Sir Henry Goodyer had lost both father and father-in-law long before his
friend had occasion "to reduce to his thoughts the duties of a husband
and a father, and all the incumbencies of a family." The reference in this
letter to "your father's health and love" therefore seems to preclude the
possibility that it was addressed to Goodyer. The absence of a date makes
conjecture as to the identity of Donne's correspondent the more difficult.
Fortunately the interest of the letter is independent of knowledge of the
correspondent to whom it was addressed, consisting as it does in the light
which it throws on the mental temperament of the writer.