# The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse/Notes on Poems

NOTES ON POEMS
| PAGE |
| 7. | On New-Year's Day, 1640. | On New-Year's Day, 1640. |
| | | The year is 1641, N.S. Strafford had been impeached in the preceding November, Laud in December. In a few months the discovery of the Army Plot brought Suckling's career in England to a close. |
| 9. | A Session of the Poets. | A Session of the Poets. |
| | | 'Sessions' is the form printed in the earliest three editions. The date is probably about 1637, the year of Ben Jonson's death. Rochester imitated this poem about 1683 in his Trial of the Poets for the Bays. Another imitation is Sheffield's Election of a Poet Laureat, 1719. |
| | l. 10. | There was] There 1646, 1658. |
| | | Selden] Aubrey, Brief Lives, ed. Clark, 1898, ii. 223, refers to this passage and to two examples of Selden's poetical skill, one of which, prefixed to Ben Jonson's works (Gifford's one vol. edition, pp. 81, 82), is a copy of Latin hendecasyllabics. The 'sessions' is open to critics as well as to poets. |
| | l. 11. | Wenman] Weniman 1646, 1658; Wainman 1648. For the form 'Wainman,' cf. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., ed. 1707, ii. 575, and an erasure in Aubrey, loc. cit., i. 151. Sir Francis Wenman 'of Caswell, in Witney parish,' is enumerated by Aubrey among the 'learned gentlemen of the country' who gathered round Falkland at Great Tew. Lady Wenman, on the same authority, was a niece of George Sandys, the next poet on the list. Hazlitt mentions a Thomas Wenman, author of the Legend of Mary, Queen of Scots, published from MS., 1810. |
| | l. 12. | Sands] Aubrey, loc. cit., ii. 212, quotes the register of Sandys' burial at Boxley in 1644, 'poetarum Anglorum sui sæculi facile princeps.' Sandys' poetry was confined mainly to translations. ​ |
| | l. 12. | Townsend] See Carew's Poems in Muses' Library, p. 104, and Mr. Vincent's note. Lord Herbert of Cherbury mentions, as his companion abroad in 1608, 'Mr. Aurelian Townsend, a gentleman that spoke the languages of French, Italian, and Spanish in great perfection.' |
| | l. 13. | Digby] Sir Kenelm Digby, 1603-65, 'a gentleman absolute in all numbers' (Jonson, Eupheme, 1633); called by a competent scholar 'the Mirandula of his age' (Aubrey, loc. cit., i. 225). See Howell to Sir Thomas Lake, 3 July, 1629, on translations of Martial, x. 47, submitted to Digby's judgment (Epp. Ho-El., i., § 5, No. 25). |
| | | Shillingsworth] In spite of Hazlitt's opinion to the contrary, it is probable that William Chillingworth, 'the most intimate and beloved favourite' of Falkland (Aubrey, loc. cit., i. 151), takes his place here with so many of Falkland's circle among the 'wits of the town.' Hobbes bore testimony to his wit (ibid., i. 370, 173): his epitaph at Chichester, by Archdeacon Whitby, reckons him as 'omni Literarum genere celeberrimus.' |
| | l. 15. | Lucan's translator] Thomas May, 1595-1650, famous for his History of the Parliament of England, 1647. His translation of the Pharsalia appeared in 1627, and was followed in 1630 by an original continuation of the poem to the death of Julius Caesar, and, in 1640, by a Latin version of the same, highly praised by Clarendon. Mr. Fleay (Biograph. Chron. Eng. Drama, ii. 84) attributes to him, on doubtful grounds, the famous tragedy of Nero. He certainly wrote plays in early life, and published other translations and historical poems. His reputation with his contemporaries was doubtful: 'A handsome man, debaucht ad omnia' (Aubrey, ii. 56). This judgment, passed at second-hand, was qualified by Aubrey in a later note. Wood, however, added charges of atheism. Marvell, Tom May's Death, calls him 'Most servile wit, and mercenary pen. Polydore, Lucan, Alan, Vandal, Goth, Malignant poet and historian both.' Clarendon speaks on the whole in his favour. ​ |
| | ll. 15, 16. | he That makes, etc.] Hazlitt suggests that this is Francis Quarles. |
| | l. 17. | Selwin] This person, like the Bartlets immediately after, has left no traces which make identification certain—probably one of the Selwyns of Matson, near Gloucester, and an ancestor of Horace Walpole's witty friend, George Selwyn. |
| | | Waller] Walter, 1646, 1658. |
| | | Bartlets] The editor of the 1836 edition mentioned William Bartlet, the independent minister (d. 1682), but doubted whether he was alluded to in this passage. |
| | l. 18. | Jack Vaughan] Probably John Vaughan of the Inner Temple, Selden's friend and executor, who became Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1668. |
| | | Porter] Endymion Porter, famous as a friend and patron of poets. D'Avenant inscribed The Wits 'to the Chiefly Belov'd of all that are ingenious and noble, Endymion Porter of His Majesty's Bedchamber': see Maidment and Logan's ed. of D'Avenant's dramatic works, ii. 112-15. Thomas May dedicated to him his Antigone. Five of Herrick's Hesperides are addressed to him: see especially Nos. 117, 1072. Porter's own verse included an elegy on Donne, printed in the 1633 ed. of Donne's poems. |
