To Sir Henry Goodyer and presumably of later date than the letter to Sir
John Harington (XL) of August 6, 1608, which contains our earliest record
of Donne's acquaintance with "that good lady," the Countess of Bedford,
and to which allusion may be made in the last paragraph of the present
letter. The Lord Harrington here mentioned must be one of the Harringtons
of Exton, probably the second Lord Harrington, who was Lady Bedford's
brother.
The home of Donne's brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Gryme, where the Donnes
were frequent guests, was in Peckham.
L
To Sir Robert Drury, and written at the lowest ebb of Donne's fortunes,
when he was casting about for court preferment of any kind. The marriage
of Somerset and Lady Frances Howard, whose marriage to Essex had at length
been annulled, took place December 26, 1613. One would be glad to forget
that Donne wrote the beautiful epithalamium which connects him with this
unholy union, and so gives the approximate date of this letter.