Since these letters were published fourteen years ago, both Mr. Ruskin
and Miss Beever have passed to the country he longed to find, "where
the flowers do not fade." In this new Edition some of the earlier
letters have been withdrawn, and others, of possibly wider interest,
are inserted in their place. I have also added a reproduction of Mr.
Ruskin's last letter to Miss Beever. It was written about the 20th
October, 1893, and was read to her on her death-bed. He was then
himself in broken health, and it took him three weary hours to write
this little note of eight lines. I believe this to be the last
complete letter that ever came from his pen. Miss Beever sent it to me
with the wish "that some day I might use it," and I now fulfill that
wish by inserting it here as the pathetic close to a correspondence,
in which there was so much of a gay and playful nature; commending it
to the "memorial sympathy" claimed by him for his earlier letters. The
word "Phoca" is a signature often used by him in writing to his old
friend.
I have been asked to add illustrations to this Edition; and some fresh
explanatory notes and dates will also be found.