Heather Ousby points out that the identity of the "subbornd Informer" has proved especially contentious for critics. She points to several interpretations of the informer which include the Friend, some sort of spy, and "an abstract force such as jealousy". In her interpretation of the Sonnet, Ousby settles on the idea that the informer represents the Friend. She bases this thought on the various meanings of the word "suborn" during this time period. Rather than spying, informing could also be seen as inspiring and thus it would refer to the inspiration for the sonnet. Likewise, the term suborn meant corruption in loyalty which the Speaker accuses the Friend of in other sonnets. Ousby is making a case for eliminating the informer as some third party, much like Greene. The difference is that Ousby uses the subtraction of this would-be character to shift the tone of the sonnet. She agrees that the first two quatrains concern how the "dwellers on form and favor are destroyed by that humiliating process" of giving unreciprocated affection. She sees the third quatrain as a plea to the Friend or as a directive to both of them. The couplet, however, becomes a means of stating the Speaker's independence from the Friend due to his "poor but free" oblations which mean a lot but cost so little. For Ousby, the Speaker seems to be separating himself from a disloyal patron who demeans his work.