| 10. | ll. 19-27. | Cf. the picture of Jonson's self-commendation in Howell, Epp. Ho-El., ii., No. 13, dated 5 April, 1636. Suckling may have had this incident in mind, if the 'T. Ca.' of Howell's letter is the poet Carew, as is usually supposed. If so, the date of these verses is fixed between April, 1636, and Jonson's death, 6 Aug., 1637. Cf. also the portrait of Jonson as Multecarni in The Sad One, Acts IV. and V. |
| | l. 26. | hoped] hopes 1646, 1658. |
| | l. 36. | New Inn] Jonson's New Inn, acted 1629, is notorious for its failure, which inspired the disappointed author to the lines, 'Come, leave the loathed stage.' |
| | l. 37. | Tom Carew] See Mr. Vincent's introduction to Carew's poems, especially pp. xxxiii, xxxiv. |
| | l. 39. | hide-bound] hard bound 1646, 1658. ​ |
| | l. 45. | cup-bearer's place] Carew was appointed a sewer to the royal table about 1630. |
| | l. 47. | travelling in France] See Aubrey, loc. cit., i. 205, 206, where Sir John Mennes's satirical lines are given. Aubrey says that the mischance was got in Westminster: 'travelling in France' is thus merely an allusion to its nature. |
| | l. 52. | precedent] President all early editions. Many parallels may be found for this form—e.g., Shakespeare, Richard III., III. vi. 7 (quarto). |
| 11. | l. 63. | Toby Mathews] Sir Tobie Matthew, son of Tobie Matthew, Archbishop of York. His conversion to Romanism brought him the reputation of a dangerous intriguer: Fuller, Church History, lib. xi., sect. i., § 76, expresses the common Protestant estimate of his character. Harrington, quoted in Dict. Nat. Biog., esteemed him 'likely for learning, memory, sharpness of wit, and sweetness of behaviour.' Bacon, whose Essays and Wisdom of the Ancients he translated into Italian, is said to have added his Essay on Friendship to the rest at his request and in his honour. His favour at court was largely due to Lady Carlisle's friendship: his panegyric on her character, published with a volume of his letters in 1660, had been seen in MS. as early as 1637, the presumptive date of this poem. |
| | l. 64. | ear] ears all early editions. |
| | l. 66. | Lady Carlisle] Lady Lucy Percy, daughter of Henry, ninth Earl of Northumberland, and second wife of James Hay, first Earl of Carlisle of the second creation. Her political intrigues are matter of history; and it will be remembered that Browning made her the chief female character of his Strafford. She was a patroness of poets: Waller, Herrick, and D'Avenant addressed verses to her when she was in mourning for her husband; she was Carew's Lucinda; and cf. the dialogue between Suckling and Carew, pp. 21, 22. Sir Tobie Matthew writes of her: 'Her wit being most eminent among the rest of her great abilities, she affects the conversation of the persons who are most famed for it'; and again he calls her 'too lofty and dignified to be capable of friendship, and ​having too great a heart to be susceptible of love.' For the criticism, half admiring, half scandalized, of a younger woman, see Dorothy Osborne's letters, ed. Parry, pp. 171, 180. |
| | l. 83. | Wat Montague]. Second son of Henry Montagu, first Earl of Manchester. He became a Romanist in 1635, was banished in 1649, and became Abbot, first of Nanteuil, then of St. Martin's in Pontoise. His pastoral (l. 86) was The Shepherd's Paradise, acted in 1632-33 by the Queen and the Maids of Honour before Charles I. It was printed in 1659. See Maidment and Logan's D'Avenant, i. 283, for a letter by John Pory, dated 3 Jan., 1633, in which this masque is mentioned. |
| | l. 92. | little Cid] Aubrey, loc. cit., ii. 209, has a note on Richard Sackville, fifth Earl of Dorset, relative to his father, the fourth Earl: ''Twas he that translated The Cid, a French comoedie, into English about 1640.' The translation of Corneille's Cid, the first part of which appeared in 1637, was actually by Joseph Rutter, tutor to the Earl. Aubrey's informant was Samuel Butler. Sackville, in 1637, was only in his fifteenth year; but, the year after, he contributed verses to Jonsonius Virbius. Did Suckling know of Rutter's authorship, or was Sackville, the supposed author, here called 'little' on the ground of his youth? |
| | l. 95. | Murray] Hazlitt says 'William Murray.' Possibly William Murray, gentleman of the bedchamber, created Earl of Dysart in 1643. He is mentioned in the letter printed in the Appendix. The allusion here is not clear. |
| 12. | l. 97. | Hales] The 'ever-memorable' John Hales, fellow of Eton, to whom Suckling addressed an epistle, pp. 27, 28 below. Aubrey, loc. cit., i. 278-281, quotes these lines inaccurately to support the statement: 'He was a generall scolar, and I beleeve a good poet.' |
| | l. 102. | He was of late, etc.] Aubrey, loc. cit., i. 150, 151, mentions Falkland's addiction to Socinianism, and says: 'He was the first Socinian in England.' In another place, he ascribes this priority to Hales. Aubrey had been informed that Falkland was responsible for the title of Jonsonius Virbius, in ​which he had verses; but 'Dr. Earles'—i.e., Earle—'would not allow him to be a good poet, though a great witt; he writt not a smoth verse, but a greate deal of sense.' |
