Autograph letter signed : Bowerswell, to John Ruskin, [1848] Feb. 9.

Hoping that he enjoyed an agreeable birthday party with his friends; they were wishing for his happiness at Bowerswell. She is glad that Mr. Moore gave him a sermon: by degrees she thinks he is coming to the point she wishes him to reach; all great changes come slowly and she does not care how long it takes him to reach Mr. Moore's way of thinking provided he arrives at the desired end--a conversion which will leave him the more steady and certain. It is good of him to promise horse-back riding. When Mrs. Ruskin sees how healthy they look after it, perhaps she will think it less dangerous. Though she has not been on a horse for two years, one cannot forget something to which one was trained from childhood. Her wishing to be a stork comes up to his pet notion of having her shut up in an old tower where he could fly up to visit her. Her father cannot understand his wishing not to be married before going abroad. Though she agrees with him, it would violate propriety and would not do at all. Casual comments on his father's kindness, his visiting Mrs. Bolding, his handwriting, etc.