The other is of a somewhat fanciful description. I have imagined one of the three holy kings, when he sees the Star in the East from the battlements of his palace. The picture is curious and open to much fault-finding, but I think it will please you by a certain poetry in the conception. The shape is long and narrow. The king, half life-size, almost turns his back upon the spectator, and is, in the midst of the dark night, only lit by the mystic rays of the Star. In contrast to this pure light one sees, quite at the bottom, through an arch, into the hot lamp-light, which illuminates a gay orgy. I have allowed myself a certain amount of pictorial licence, which may well surprise the general spectator at first glance, but which to me heightens the poetical impression of the whole. Five other pictures are smaller, and three of the subjects are idyllic or fanciful (_e.g._ a shepherd playing on a flute, an Oriental girl with a swan, &c. &c.), all carried out with great love, and certainly my best works. At present I am busy making studies for a large wall painting (the "Wise and Foolish Virgins"), which I am giving to a church. I shall execute it this summer, and tell you more about it. Now, my dear Friend, I have given you a long and full report of myself; I hope you also will tell me what you are doing. I am very anxious to know how the Cologne frescoes get on. How I should like to see them! PERHAPS I may manage it this autumn. In the meantime, however, write to me, and believe me to be, your devoted pupil, FRED LEIGHTON. [Illustration: PORTRAIT FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF LORD LEIGHTON TAKEN IN 1863] _April 1863, Saturday._ DEAREST MAMMA,--You have seen in the papers that the Review at Brighton went off capitally. I enjoyed my day very much, and though I was a _little_ tired and _very_ sleepy for two days after, was altogether the better for it. It was a stiff day's work too--nine or ten hours without sitting down, and with the additional responsibility of having the command of the Artists' Company. I was sure you would be pleased at the reception of my "Fruit Girl"[29] by my brother artists--you must understand, though, that this applies chiefly to the younger men (and not to _all_ of _them_), for there are several of the older painters who strongly object to my style of painting and are bent on suppressing it. Will you thank Papa for his hint about the _Athenæum_--I am pretty sure he is mistaken about it, but I shall take measures about it--indeed I _have_.