The reference to the cessation of hostilities in the Low Countries
following the Truce of Bergen (April 19th, 1609) enables us to complete
the date of this letter. "The best Lady," here as elsewhere, is the
Countess of Bedford. Perhaps the letter to Lady Bedford, enclosed in this
letter, and presumably in verse, was written in acknowledgment of her
verses on Donne, which are the subject of a letter to her already given
(XXIII).