| | l. 107. | Davenant] D'Avenant, as a young man about town, was probably hostile to members of the City Council. During the Civil War (Aubrey, loc. cit., i. 206-208) he took prisoner two aldermen of York, who afterwards were instrumental in saving his life. |
| 12-14. | Love's World. | Love's World. |
| | | The annotator who signs himself 'W. W.' remarks on the mixture of childish conceit with beauty in this poem. The idea of man's heart or soul as a microcosm of the world at large was well-worn in Suckling's time. Donne especially had used it; cf. The Dissolution (ed. Chambers, i. 69): 'My fire of passion, sighs of air, Water of tears, and earthy sad despair, Which my materials be'; Holy Sonnets, v. (ibid., i. 159): 'I am a little world made cunningly Of elements,' etc. |
| 14. | Sonnets: I. | Sonnets: I. |
| | | In the early editions, these so-called sonnets are preceded by the song, 'Why so pale and wan, fond lover,' which is sung in Aglaura, Act IV., and will be found there in the present volume. |
| | l. 10. | Am still] And still 1658. |
| 15. | Sonnets: II. | Sonnets: II. |
| | l. 12. | Lik'd] Like't 1646, 1648, 1658. |
| 16. | Sonnets: III. | Sonnets: III. |
| | l. 1. | Suckling's opening is obviously inspired by the famous beginning of Donne's Love's Deity (loc. cit., i. 56). A similar opening to a poem by James Greene, called Girls' Dreams, is mentioned in a note quoted by Hazlitt. |
| | l. 26. | Philoclea] In Sidney's Arcadia, the Thracian Prince Pyrocles falls in love with the Arcadian Princess Philoclea, and, disguised as an Amazon, obtains admission to the country retirement of her parents, Basilius and Gynecia. Cecropia, sister-in-law of Basilius, wishes to marry Philoclea to her son Amphialus, and, out of spite to Basilius ​carries her off with her sister Pamela and the pretended Amazon. In the end, Philoclea is wedded to Pyrocles; and Amphialus, in the later continuation of the story, marries Helen, Queen of Corinth. |
| 17. | To the Lord Lepington. | To the Lord Lepington. |
| | | Henry Carey, son of Sir Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth, was known by his father's second title of Baron Leppington from the creation of the earldom in 1626 to his succession to it in 1639. A list of translations by this noble author is given by Wood, Ath. Ox., ed. Bliss, iii. 516. He married in 1620 Suckling's first cousin, Martha Cranfield, eldest daughter of the future Earl of Middlesex. His translation of the Ritratto del Privato Politico Christiano (1635) of Virgilio, Marchese di Malvezzi, appeared in 1637. See Carew's complimentary verses in Mr. Vincent's ed. of Carew, p. 131, and the editor's note, p. 254. Suckling's and Carew's verses, with others by D'Avenant, Aurelian Townshend, and Sir Francis Wortley, appeared before the second ed. of the translation, 1638. Another translation, by T. Powel, was published in 1647: see H. Vaughan, Olor Iscanus (ed. Chambers, 1896, i. 97). Malvezzi (whom Dr. Jessopp, in an article on Carey in Dict. Nat. Biog., vol. ix., wrongly calls Valezzi) was ambassador to London from Philip IV. of Spain. Milton, Of Reformation in England, lib. ii., mentions 'their Malvezzi, that can cut Tacitus into slivers and slits.' |
| | ll. 1, 2. | W. W. quotes Byron: 'And 'tis some praise in peers to write at all.' |
| 18. | Against Fruition. | Against Fruition. |
| | | See Cowley's poem on the same theme (Poems, ed. Waller, 1905, pp. 98, 99). Waller's answer to Suckling, with which this poem is printed with some variants of reading, will be found in Mr. Drury's ed. of Waller, 1893, pp. 116-119. |
| | l. 19. | whate'er before th' have been] Early eds. read t'have. Mr. Drury modernizes to they've, as in Chalmers, Eng. Poets, vi. 494; but Waller's reading, which Mr. Drury notes, was what e'retofore hath been. ​ |
| | l. 20. | sights] scenes Waller. This variant has not been mentioned by Mr. Drury, who notes all the rest. |
| | 'There never yet,' etc.] W. W.'s note is as follows: 'This poem is remarkable for ease and sprightliness, the true characteristics of Sir J. Suckling's verse, and may therefore be taken as a fair specimen of his powers. Suckling seems to have been intimately acquainted with the female heart; he praises, ridicules, and adores the sex in the same breath. The germs of thought in some of Moore's most beautiful lyrics may be found in this ode.' | 'There never yet,' etc.] W. W.'s note is as follows: 'This poem is remarkable for ease and sprightliness, the true characteristics of Sir J. Suckling's verse, and may therefore be taken as a fair specimen of his powers. Suckling seems to have been intimately acquainted with the female heart; he praises, ridicules, and adores the sex in the same breath. The germs of thought in some of Moore's most beautiful lyrics may be found in this ode.' |
| 19. | l. 10. | to jet in general] Cf. Twelfth Night, II., v. 36. |
