Autograph letter signed : Asolo, Italy, to George Goodin Moulton-Barrett, 1889 October 22.

Thanking George for his letter; telling him that, this year, he and Sarianna are staying not in the Tyrol but in Asolo, "the first spot of Italian soil I ever set foot upon"; recounting Asolo's history as the seat of Queen Catherine Cornaro's court in exile, one of whose members was the poet Pietro Bembo; describing the landscape around Asolo; mentioning that he and Sarianna are staying near their close friend, Mrs. Arthur (Katherine De Kay) Bronson, who has a house in Asolo, built into the old city wall; telling him that Pen came to visit them for a few days; referring to his hopes for a grandchild: "Fannie is all you say; and most dear and precious to us all--if her health will but allow the consummation of their happiness, I don't know what else to wish in their behalf"; writing about an award Pen has received from the Paris Exposition; commenting that he has just sent off his new book ("Asolando") for publication, and the complete edition of the works of EBB is about to be released; discussing Edward FitzGerald's insulting comments about "Aurora Leigh" and EBB in a recently published posthumous volume of his correspondence; detailing the poem he wrote in response to this, and the ensuing counter-responses and apologies he has received: "I felt and expressed my horror and disgust at finding that a man, who had never seen my wife, nor been heard of by her, could not record his dislike of her Poem without coupling it with a satisfaction at her death"; writing that he is glad to hear that all the Moulton-Barrett brothers are well, and sending Sarianna's love.