Suckling, Sir John, 1609–42, one of the English Cavalier poets Cavalier poets, a group of English poets associated with Charles I and his exiled son. Most of their work was done between c.1637 and 1660. Their poetry embodied the life and culture of upper-class, pre-Commonwealth England, mixing sophistication with
..... Click the link for more information. . He was educated at Cambridge and Gray's Inn. An accomplished gallant, he was given to all the extravagances of the court of Charles I. He was a prolific lover, a sparkling wit, and an excessive gamester. The antiquary John Aubrey credits him with having invented the game of cribbage. Subjected to a humiliating defeat in Charles I's Scottish campaign of 1639, he was said to be more fit for the boudoir than the battlefield. An ardent royalist, he took part in the plot to rescue (1641) Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of, 1593–1641, English statesman. Regularly elected to Parliament from 1614 on, he became one of the critics of George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham, and of the
..... Click the link for more information. , from the Tower of London and to secure aid for Charles from the French. On the failure of these endeavors Suckling fled to France, where, it is conjectured, being unable to face poverty, he was driven to suicide. After his death appeared Fragmenta Aurea (1646), a collection of poems, plays, letters, and tracts, including the essay "An Account of Religion by Reason." Today he is best known for the poem "Ballad Upon a Wedding" and the lyrics "Why so pale and wan, fond lover?" and "Out upon it, I have loved three whole days together."

Bibliography

See his works ed. by T. Clayton and L. A. Beaurline (1971).

Suckling, Sir John

(born February 1609, Whitton, Middlesex, Eng.—died 1642, Paris, France) English Cavalier poet, dramatist, and courtier. He inherited his father's considerable estates at age 18 and became prominent at court as a gallant and a gamester; he is credited with inventing cribbage. After participating in a foiled plot to rescue the Earl of Strafford from the Tower of London, he fled to France and is believed to have committed suicide. He wrote four plays, the best being the lively comedy The Goblins (1638). His reputation as a poet rests on his lyrics, the best of which are easy and natural. His masterpiece is “A Ballad upon a Wedding,” written in the style and metre of the contemporary street ballad.