Page:Works of Sir John Suckling.djvu/13



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 whose chief estates lay at Woodton, in Norfolk, and Barsham, in Suffolk, in the neighbourhood of Bungay and Beccles. His father. Sir John Suckling, became Secretary of State in 1632; his mother was a sister of Lionel Cranfield, who in 1622 was created Baron Cranfield of Cranfield and Earl of Middlesex; and he himself was born in February, 1608-09, at Cranfield's house at Whitton, between Twickenham and Hounslow. He was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1623, and in 1627, the year of his father's death, was admitted to Gray's Inn. He succeeded to his father's estates, and appears to have spent the time between 1627 and 1630, when he received knighthood, in travelling abroad. His letters bear evident testimony to the fact that he joined the contingent of English soldiers who served in the army of Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War; he was certainly with them during the winter of 1631-32, and, although his indications of his movements are very slight, they seem to point to his presence at the battle of Breitenfeld. He certainly returned to London in May, 1632, and seems to have spent the greater part of his time there for the