Suckling

“ W. W.'s note is as follows: 'This poem is remarkable for ease and sprightliness, the true characteristics of Sir J. Suckling's verse, and may therefore be taken as a fair specimen of his powers. Suckling seems to have been intimately acquainted with the female heart; he praises, ridicules, and adores the sex in the same breath. ”

“ One lady, perfectly normal, states that she has had stronger sexual feelings in suckling her children than she has ever experienced with her husband, but that so far as possible she has tried to repress them, as she regards them as brutish under these circumstances. Many other women state generally that suckling is the most delicious physical feeling they have ever experienced. ”

“ It follows that, where Suckling excels as a poet, we find him dealing with concrete subjects, or using imagery with which he is practically familiar. This is the merit of a lyric like ''Tis now since I sat down,' in which the details of the simile are so perfectly adjusted to the subject of the poem. Suckling's obvious cynicism where affairs of the heart were concerned expresses itself at once in verse. 'Why so pale and wan, fond lover?' is a happy impromptu in which the natural Suckling declares himself without reserve. When he turns to hymn constant love in 'O! ”

“ Suckling’s reputation as a poet depends on his minor pieces. They have wit and fancy, and at times exquisite felicity of expression. “Easy, natural Suckling,” Millamant’s comment in Congreve’s Way of the World (Act iv., sc. i.) is a just tribute to their spontaneous quality. ”

“ Already in 1879, Lindner, a Hungarian pediatrist, devoted a penetrating study to the sucking or pleasure-sucking of the child. Freud emphasizes that the suckling enjoys sexual pleasure, in the taking of nourishment, which it ever after seeks to procure by sucking independent of taking food. To many it may occasion surprise to learn that sucking is exhibited independently of its relation to the hunger instinct. ”

“ It is a remarkable proof of the general indifference with which in Europe even the fairly constant and prominent characteristics of the psychology of women have been treated until recent times that, so far as I am aware,—though I have made no special research to this end,—no one before the end of the eighteenth century had recorded the fact that the act of suckling tends to produce in women voluptuous sexual emotions. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Many of these ceremonials one regularly discovers in the analyses of neurotics. We shall not dwell further here upon the erogenous zones activity in the suckling, but emphasizing again its importance along with the importance of autoeroticism in the sexuality of the suckling will pass to the next phase of the psycho-sexual evolution of man—the latent period.
The germs of sexual excitement in the new-born develop for a time, then undergo a progressive suppression in a period of partial or complete sexual latency. ”

“ Though I approach with all humility in presenting these Poems to your ladyship, yet dare I not despair of their acceptation, since it were a kind of felony to offer them to any other. They come to you at so many capacities, that they seem rather to return and rebound back to you, as the famous Arcadia was sent to that excellent Lady, who was sister to that great author. Your ladyship best knows, that I now bring the last Remains of your incomparable brother, Sir John Suckling. ”

“ Hazlitt cites the opinion of an anonymous commentator, that 'Moore's description of Lilias (sic) in The Loves of the Angels appears to be an imitation of Suckling.' The resemblance, if there be any, is of the most general kind. W. W., commenting on the 'bashful tenderness' of the bride at l. 49, remarks that Suckling's 'portraits of female beauty are not so finished as those of Moore and Byron; but they possess greater attraction, because he gives only a glimpse, and leaves the rest to fancy. ”

“ She rises up weeping, and hanging down her head
Zir. So rises day, blushing at night's deformity;
And so the pretty flowers, blubber'd with dew,125
And overwash'd with rain, hang down their heads. ”

“ You say I am but a poor Suckling,
⁠And thus you cry me down.
Well, it's no matter what you say
Of me or mine, that ran away:⁠20
⁠I hold it no good fashion
A loyal subject's blood to spill,
When we have knaves enough to kill
⁠By force and proclamation. ”