| | l. 15. | It is because, etc.] 1648; It is because the loadstone yet was never brought 1646, 1658, etc.; It is because near the loadstone yet 'twas never brought, Hazlitt. It seems probable that what Suckling wrote was, It is because to th' loadstone yet 'twas never brought, and that a misprint in the first edition brought about the subsequent introduction of near. |
| | To my Friend Will. Davenant. | To my Friend Will. Davenant. |
| | | The two pieces addressed to D'Avenant were prefixed to D'Avenant's collected poems in 1638. Madagascar, printed 1635, was dedicated to Henry Jermyn, afterwards Earl of St. Albans. Aubrey, loc. cit., i. 205, calls Jermyn and Endymion Porter D'Avenant's 'two Mecaenasses.' D'Avenant had become poet laureate in 1637. |
| 20. | To my Friend Will. D'Avenant, on his other Poems. | To my Friend Will. D'Avenant, on his other Poems. |
| | l. 3. | the great lord of it] The phrase recalls Carew's epicede on Donne: 'Here lies a king that ruled, as he thought fit, The universal monarchy of wit.' Cf. ll. 49, 50 of the same poem: 'Since to the awe of thy imperious wit Our troublesome language bends,' etc. Donne died in 1631. |
| | 'Love, Reason, Hate'] The game of barley-break, which furnishes the idea of these verses, is explained in the last eclogue of Sidney's Arcadia, lib. i. It was played by three couples: the middle couple was said to be 'in hell,' and had to catch the other couples. The catching pair were not allowed to separate till they had succeeded; while the other pairs, if hard pressed, were ​allowed to 'break' or separate, from which the game derived the second part of its name. When all had been caught, new couples were formed, and the pair which failed to occupy one of the ends of the ground was 'in hell.' 'Barley' may be derived from the fact that the game was often played in a cornfield: in Scotland, where one person caught the rest, and the rest, as caught, helped him, it was known as 'barla-bracks about the stacks.' Or 'barley' may be from a Scottish corruption of the cry 'parley.' For examples, see Nares' Glossary, and New English Dict., s.v. | 'Love, Reason, Hate'] The game of barley-break, which furnishes the idea of these verses, is explained in the last eclogue of Sidney's Arcadia, lib. i. It was played by three couples: the middle couple was said to be 'in hell,' and had to catch the other couples. The catching pair were not allowed to separate till they had succeeded; while the other pairs, if hard pressed, were ​allowed to 'break' or separate, from which the game derived the second part of its name. When all had been caught, new couples were formed, and the pair which failed to occupy one of the ends of the ground was 'in hell.' 'Barley' may be derived from the fact that the game was often played in a cornfield: in Scotland, where one person caught the rest, and the rest, as caught, helped him, it was known as 'barla-bracks about the stacks.' Or 'barley' may be from a Scottish corruption of the cry 'parley.' For examples, see Nares' Glossary, and New English Dict., s.v. |
| 21. | Upon my Lady Carlisle's Walking in Hampton Court Garden. | Upon my Lady Carlisle's Walking in Hampton Court Garden. |
| | | See note on A Session of the Poets, l. 60. T. C., of course, is Thomas Carew. W. W. has a long note here on the general tendencies of poetry in the age, and says of Carew: 'He, like his friend Suckling, was ambitious of being ranked among the metaphysical poets, but fortunately had not power to attain it.' |
| | l. 8. | bean-blossoms] Cf. Coleridge, The Eolian Harp, ll. 9, 10: 'How exquisite the scents Snatched from yon bean-field.' See also Aglaura, I. v. 88. |
| 23. | Against Absence. | Against Absence. |
| | ll. 17, 18. | In ll. 9, 10 of the immediately preceding poem, Suckling expresses the somewhat contrary opinion that sense is essential to intelligence. |
| 24. | A Supplement, etc. | A Supplement, etc. |
| | | See Shakespeare, Lucrece, ll. 386, etc. W. W. writes: 'The continuation is equal to the first part.' |
| | l. 11. | this pretty perdue] Lucrece's hand is 'sentinelle perdue' of her body—i.e., as Littré explains the word, 'sentinelle postée dans un lieu très-avancé.' W. J. Craig, on King Lear, IV., vii. 35 (Arden ed. 1901), quotes English uses of the word from Fletcher and Tourneur. Cf. Goblins, III. iv. below. |
| 25. | ''Tis now since I sat down'] W. W. says: 'In this poem Suckling seems to have succeeded completely in what is called the metaphysical style of poetry.' For the metaphor of a siege, cf. the ​next poem, ll. 29-35; the lines upon A. M., pp. 61, 62 below; Cowley, Against Fruition, ll. 9, 10. | ''Tis now since I sat down'] W. W. says: 'In this poem Suckling seems to have succeeded completely in what is called the metaphysical style of poetry.' For the metaphor of a siege, cf. the ​next poem, ll. 29-35; the lines upon A. M., pp. 61, 62 below; Cowley, Against Fruition, ll. 9, 10. |
| | l. 5. | Made my approaches] W. W. quotes (inaccurately) Byron, To Thyrza, st. 8: 'Ours too the glance none saw beside,' etc., as an apparent imitation of this stanza. There is a general likeness of thought; but the imitation is not obvious. |
| 26. | l. 19. | Praising] Praying 1658. |
