Another fact that is worth mentioning is the way in which a remarkable friendship grew up between these two men. It was not entirely due to common interests in life or a similar outlook; it seems rather to have grown gradually, each man finding that the tastes of the other interested him and were worth acquiring. For instance, Southwell's idea of music at the time was musical comedy; White introduced him to Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and there was an amusing discussion one night when Southwell complained bitterly that 'no one had told him of these men before', whilst he was wasting his time at Oxford with musical comedy music. But with his extraordinary powers he went into the subject thoroughly, as his notes on the St. Matthew Passion shew; and incidentally his piano-playing improved in the most remarkable way.