Dear ----,--Since we are bereft of balls and _soirées_ we devote our time to improving our Italian. Johan and I take lessons of a monsignore who appears precisely at ten every morning. We struggle through some verbs, and then he dives into Dante, the most difficult thing to comprehend in the Italian language. Then he tries to explain it in Italian to us, which is more difficult still. He makes us read aloud to him, during which he folds his hands over his fat stomach and audibly goes to sleep. He will awake with a start and excuse himself, saying that he gets up at five o'clock in the morning for _matines_, and that naturally at eleven he is sleepy; but I think he only pretends to sleep and takes refuge behind his eyelids, in order to ponder over the Italian language as "she is spoke."
Sgambati, the very best composer and pianist in Rome, gives lessons to Nina, who he says has "_molto talento_." Sgambati has a wonderful and sympathetic touch, which is at once velvety and masterful. His gavotte is a _chef-d'oeuvre_. He calls it a gavotte, but I tell him he ought to call it "The Procession of the Cavaliers," because it has such a martial ring to it. It does not in the least resemble a Gavotte Louis XV. I seem to see in my mind's eye Henry V. trying to rally his comrades about him and incite them to combat. Sgambati looks like a _preux chevalier_ himself, with his soft, mild blue eyes and long hair and serene brow. He brought a song that he composed, he said, "_per la distinta Eccellenza Hegermann_ expressly by her devoted and admiring Sgambati." Although the song was beautiful as a piano piece and as _he_ played it, I could not sing it. I said:
"My dear Sgambati, I can never sing 'Mio' on a si-bemol. Can I not change it for an 'A'?"
"No!" answered Sgambati. "The-whole meaning would be lost; but you can broaden it out and sing 'Miaa.'"
Another shining light is Tosti, who comes to us very often. He is by far the best beloved of popular composers. He understands the voice thoroughly and composes songs which are melodious and easy to sing. Therefore every one sings them. He has not much of a voice, but when he sings his compositions he makes them so charming that they sell like wildfire. He is the most amiable of geniuses, and never refuses to sing when he is asked.