| | l. 35. | That giant] 'The giant, Honour,' is personified by Carew, The Rapture, ll. 3-9: see note in Mr. Vincent's ed., p. 246. Honour is reproached again by Suckling, Upon the Black Spots worn by my Lady D. E., ll. 7, 8. |
| | Upon my Lord Brohall's Wedding. | Upon my Lord Brohall's Wedding. |
| | | Roger Boyle, Baron Broghill, younger son of the first Earl of Cork, married in 1641 Lady Margaret Howard, third daughter of the second Earl of Suffolk. Lord Broghill was created Earl of Orrery in 1650. Aubrey, loc. cit., i., 118, prints a funeral sermon on his sister, Lady Warwick, in which Lord Orrery is described as 'that great poet, great statesman, great soldier, and great everything which merits the name of great and good.' Cowley (Poems, ed. Waller, 1905, pp. 406-409) wrote an Ode, 'Upon Occasion of a Copy of Verses of my Lord Broghills.' For Broghill's heroic romance, Parthenissa (first six vols., 1654; complete ed., 1665), see the able summary in Raleigh, English Novel, pp. 93-96, and Dorothy Osborne's Letters, ed. Parry, pp. 230-232. For his rimed tragedies, all probably composed after the Restoration, see A. W. Ward, English Dram. Lit., new ed., 1899, iii. 340-345, and notices in Pepys' Diary, 13 Aug., 1664, 19 Oct., 1667, 8 Dec., 1668, and Evelyn's Diary, 18 Oct., 1668. Dryden dedicated to Lord Orrery The Rival Ladies, 1664 (Works, ed. Scott and Saintsbury, 1882, iii. 129-139). Jack Bond, Suckling's interlocutor in this dialogue, is mentioned again below in the verses to John Hales, l. 10. |
| 27. | l. 9. | differ but] 1658, a better reading than the simple differ of 1646. |
| | l. 17. | A sprig of willow] 'The Willow, worne of forlorne paramours' (Spenser, Faerie Queene, I., i. 9). ​See Brand, Popular Antiquities, i. 121, 122. Cf. among many instances, Much Ado about Nothing, II., i. 194-199; the song in Othello, IV., iii. 41 ff., and Percy, Reliques, ser. i., lib. ii., No. 8; Fletcher, Night-Walker, c. 1638, I., i.; Herrick, Hesperides, 263; and the pun on the subject in G. Meredith, The Egoist, 1879, ch. xxxiv. |
| | ll. 27, 28. | gipsies' knots . . . fast and loose] Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, IV., xii. 29; Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed, 1621: 'I'll shew you the slight of our Ptolemy's knot, It is, and 'tis not.' The game of 'fast and loose' was a favourite with dishonest vagabonds. The cheat tied up a leathern belt or thong into a number of deceptive folds; and the gull was given a knife, and asked to pierce the folded belt in the centre, which he usually failed to do. There is an allusion to the thong and knife in Merry Wives of Windsor, II., ii. 19. New Eng. Dict. quotes Donne, Sermon lxxxv.: 'Never ask wrangling Controverters that make Gypsie-knots of Mariages;—ask thy Conscience, and that will tell thee that thou wast married till death should depart you.' Mr. Ivor B. John has an elaborate note on 'fast and loose,' with reference to King John, III., i. 242 (Arden ed. 1907). |
| | l. 36. | hearts] harts 1658. |
| | 'Whether these lines,' etc.] This epistle is addressed to John Hales, Fellow of Eton: see note on A Session of the Poets, l. 91. The mention of Socinus here corroborates the Socinian tradition associated with Hales' name. It is known, however, that the Socinian tracts with which Hales has been credited were the work of Continental writers. | 'Whether these lines,' etc.] This epistle is addressed to John Hales, Fellow of Eton: see note on A Session of the Poets, l. 91. The mention of Socinus here corroborates the Socinian tradition associated with Hales' name. It is known, however, that the Socinian tracts with which Hales has been credited were the work of Continental writers. |
| 28. | ll. 21, 22. | The sweat of learned Jonson's brain] The likeness to Milton, L'Allegro, 131-34, need not be designed, although, if the date of most of these poems be taken into account, Milton's poem preceded these lines by some years. |
| | l. 23. | hackney-coach] John Taylor, Old Parr, 1635, quoted by New Eng. Dict., gives a notice of hackney-coaches in the reigns of the first two Stewarts. Coaches 'have increased . . . by the multitudes of Hackney or hired Coaches; but they never ​ swarmed so thick to pester the streets, as they doe now, till the yeare 1605.' |
| 29. | Against Fruition. | Against Fruition. |
| | l. 5. | camelion] Cf. Two Gentlemen of Verona, II., iv. 26; Hamlet, III., ii. 98. For the tradition, see Ovid, Metamm., xv. 411: 'Id quoque, quod ventis animal nutritur et aura, Protinus assimulat tetigit quoscumque colores.' Sir Thomas Browne, Pseud. Epid., iii. 21, discusses the legend at length. |
| | A Ballad upon a Wedding. | A Ballad upon a Wedding. |
