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Ruskin apologizes that he will not be able to meet Heaton the following morning and says that she may see the pictures and sketches she is interested in if she visits his house in the afternoon instead. Ruskin professes his dismay that he has not been able to talk much with Heaton recently but encourages her to ask him "anything and everything.". Ruskin states that his address for the foreseeable future will be the Calverley Hotel, Tunbridge Wells. Ruskin has bought Heaton another photograph which he will have sent by bearer. [Date provided by Surtees: 9 May 1855]

Ruskin tells Heaton he has sent her the Rossetti works which he suggests she look at extensively but that she should "keep them locked up -- lest the one should be laughed at for its errors." He remarks that Rossetti's Francesca di Rimini is a "bold -- but perfectly true reading of Dante.". He tells Heaton that he is going to make Rossetti redo Guinevere & Lancelot "without mistakes" and that he will keep "the best of the two" and let Heaton have the other. Ruskin explains that Turner's Parnassus depicts a scene in the afternoon, not at noon and, in a postscript, remarks that the work's "immediate foreground shadows" are "indefensible ... [Turner] was very careless about scientific matters." [Date provided by Surtees: ? November 12th 1855]

Ruskin apologizes for not having previously written to Heaton about Rossetti's Paolo and Francesca and tells her if she likes his Rossetti better, he will make an exchange with her as "both are exquisite examples of him." Ruskin tells her that he now has more free time, having finished his draft of what will become Modern Painters III, and that he shall read Heaton's writings. In a postscript, he admits that he doesn't care which Rossetti painting he has as he admires them both. [Date provided by Surtees: Probably mid-November 1855]

Ruskin tells Heaton he will send her requested photographs alongside the bill for them. He remarks that Rossetti's Rachel shows the dangers of commissioning specific scenes for the artist as "he never would fail in a subject of his own choice.". He thinks that Rachel's face is very beautiful and is "spoiled only by [sic] small underlip." He tells Heaton that it is a portrait of Elizabeth Siddall. He praises the work's use of colour. Ruskin asks Heaton if she has a copy of his "PreRaphaelitism" pamphlet which gives an account of Turner's destroyed Brignall Church. Ruskin tells Heaton that while the Arthur Hughes's painting is "very beautiful" she would do better to become a patron of Rossetti's work. [Date provided by Surtees: Probably mid-November 1855]

Ruskin admits that he had not written about Heaton's latest commission for Rossetti as he assumed she would know he was pleased by it. He tells Heaton to keep both Rossettis as long as she likes. He tells her to send him the money for Rossetti's Rachel which will allow him to buy Rossetti's Francesca. Ruskin admits that Rossetti had offered to sell him the Francesca at a lower price but Ruskin insisted that he and Heaton be offered the same price. Ruskin has sent Heaton some works by Turner to answer her question "about Turner's trees." He tells Heaton that when she returns Rossetti's Francesca, she should send it to him, not Rossetti. He tells her that Paolo and Francesca should have been depicted as walking through hail, not fire, but that Rossetti "did'nt [sic] know how to do hail." [Date provided by Surtees: Latter part of November 1855]

Ruskin asks Heaton if she could arrange for a photographer to go to Bolton and take a photograph of the scene depicted in Turner's Bolton Abbey, and to collect bits of rock from the area. Ruskin praises both Arthur Hughes's painting and Robert Browning's recently published poem "An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Karshish the Arab Physician", expressing his surprise that he should agree with the Athenaeum's review of the text. In a postscript, Ruskin makes a sketch depicting the size of the rocks he wants to be collected from Bolton and remarks that Dante's Leah and Rachel are the "action" of life and that he has dedicated an entire chapter to them in his forthcoming book (Modern Painters III). [Date provided by Surtees: Late November 1855]

Ruskin tells Heaton he received the Bolton Abbey photograph and rocks safely. Ruskin asks Heaton if she could arrange to have another photograph taken of the area, at the back of the river. Ruskin tells Heaton that the chapter on Leah and Rachel he referred to in his previous letter relates to Dante's, not Rossetti's, work. In a postscript, Ruskin asks Heaton to pass on his admiration to J. W. Ramsden, the photographer of the Bolton Abbey scene.

Ruskin comments on a variety of Rossetti works which Heaton might wish to purchase. He complains about Rossetti's penchant for throwing away his works or altering them so much that they develop "odd faults." Ruskin tells Heaton that although Rossetti's The Passover in the Holy Family was intended for him, Ruskin had planned to "give it up" for Heaton, that was until Rossetti altered it, and increased its price. Ruskin tells Heaton that Rossetti has begun a drawing for her but that it is "a most gloomy drawing - very grand - but dreadful.". He remarks that, if Heaton refuses the piece, Rossetti "may get into a bad humour" but states that "prudish people might perhaps think it not quite a young lady's drawing." Ruskin advises Heaton to inform him of her purchasing intentions as soon as possible and asks her to forgive him for keeping The Passover.

Ruskin tells Heaton that if he sends her any Rossetti works they must not be described as belonging to him. Ruskin explains he has not been able to answer her letters as he is still unwell. Ruskin informs Heaton he managed to purchase for her two prints from Turner's Liber Studiorium compositions, although he states that these are not "good" and that he will also send her another two, which are. Ruskin approves of Heaton's plans for a Rossetti exhibition and offers his assistance. He ends by admitting: "I don't know if you can read this -- I am'nt [sic] going to try myself." [Date provided by Surtees: ? November 9th 1855]

Ruskin thanks Heaton for plums she sent to his family. Ruskin praises examples of Heaton's writing she had sent to him but admits that he has only been able to read one piece. Ruskin advises that "[Heaton] may make it funnier & more useful by making it shorter" and that she "would write very nice & useful things in a little while but [she] want[s] a little training.". Ruskin asks if he can keep the articles until Christmas, to give him time to read them properly. [Date provided by Surtees: ? October 1855; letter marked "Friday morning"]