In these days when it is, perhaps, not considered impolitic or impolite unblushingly to vaunt one's wares, the invitation graciously conveyed by the Council of this Association to me, as the compiler of the work entitled “The King's Musick,” to say some few words regarding my literary first-born, did not so much startle me as it might have done in my salad days. Still, it is not an easy task to preserve an even balance when speaking of one's own particular efforts, and the only efficient way is to assume to a large extent the position of one looking at the book from a perfectly unprejudiced point of view, such as a member of the outside public can alone possess.