There is no conclusive evidence, internal or external, as to which of
Donne's correspondents is here addressed; certainly not Sir Henry Wotton,
who was not a father, and who had recently returned from an important
embassy in Germany, and who, a year later, became Provost of Eton College,
to Bacon's great disappointment. The intimate tone of the letter suggests
that it was addressed to Sir Henry Goodyer, who had already begun to be
"encombred and distressed in his fortunes."