Now, as I am quite sure no one else will take this view of what is the principal interest in your glorious procession of youth and hope, I thought it as well to let you know, that you might give that little panther his due importance (a little leopard, I think he is), and not suppose him a subordinate accessory! That whole procession was tinged with mournfulness in Richard Norton's eyes for that little leopard's sake. I shall see that "Dream of Fair Women" again in the Exhibition, and admire it, as I did to-day, in a crowd of other admirers, I know. I do not mind the crowd. I see over them and under them, and through them, when there is anything so worth being eager about.--Believe me meanwhile, yours very truly, CAROLINE NORTON. [2] In a letter from Leighton to his mother, the following sentence occurs:--"Will you please explain to him" (his father) "that I am not going to model the _drapery_ of my figures, but the _figures themselves_ to lay the drapery on, as my models could not fly sufficiently long for me to draw them in the act; it is of course a very great delay, but the result will amply make up for the extra trouble, I hope." [3] The picture has left the country, but sketches of the complete design are among those in the Leighton House Collection. [4] Lent by Lady Wantage to the Exhibition, in Leighton House, of the smaller works and sketches in 1903. [5] _Outlook_, July 15th, 1905. [6] When standing with me before Leighton's picture "Wedded" in the studio Robert Browning exclaimed, "I find a poetry in that man's work I can find in no other." [7] "The Late Lord Acton." _The Spectator_, July 5, 1902. CHAPTER I FIRST STUDIO IN LONDON 1859-1863 In 1858 Leighton was represented on the Royal Academy walls by two pictures, "The Fisherman and the Syren"--a subject from Goethe's ballad, "Half drew she him, Half sunk he in, And never more was seen"-- and by a scene from "Romeo and Juliet," both small canvases painted in Rome and in Paris.[8] Leighton at this time received an encouraging letter from Robert Fleury, from whom he had learned much:-- Que parlez vous de reconnaissance, mon cher Monsieur Leighton? de l'amitié je le veux bien, et je reçois, à ce titre seulement, le dessin que vous m'avez envoyé. Ne me suis je pas fait plaisir en vous reconnaissant du talent et en vous rendant la justice qui vous est due? si vous m'avez donné l'occasion de vous faire part de ma vieille espérance n'est ce pas une preuve de l'estime que vous faites de mes conseils? Puisque vous m'offrez généreusement votre amitié, je l'accepte de bien bon coeur, et votre petit dessin me restera comme un gracieux souvenir de vous. ROBERT FLEURY. PARIS, _le 18 Mars 1858_.