The old fable tells us how Leander nightly swam the Hellespont to visit his beloved Hero, and how the Siren, whose jealousy had been awakened, caused a storm to arise in which Leander was drowned. The demigoddess of the sea now mourns over the destruction which she caused:

" There he lies, his head across my knee,

And lips more chilly than the chilly waves.

She says 'tis love hath bribed her to this deed,

The glancing of his eyes did so bewitch her;

Oh, bootless theft ! unprofitable meed !

Love's treasury is sack'd, but she no richer."

Such briefly is the story which the sculptor has taken for the subject of his group. The drowned Leander lies with nerveless limbs, supported by his destroyer, who now gazes with agonized and repentant eyes on the wreck that she has made. The complete lesion of the muscles in the male figure is admirably rendered, without destroying its symmetry, or diminishing the idea of strength, which when living, must have animated the bold swimmer. The grouping also is well managed, so that neither figure is likely to overbalance the other in the attention of the spectator. The title implies connection with the legend, and" suggests an explanation of the meaning of the work; but even without this assistance, the motive could not easily be misconstrued. The year of its exhibition at the Royal Academy, the group was one of the most prominent objects of the collection.