :
" Fair the greeting face ascends,
Like a naiad daughter,
When the peasant lassie bends
To thy trembling water.
" When a kiddie brings her pail
Down the twilight meadow,
Tender falls the whisper'd tale,
Soft the double shadow !"
Mr. Allingham is seldom, if ever, happy in his
refrains. He has not the ear of music or the gift
of judgment, for which Berangor is so wondrously
remarkable. The " refrain"' for example to the song
of the "Milkmaid" becomes, before the close of the
third verse, intolerably monotonous. Occasionally,
moreover, our young poet has the fashionable vice of
young poets nowadays that of obscurity but
generally, let us say, however, in justice, his
lucidity is in the highest degree commendable.
Whatever faults he has, nevertheless (and of these
faults some have been here indicated), they are
almost all of them faults readily admitting of refor-
mation. That he can so reform them we are no
less satisfied than we are convinced that his contem-
porary, Mr. Coventry Patmore, has already shown
himself capable of improvement. Commending
him to the development of his undoubted powers,
therefore, commending him earnestly to that " la-
bour of love," we would bid farewell for a while to
Mr. Allingliam, with an acknowledged interest in
his progress, as among the latter class of those
friends of his to whom the little volume before us is
thus dedicated—
" To my friends, known and unknown
with our acknowledged interest we say, as among
his " unknown friends," in looking forward to the
more mature growth of the young poet's budding
reputation.

Aucklap nd : the Capital of New Zealand. With
Ma from recent Surveys. Smith, Elder, and

Co:
Enticingly are the holy words inscribed upon th e
title-page "This land is full of silver and gold, neither
is there any end of these treasures"--a glorious motto
for the title-page of this history of Auckland, with
a view of Auckland opposite as the befitting fron-
tispiece. Altogether, this volume is very remark-
able. It deserves the most earnest ex anuna.tion,as
the carefully-arranged and scrupulously im-
partial narrative of the rise of a very noble
colony—the advance of its populatiou from
uncertain fortune to prospective affluence. it con-
sists, of course, as the title indicates, principally of
a description of the capital of New Zealand —the
mushroom metropolis of the little empire grovra
almost, one might say, in a night, though not des-
tined, it would seem, to pass away quite as quic2cly
as it sprang into existence—the remote city of
Auckland. Besides the account of Auckland, hoar-
ever, the work describes the country adjacent, anus.
includes likewise a number of interesting particu-
lars in reference to the gold discovery in New Zea-
land. Although the book issues from the press
anonymously, we are given to understand that it
is the production of one qualified to write upon
the subject from his own experience—one who is
himself a resident at Auckland—Mr. William
Swainson, the naturalist. To Mr. Swainson all
those who are interested in the future of Auckland,
the probable advance of New Zealand as one of the
most important of our southern colonies, will find
themselves, on a perusal of his volume, indebted
for a work replete with information, and fraught
with entertainment. It is the production of con-
siderable industry in the way of continuous obser-
vation—a production in no respect either superfi-
cial in knowledge or disjointed in arrangement.
[ Mr. Swainson has here in these eight chapters and
an appendix contributed abundant materials for
. the future annalist of Oceania.

CRONSTADT.—We understand that a clergyman of ths
Church of England, who left this town (Norwich) some
year or two silica and settled in St. Petersburg, has just
returned, and imparted some rather important informs•
tion to the Admiralty respecting the position and re•
sources of Cronstadt. We believe his opinion is most
decidedly that that place is pregnable, more especially
from one point with which ho is well acquainted, and,
having formerly been in the British service, his opinion
and judgment must be entitled to some respect. The
rev, gentleman considers also twouhat, however formidable
the
the fortifications may be, y ld, in the event of an
attack, prove more destructive to the defenders than to
the attacking party—being so ill constructed that the
first discharge of the long guns would utterly destroy
the unfortunates who man them, the smoke being alone
sufficient to suffocate them. The rev. gentleman wall
also able to put the Admiralty in possession of full par-
ticulars of the so-called infernal machines, which, it is
said, consist of cylinders charged with powder and com-
bustibles, sunk beneath the surface of the water and
floated by a buoy, and upon a collision with the ship's
bottom will explode, with what effect may be imagi4ed*
—Norfolk aro/tick.