Autograph letter signed : Florence, to "Mia amata Figlia" [Joan Severn], 1889 May 25.

Discussing the mental health of John Ruskin. Asking Severn to allow Ruskin to write "anything he pleases" to the Alexanders, noting that she will "fully understand he is not himself" and that it is only his "disturbed mental condition." Commenting on how the present delusions are like those he suffered in Paris (in December 1888), hoping that the worst is over, and noting that "the attacks are less violent, but more persistent." Enquiring as to the specifics of Ruskin's work on Francesca Alexander's Christ's Folk in the Apennine. Confiding that Francesca takes Ruskin's illness very hard, and supposing that Severn "smiles at what [she] considers the nonsense of "sister and brother," but it has seemed quite real to [Francesca]." Mentioning that "poor K[ate] G[reenaway] ... probably misunderstood [Ruskin's] expressions of interest."