Sir John Suckling (1609-1642), was an English Cavalier poet, born in Whitton, Middlesex, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge University. On the death of his father in 1627 he became heir to large estates. In the next year Suckling began an extended tour of the Continent, and in 1631-32 served with the forces of the Swedish king Gustavus II in defense of the Protestant cause. In 1641 he took an active part in the abortive plot to rescue Sir Thomas Wentworth, the pro-Royalist Earl of Stafford, from the Tower of London, in which he had been imprisoned at the time of the Great Rebellion. As a result of his complicity in the plot, Suckling was forced to flee to the Continent. Impoverished and in despair, he is said to have poisoned himself in Paris in the summer of 1642.
Suckling's works, few of which were published during his lifetime, were collected under the title
Fragmenta Aurea ("Golden Fragments". 1646). The volume contains three plays.
Aglaura (1637),
The Goblins (1638), and
Brennoralt, or the
Discontented Colonel (1639); a theological tract titled
An Account of Religion by Reason; and miscellaneous poems. In a later edition (1658) appeared an unfinished tragedy,
The Sad One. Suckling's fame depends entirely upon his lyrics, which are distinguished for their grace and gaiety.