| | | See note above, Upon my Lord Brohall's Wedding. The wedding took place in 1641: New Eng. Dict. quotes ll. 19-21 from G. H., Witts' Recreations, 1640 (? O.S.), in which the poem appeared, 'accompanied by a woodcut of two ploughmen or rustics, the one narrating, the other listening' (Hazlitt). W. W. pronounces the ballad Suckling's 'opus magnum; indeed, for grace and simplicity it stands unrivalled in the whole compass of ancient or modem poetry.' Hazlitt mentions lines called 'Three merry boys of Kent,' occurring in Folly in Print, or a Book of Rhymes, 1667, to the tune of an old song beginning thus, 'I rode from England into France' (cf. opening of Cantilena Politico-Jocunda below), or to the tune of Sir John Suckling's Ballad; and lines to the tune of 'I tell thee, Dick, where I have been,' in Patrick Carey's Trivia, 1651. 'Dick' is usually identified with Lovelace. |
| | ll. 7-9. | At Charing Cross . . . stairs] Northampton House, built by Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, in James I.'s reign, passed, on his death in 1614, to his nephew, Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, grandfather to the bride of this poem. It was now known as Suffolk House. In 1642, the year after this wedding, the bride's sister, Elizabeth, married Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland, and brought the house into her husband's family, in which it remained, as Northumberland House, till its destruction in 1874. The 'place where we do sell our hay' is the Haymarket: Hazlitt says that his uncle, Mr. Reynell, who died in 1892, at the age of ninety-three, told him ​'that he remembered hay sold there in his early days.' |
| 30. | l. 19. | Course-a-Park] A country game, akin to Barley-break, and not unlike Kiss-in-the-ring. See W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, I., iii. 25: 'Or that he cours'd a park with females fraught, Which would not run except they might be caught.' New Eng. Dict. quotes Teonge's Diary, 1675, ed. 1825, p. 112: 'Like boys and gyrles at course-a-packe, or barly breakes.' |
| | l. 31. | The maid] Hazlitt cites the opinion of an anonymous commentator, that 'Moore's description of Lilias (sic) in The Loves of the Angels appears to be an imitation of Suckling.' The resemblance, if there be any, is of the most general kind. W. W., commenting on the 'bashful tenderness' of the bride at l. 49, remarks that Suckling's 'portraits of female beauty are not so finished as those of Moore and Byron; but they possess greater attraction, because he gives only a glimpse, and leaves the rest to fancy. Indeed, Homer, in describing the peerless Helen, leaves it almost entirely to the imagination, which is the great secret of poetry.' Suckling mentions presumably Lady Margaret Howard in his letter to Jack [? Bond] headed 'A Dissuasion from Love' (see p. 301): 'I know you have but one way'—i.e., of teaching the art of getting into love,—'and will prescribe me not to look upon Mistress Howard.' |
| | l. 32. | Whitson-ale] See Brand, Pop. Antt., i. 276-284. The surplus of these feasts, supplied by parochial contributions, was devoted to repairs, etc., connected with the church fabric or furniture. Thus an inscription on the ringing-gallery at Cawston, Norfolk, records 'what good ale this work made'; and another, on the 'bachelors' loft' before the south chapel of the chancel at Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex, states that part of the expense was defrayed by 'alys.' |
| | l. 34. | kindly ripe] Ripe after its nature, and so thoroughly ripe. The latest example of this use of 'kindly' cited by New Eng. Dict. is Romeo and Juliet, II., iv. 59. ​ |
| | l. 38. | 30. l. 38. they] he 1648. |
| | l. 50. | so nice] nice 1646, 1648, 1658. |
| | l. 59. | Katherne pear] 'A small and early variety of pear' (New Eng. Dict.). Cf. Gay, Shepherd's Week, 1714, Wednesday, l. 56; Crabbe, Tales of the Hall, 1819, x. 598, 599: ''Twas not the lighter red, that partly streaks The Catherine pear, that brighten'd o'er her cheeks.' |
| 31. | l. 75. | purely] Halliwell notes the use as East Anglian, and quotes Miège's French Dict., 1688: 'Ortolan . . . sings purely, and is good to eat.' |
| | ll. 91-96. | In the 1648 and some later editions, this stanza, with the two halves inverted, is placed after the stanza which ends at l. 78. |
| | l. 94. | Passion o' me] Passion oh me! all early edd. |
| 32. | l. 107. | Whilst] Till 1646, 1658. |
| | l. 120. | God b'w'ye] God B'w'y' 1648; Good Boy! 1646, 1658. |
| | l. 127. | out; and now] out and out 1646, 1658. |
| | l. 128. | do] do't 1646, 1658. |
| | 'My dearest rival'] Cf. the poem To His Rival, below, pp. 35, 36; and see the advice in letter ii. (p. 300): 'Continue your affection to your rival still: that will secure you from one way of loving, which is in spite.' | 'My dearest rival'] Cf. the poem To His Rival, below, pp. 35, 36; and see the advice in letter ii. (p. 300): 'Continue your affection to your rival still: that will secure you from one way of loving, which is in spite.' |
| | l. 10. | Or] Or else 1658. |
| 33. | Song. | Song. |
| | l. 1. | whosoever] whatsoever 1658. There is a parody of this song in the Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin. |
| 35. | Upon Two Sisters. | Upon Two Sisters. |
| | l. 4. | Or the nice points] So all the editions; but, to make sense, we should read As the nice points. |
| | l. 6. | This line is wanting. Hazlitt supplied it thus: As . . . and Aglaura are. |
