PREFACE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY DRAWN UP BY THOMAS WILLIAM ALLIES IN 1878. THOMAS WILLIAM ALLIES. I was born February 12, 1813, in a parish of Somersetshire, where my father was then curate in the Anglican Church. He was of a family originally seated at Northfield in Worcestershire, where in deeds of 1368 it is mentioned, and where a considerable extent of land is still called by the name Allies. My father afterwards lived at Bristol and Clifton. I went to the Grammar School of Bristol, but left it in 1826, and by my own choice was sent to Eton in April, 1827, when just fourteen. I only stayed there two years, having gone up to Oxford in June, 1828, to try for a scholarship at Wadham College, which I succeeded in obtaining. Though I returned to Eton, yet as I was matriculated in November, 1828, at Oxford, this necessitated my going into residence in the following spring. In that year the Duke of Newcastle had founded an annual scholarship for Eton College, the first trial for which came on in March, 1829. I was fortunate enough to obtain this scholarship, and so began my life at Oxford in April, 1829. I took my degree in 1832, gaining a |