Some of his lyrics, with their "light grace, their sparkling wit and their airy philosophy", were described in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica as "equal to anything of their kind in modern English".

He was educated at a private school, and after some years spent as mathematics master at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, he relocated to London.

Soon after his second marriage, to Frances Collins in 1868, he settled at Knowl Hill, Berkshire and from this time he rarely left his home for a day and published several novels.

[2][3] His funeral was attended by many literary friends, including Tom Taylor, the editor of Punch, the novelist R. D. Blackmore, and the poets Frederick Locker and R H Horne.

A second volume of lyrics, The Inn of Strange Meetings, was issued in 1871; and in 1872 he produced his longest and best sustained poem, The British Birds, a communication from the Ghost of Aristophanes.