| | To His Rival. | To His Rival. |
| | l. 2. | creep where't cannot go] Suckling uses this proverbial phrase below, in the lines Upon Sir John Laurence's bringing Water . . . to Witten. |
| 36. | l. 11. | like clocks] This simile is also used above, in the second of the three 'sonnets,' and in the lines 'That none beguiled be,' p. 25. ​ |
| | ll. 29, 30. | But ev'ry smile, etc.] W. W. writes: 'These two lines are very beautiful. The rest of the poem is hardly above mediocrity, but two such lines do not recompense us for a mass of base matter.' |
| | l. 33. | too many] to many 1646. |
| 37. | Farewell to Love. | Farewell to Love. |
| | | W. W.'s note is: 'This ode is inferior to none of his writings for nature and simplicity, but it partakes of all their faults.' |
| | l. 1. | Well, shadow'd] Well-shadow'd early edd. |
| | ll.11-15. | As he, etc.] Cf. Donne's famous song: 'Go and catch a falling star'; and his Epithalamion for Lord Somerset, 1613, stanza 10: 'As he that sees a star fall, runs apace, And finds a jelly in the place.' Mr. Chambers, in his ed. of Donne (i. 221, 222), cites parallels. For superstitions regarding the origin of star-jelly or witches' butter (Nostoc commune), see Brand, Pop. Antt., iii. 404, 405. |
| | ll. 26-30. | See Burton, Anat. Mel., iii., sect. 2, memb. 5, subs. iii. (ed. Shilleto, 1896, iii. 245), for similar methods of curing love by imagination, especially his quotation from Chrysostom. |
| 38. | l. 31. | gum] Gun 1646, 1648. |
| | l. 33. | hair, 't] heart, old edd.; hair, Hazlitt. The right reading is obvious. |
| | l. 35. | the hay] See Sir John Davies, Orchestra, 1594, l. 64: 'He taught them Rounds and winding Heyes to tread'; Love's Labour's Lost, V., i. 161, with H. C. Hart's note in Arden ed., 1906; and the 'report' song 'Shall we go dance the hay?' in England's Helicon, 1600 (ed. Bullen, 1899, p. 243). |
| | l. 41. | methinks] me think 1658. |
| | l. 44. | Checks] Hazlitt; Check, early edd. The metaphor is from hawking: see Twelfth Night, II., v. 125; III., i. 71. |
| | ll. 46, 47. | They . . . These] It seems more natural to read These . . . They, and suppose the usual reading to be an accidental transposition of the earlier editors. |
| 45. | The Invocation. | The Invocation. |
| | l. 1. | Cf. The Expostulation, below: 'Ye juster deities, That pity lovers' miseries.' ​ |
| | A Poem with the Answer. | A Poem with the Answer. |
| | | For 'Sir Toby Matthews' see note on A Session of the Poets, l. 63. |
| 47. | Love Turned to Hatred. | Love Turned to Hatred. |
| | | The opening lines recall Drayton's famous sonnet (Idea, lxi.): 'Since there's no help,' etc. |
| | l. 9. | I'll hate so perfectly] Cf. Donne, Satire II., ll. 1, 2: 'Sir, though—I thank God for it—I do hate Perfectly all this town.' |
| | The Careless Lover. | The Careless Lover. |
| | l. 6. | know it] knows it, early edd. |
| | ll. 15, etc. | Cf. the fifth stanza of the song 'Honest lover,' above. |
| 48. | ll. 19, 20. | And when, etc.] Cf. the seventeenth stanza of the Ballad upon a Wedding, above. |
| | l. 23. | Blackfriars] The private theatre, where Suckling's plays were produced. |
| | l. 25. | pathless grove] Cf. Against Absence, above, l. 32. |
| 50. | To A Lady, etc. | To A Lady, etc. |
| | | The editor of 1836 notes that Cibber, in the Lives of the Poets published under his name, considered these to be Suckling's best lines. With the contrary opinion of the editor most readers will be in harmony. |
| | l. 2. | muff] Cf. To His Rival, above, l. 31. See Fairholt, Costume in England, ed. Dillon, ii. 291, where the first instance quoted is from Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, 1601, II., i.: 'She always wears a muff if you be remembered.' The earlier term for a muff seems to have been a snuffkin: Fairholt gives the variants snuftkin, snoskin. The muff was much used by dandies after the Restoration (ibid., i. 353, 354). The literary locus classicus for the muff is, of course, the episode in the inn at Upton-on-Severn in Fielding's Tom Jones. |
| | l. 11. | nice] Cf. stanza 17 of Love's World, above: 'Extremely cold, extremely nice.' |
| | The Guiltless Inconstant. | The Guiltless Inconstant. |
| | l. 5. | Each wanton eye] Cf. stanza 5 of Farewell to Love, above. ​ |
| | l. 12. | gesture . . . grace] Cf. Upon Two Sisters, above, l. 22. |
| 51. | Love's Representation. | Love's Representation. |
| | l. 1. | head] hand, early edd. |
| | l. 6. | No hope] Chose hope 1709; In hope, Hazlitt. |
| 52. | l. 33. | beamy fetters] Cf. the stanzas on Lucrece, above, l. 19: 'Her beams, which some dull men call'd hair.' |
| | Song. | Song. |
| | l. 4. | setting up his rest] Cf. Romeo and Juliet, IV., v. 6, and see Nares' explanation of the phrase, s.v. rest. |
| 53. | Upon the Black Spots worn by my Lady D. E. | Upon the Black Spots worn by my Lady D. E. |
| | | Hazlitt asks: 'Could this be the Dorothy Enion who married Thomas Stanley the poet?' The lady referred to by Suckling is obviously a nobleman's daughter, possibly an Egerton. |
| 56. | Desdain. | Desdain. |
| | l. 2. | serments] servens 1658. |
