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John Suckling

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’Tis expectation makes a blessing dear;
Heaven were not heaven, if we knew what it were.

Sir John Suckling (10 February 1609 – after May 1641) was an English poet, prominent among those renowned for careless gaiety and wit – the accomplishments of a cavalier poet. He also invented the card game cribbage.

Quotes

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Aglaura (1638; 1646)

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  • Why so pale and wan, fond lover
      Prithee, why so pale?
    Will, when looking well can't move her,
      Looking ill prevail?
      Prithee, why so pale? ...
    Quit, quit, for shame, this will not move:
      This cannot take her.
    If of herself she cannot love,
      Nothing can make her:
      The devil take her!


  • Our sins, like to our shadows,
    When our day is in its glory, scarce appear:
    Towards our evening how great and monstrous
    They are!
    • Act V, sc. iv, l. 94


  • But, as when an authentic watch is shown,
    Each man winds up and rectifies his own;
    So in our very judgments.
    • Epilogue, l. 6


The Goblins (1638; 1646)

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  • The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman:
    Mahu, Mahu is his name.
    • Act III, sc. ii, l. 36
      Compare: Shakespeare, King Lear, act III, sc. iv, l. 147


  • A health to the nut-brown lass,
    With the hazel eyes: let it pass. ...
    As much to the lively grey;
    'Tis as good i' th' night as day.


  • Just so, i' th' nick! i' th' very nick of time!
    • Act V, sc. i, l. 23


  • High characters (cries one); and he would see
    Things that ne'er were, nor are, nor ne'er will be.
    • Epilogue, l. 7
      Compare: "Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, / Thinks what ne’er was, nor is, nor e’er shall be."—Pope, Essay on Criticism, pt. ii, l. 53. "There’s no such thing in Nature, and you’ll draw / A faultless monster which the world ne’er saw."—Sheffield, Essay on Poetry


Brennoralt (1646)

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  • She's pretty to walk with,
    And witty to talk with,
    And pleasant, too, to think on.
    • Act II, sc. ii, l. 13


  • Her face is like the Milky Way i' the sky,
    A meeting of gentle lights without a name.
    • Act III, sc. 4, l. 23


Fragmenta Aurea (1646, 1648, 1658)

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  •             Love is the fart
                Of every heart;
    It pains a man when 'tis kept close,
    And others doth offend when 'tis let loose.


  • 'Tis now, since I sat down before
      That foolish fort, a heart,
    (Time strangely spent), a year and more,
      And still I did my part.


  • I thought to undermine the heart
      By whispering in the ear.
    • Untitled ("'Tis Now, Since I Sat Down Before"), st. 3


  • Sure Beauty's empires, like to greater states,
    Have certain periods set, and hidden fates.
    • Sonnets, I ("Dost see how unregarded now"), st. 3


  • O! for some honest lover's ghost,
            Some kind unbodied post
            Sent from the shades below!
            I strangely long to know,
    Whether the nobler chaplets wear,
    Those that their mistress' scorn did bear,
            Or those that were us'd kindly.
    • Sonnets, III ("O! for some honest lover's ghost"), st. 1


  • If I a fancy take
            To black and blue,
    That fancy doth it beauty make.
    • Sonnets, IV ("Of thee, kind boy, I ask no red and white"), st. 1


  • Women enjoy'd (whate'er before th' have been)
    Are like romances read, or sights once seen:
    Fruition's dull, and spoils the play much more
    Than if one read or knew the plot before.
    'Tis expectation makes a blessing dear;
    Heaven were not heaven, if we knew what it were.


  • They who know all the wealth they have, are poor;
    He's only rich that cannot tell his store.
    • "Against Fruition", st. 5


No grape, that’s kindly ripe, could be
So round, so plump, so soft as she,
Nor half so full of juice.
  • The maid—and thereby hangs a tale;
    For such a maid no Whitson-ale
        Could ever yet produce:
    No grape, that’s kindly ripe, could be
    So round, so plump, so soft as she,
        Nor half so full of juice.


  • Her feet beneath her petticoat,
    Like little mice, stole in and out,
        As if they fear'd the light:
    But O, she dances such a way!
    No sun upon an Easter-day
        Is half so fine a sight.
    • "A Ballad upon a Wedding", st. 8
      Compare: "Her pretty feet, like snails, did creep / A little out, and then, / As if they played at bo-peep, / Did soon draw in again"—Herrick, To Mistress Susanna Southwell


  • Her cheeks so rare a white was on,
    No daisy makes comparison
        (Who sees them is undone);
    For streaks of red were mingled there,
    Such as are on a Catherine pear
        (The side that's next the sun).
    • "A Ballad upon a Wedding", st. 10


  • Her lips were red; and one was thin,
    Compar'd to that was next her chin
        (Some bee had stung it newly).
    • "A Ballad upon a Wedding", st. 11


Last Remains (1659)

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  • Out upon it! I have lov'd
      Three whole days together;
    And am like to love three more,
      If it prove fair weather.
    Time shall moult away his wings,
      Ere he shall discover
    In the whole wide world again
      Such a constant lover.


  • Had it any been but she,
      And that very face,
    There had been at least ere this
      A dozen dozen in her place.
    • "A Poem with the Answer", st. 4


  • I prithee send me back my heart,
       Since I cannot have thine;
    For if from yours you will not part,
       Why then shouldst thou have mine?


  • But love is such a mystery,
      I cannot find it out;
    For when I think I'm best resolv'd,
      I then am most in doubt.
    • Song ("I Prithee Send Me Back My Heart"), st. 4


Misattributed

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  • She's a savour to the glass,
    An excuse to make it pass.
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