The malady was not serious, it was just the result of the climate, relaxation of the stomach, &c., but the end is that he is looking a delicate, pale, little creature, he who was radiant with all the roses and stars of infancy but two months ago.

The pleasantest days in Rome we have spent with the Kembles--the two sisters--who are charming and excellent, both of them, in different ways; and certainly they have given us some exquisite hours on the Campagna, upon picnic excursions, they and certain of their friends--for instance, M.Ampere, the member of the French Institute, who is witty and agreeable; M.Gorze, the Austrian Minister, also an agreeable man; and Mr.Lyons, the son of Sir Edmund, &c.

The talk was almost too brilliant for the sentiment of the scenery, but it harmonised entirely with the mayonnaise and champagne.

I should mention, too, Miss Hosmer (but she is better than a talker), the young American sculptress, who is a great pet of mine and of Robert's, and who emancipates the eccentric life of a perfectly 'emancipated female' from all shadow of blame by the purity of hers.

She lives here all alone (at twenty-two); dines and breakfasts at the _cafes_ precisely as a young man would; works from six o'clock in the morning till night, as a great artist must, and this with an absence of pretension and simplicity of manners which accord rather with the childish dimples in her rosy cheeks than with her broad forehead and high aims.