| | | vents] vent, early edd. |
| | l. 6. | Entendez] 1709; N'tendez, earlier editions. |
| | l. 15. | Ni le rompre] In le rompre 1646, 1648, 1658. |
| | l. 16. | Ni d'estre] In d'estre 1658. |
| | | perfide] perfite, early edd. |
| | l. 18. | vous obliger] nous obliger 1658. |
| | l. 20. | Des vœux] Du vous 1658. |
| 57. | Lutea Allison. | Lutea Allison. |
| | | The 1709 ed. calls this poem Lutea Allanson, obviously an error. |
| 58. | Perjury Excused. | Perjury Excused. |
| | l. 7. | And I have bound, etc.] He refers to the Farewell to Love above. |
| | l. 14. | After this poem, in the early editions, occurs the song 'Hast thou seen the down in the air,' which is printed in The Sad One, IV. iii. |
| | Upon the First Sight of My Lady Seymour. | Upon the First Sight of My Lady Seymour. |
| | | There were several ladies at the Stewart Court who bore this title. Francis, younger brother of ​William, Earl of Hertford, and afterwards first Duke of Somerset, was created Baron Seymour of Trowbridge in 1641, and was twice married. Sir Edward Seymour of Berry Pomeroy, second baronet, married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Henry Killigrew; while Anne, daughter of Richard, Earl of Dorset, was widow of Sir Edward Seymour, elder brother of the future Duke of Somerset. One of three ladies may be thus intended. |
| 59. | Upon L. M. Weeping. | Upon L. M. Weeping. |
| | | L. M. is printed by Hazlitt, L(ady) M(iddlesex). It is impossible to identify her with certainty. Suckling's maternal uncle, Lionel Cranfield, married as his second wife in 1621, Anne, daughter of James Bret, Esq., of Hoby, Leicestershire. |
| 61. | His Dream. | His Dream. |
| | l. 16. | Arabick spices] Cf. the passage in Sad One, IV. i., which begins, 'Thy father fed On musk and amber,' etc. |
| 63. | Upon Sir John Laurence's, etc. | Upon Sir John Laurence's, etc. |
| | | Witten is Whitton in the parish of Twickenham, the seat of Suckling's uncle, Lord Middlesex. |
| | l. 8. | For love will creep] Cf. the opening of the poem To His Rival above. |
| | A Barber. | A Barber. |
| | l. 8. | great Sweden's force] This allusion suggests a fairly early date for the poem. The exploits of Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years' War took place between 1630 and 1632. |
| 64, 65. | A Pedlar of Smallwares. | A Pedlar of Smallwares. |
| | | The ladies whose initials are given in this poem cannot be identified with any certainty. L. W. may be Lady Weston. Sir Jerome Weston, styled Baron Weston of Neyland in 1634, succeeded his father, the famous Lord Treasurer, as second Earl of Portland in 1635. His wife was Lady Frances Stewart, second daughter of Esmé, Duke of Lennox, whom he married in 1632. This, at any rate, supplies a date-limit for the poem; but, even so, it is simply matter of conjecture. ​ |
| 65. | An Answer to Some Verses, etc. | An Answer to Some Verses, etc. |
| | l. 6. | herse] The frame of wood or metal on which the pall was suspended above a coffin or tomb. |
| 66. | l. 19. | barbed steed] A horse fully caparisoned for battle: cf. Rich. III., I. i. 10, and note citing parallel passages in Arden ed. of play. |
| 68. | Song. | Song. |
| | l. 20. | promont] Nares gives an instance of this form from the tragedy of Hoffman, 1631: 'Ile to yon promont's top, and there survey What shipwrackt passengers the Belgique sea Casts from her fomy entrailes by mischance.' |
| 69. | Detraction Execrated. | Detraction Execrated. |
| | l. 29. | correspondency] correspondence had 1709; correspondence, Hazlitt. |
| | l. 36. | lose't] Hazlitt; lost 1646, and other early edd.; loos'd 1709. |
| 70. | Song. | Song. |
| | l. 20. | The gentle and quick approaches] Cf. second stanza of ''Tis now since I sat down,' etc. |
| 71-73. | Cantilena Politico-Jocunda. | Cantilena Politico-Jocunda. |
| | | This was first printed by Hazlitt from Harl. MS. 367, where no author's name is given to it. On the endorsement is a note in the handwriting of Sir Henry Ellis, principal librarian of the British Museum, 1827-36, attributing it to Suckling. The date of the piece is usually assigned to about 1623, from the apparent mention of the Duc de Luynes, who died at Montauban in 1622. Some of the allusions, however, seem to point to a rather later date. In any case. Suckling's authorship is by no means certain, and may be left an open question. In the present edition, the poem has been carefully collated with the original MS. |
| 73, 74. | Verses. | Verses. |
| | | Printed by Hazlitt from a transcript by Dyce, communicated to Notes and Queries, 1st ser., vol. i., from a small volume of English poetry, temp. ​Charles I. In that volume they were headed 'Sir John Suckling's Verses.' |
| 74, 75. | Sir John Suckling's Answer. | Sir John Suckling's Answer. |
| | | Printed by Hazlitt from Ashmole MS. 36, f. 54. It seems to have been written in answer to some satirical doggerel by Sir John Mennes on Suckling's preparations for the Scottish war. The allusion to Lashly refers, of course, to the Scottish general Leslie, who afterwards led the Scottish army to victory at Newburn. |