Autolycus, a seller of trinkets, reciting a list of his wares to women and a shepherd who watch and point to them. Engraving by Lumb Stocks after C.R. Leslie.

"Selected pictures. From the picture in the Sheepshanks gallery. Autolycus. C. R. Leslie, R.A., painter. L. Stocks, A.R.A., engraver. This is the "companion" picture to the 'Florizel and Perdita', of which an engraving was published in our January number. Both were commissions from Mr. Sheepshanks, given a long time before either appeared. This, for example, was projected and partly painted before 1823 ; but it was not exhibited till at least thirteen years after that date, namely, in 1836. Autolycus, 'a rogue', as he is designated in the list of dramatis personae which prefaces the "Winter's Tale", makes his appearance in the play singing a song descriptive of the contents of his pedlar's pack;—"Lawn, as white as driven snow ; / Cyprus, black as e'er was crow; / Gloves, as sweet as damask roses; / Masks for faces, and for noses ; / Bugle bracelet, necklace amber; / Perfume for a lady’s chamber; / Golden quaifs, and stomachers. / For my lads to give their dears ; / Pins, and poking sticks of steel. / What maids lack from head to heel / Come buy of me, come; come buy, come buy, / Come buy, come buy", &c. And thus this "cheap Jack" of ancient Bohemia presents himself before the shepherds and shepherdesses at the door of the old shepherd's cottage. But he is also a vendor of ballads, and knows how to commend his printed wares to his astonished auditors. In Leslie's picture he is puffing off one of a very wonderful character. He holds it in his hand, and describes it as a song "of a fish that appeared upon the coast on Wednesday, the four-score of April, forty thousand fathom above water, and sung this ballad against the hard hearts of maids. It was thought she was a woman, and was turned into a cold fish for she would not exchange flesh with one that loved her. The ballad is very pitiful, and as true." Of its kind, this is one of the best pictures—considered with regard to its various qualities—that Leslie ever painted. Mr. T. Taylor, who edited the 'Autobiography of Leslie', says of it:— "For my own part, I feel this to be, on the whole, the most cheery and 'happy' work of the painter." There is a sunny, out-of-door life about it, which is very charming; a freshness of atmosphere, so to speak, that brightens and exhilarates the animate and inanimate world whereon we look. No signs are here of the chalkiness to be found in so many of the artist's pictures, oftentimes contrasted with black or other heavy-coloured draperies. And then, for expression and character in the figures : Autolycus looks the impersonation of the veriest knave who ever perambulated a country to impose on the rustics brass for gold and glass for jewels. He is not a bad-looking fellow either, and, doubtless, is as honest as, he would tell you, the times and his business will permit; but there is cunning in those twinkling eyes, and in the curl of the lips, and a kind of self-importance in his manner, as if he felt that travel had given him a knowledge of the world. His scarlet high-peaked cap is set somewhat jauntily on the head, and his whole bearing is characterised by an assurance that can scarcely be called "modest". His tale rivets the attention of the clown and the shepherdesses, all but one, who is engrossed by the display of jewellery, &c., and evidently with a very covetable desire."--The art journal, loc. cit.