SOURCE: “Introduction,” in The Works of Sir John Suckling in Prose and Verse, George Routledge & Sons, 1910, pp. ix-xvii.

In the following excerpted introduction to The Works of Sir John Suckling, Thompson characterizes Suckling as a minor poet, and offers a brief summary of his life and work.

The Fragmenta Aurea of Sir John Suckling were published in 1646, four years after their author's death, ‘by a friend to perpetuate his memory.’ A second edition followed in 1648, and in 1658 a third edition contained an additional collection of poems and letters and the unfinished tragedy of The Sad One. The success of these volumes was aided doubtless by the reputation for high accomplishment and ready wit which Suckling had enjoyed, by the part which he had taken in the public affairs of a critical epoch, by his sudden disappearance, and the mystery which attended his death. He belonged to a family...