With a penciled notation on p. 1 by Helen Gill Viljoen dating the letter "probably Dec. 1887, R. in Sandgate."
Dr. Bowles was a local physician from Folkestone.
Written on stationery embossed "Brantwood, / Coniston. Lancashire."
Letter is incomplete; missing final page(s).
Part of a collection of letters primarily from John Ruskin and Joan Severn to Dr. and Mrs. Simon. Letters in this collection have been described individually in separate catalog records; see collection-level record for more information.
Discussing Ruskin's health and indicating that he is doing better; saying that the local doctor sees him daily; saying that he was playing the piano in the hotel from half-past one until 4 and then again at half-past 4; adding that Ruskin had written to her husband, Arthur, saying "it was important the world should see he was his friend and not his Keeper;" saying that they will visit him for a week but that "long experience has taught us not to go sooner than is necessary--or we might have terrible scenes and be ordered off at once;" continuing to say "The whole thing is as heartbreaking as it can be--and we never seem to get the least happy before our hopes are dashed and this year's trouble has almost shattered all the nerve I ever had in nursing him."