In 1881, the seventh year after my father's death, I began to collect the materials with which his biography, if thereafter required, might be constructed. He had died in his 59th year. Many who had known him in youth long survived him, and were, at the time to which I refer, readily accessible. His aunt, Mrs Glasscock, his senior by only thirteen years, was still living and could tell me of his childhood. His early friends, Davison and Macfarren, the one orally, the other in writing, recounted, with loving interest, their reminiscences of his student days. The extent of their aid, and of the aid given by others who have long since passed away, will, I hope, manifest itself in the following pages, wherein, I believe, the sources of these old memories are, in almost all cases, clearly shown.