“ This might be sufficient to make you acknowledge that these are the real and genuine works of Sir John Suckling; but, if you can yet doubt, let any judicious soul seriously consider the freedom of the fancy, richness of the conceipt, proper expression, with that air and spirit diffus'd through every part; and he will find such a perfect resemblance with what hath been formerly known, that he cannot with modesty doubt them to be his. ”

“ Her cheeks so rare a white was on,55
No daisy makes comparison
(Who sees them is undone) ;
For streaks of red were mingled there,
Such as are on a Katherne pear
(The side that's next the sun) .60
Her lips were red; ”

“ Her feet beneath her petticoat,
Like little mice, stole in and out,
As if they fear'd the light:45
But O, she dances such a way!
No sun upon an Easter-day
Is half so fine a sight. ”

“ Sir Henry Vane's negotiations with Gustavus were not successful: England had not enough money to offer. Sir Henry's son, afterwards the famous Sir Henry Vane of Commonwealth times, had been attached to the English Embassy at Vienna, and had returned to England shortly before Suckling. ”

“ Sonnets: III. l. 1. Suckling's opening is obviously inspired by the famous beginning of Donne's Love's Deity (loc. cit., i. 56) . A similar opening to a poem by James Greene, called Girls' Dreams, is mentioned in a note quoted by Hazlitt. ”

“ The editor of 1836 notes that Cibber, in the Lives of the Poets published under his name, considered these to be Suckling's best lines. With the contrary opinion of the editor most readers will be in harmony. ”

“ Than that eye-pleasing fruit that caus'd the jar
Betwixt the goddesses, and tempted more
Than fair Atlanta's ball, though gilded o'er.10
I gaz'd awhile on these, and presently
A silver stream ran softly gliding by,
Upon whose banks, lilies more white than snow
New fall'n from heaven, with violets mixt, did grow ”

“ In a few months the discovery of the Army Plot brought Suckling's career in England to a close. 9. A Session of the Poets. 'Sessions' is the form printed in the earliest three editions. The date is probably about 1637, the year of Ben Jonson's death. Rochester imitated this poem about 1683 in his Trial of the Poets for the Bays. Another imitation is Sheffield's Election of a Poet Laureat, 1719. l. 10. ”

“ A health to the nut-brown lass,
With the hazel eyes: let it pass.
She that has good eyes,85
Has good thighs.
Let it pass, let it pass.
As much to the lively grey;
'Tis as good i' th' night as day:
She that has good eyes,90
Has good thighs. ”

“ 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? ”

“ It seems probable that what Suckling wrote was, It is because to th' loadstone yet 'twas never brought, and that a misprint in the first edition brought about the subsequent introduction of near. To my Friend Will. Davenant. The two pieces addressed to D'Avenant were prefixed to D'Avenant's collected poems in 1638. Madagascar, printed 1635, was dedicated to Henry Jermyn, afterwards Earl of St. Albans. Aubrey, loc. cit., i. 205, calls Jermyn and Endymion Porter D'Avenant's 'two Mecaenasses.' D'Avenant had become poet laureate in 1637. 20. To my Friend Will. D'Avenant, on his other Poems. l. 3. ”

“ Nassurat. You and I are but savers with all this,
Pellegrin: but, by the Lord, 'tis well we came off as we
did: all was at stake.
Prince. Come, no more whispers here:285
Let's in, and there unriddle to each other;
For I have much to ask.
Orsabrin. A life! a friend! a brother! and a mistress!
O, what a day was here! Gently, my joys, distil,
Lest you should break the vessel you should fill.290
EPILOGUE
And how, and how, in faith—a pretty plot ”

“ Of the movements called by him instinctive in the child, Professor Preyer gives a full account. Herr Schneider does the same; and as their descriptions agree with each other and with what other writers about infancy say, I will base my own very brief statement on theirs.
Sucking: almost perfect at birth; not coupled with any congenital tendency to seek the breast, this being a later acquisition. As we have seen, sucking is a transitory instinct.
Biting an object placed in the mouth, chewing and grinding the teeth; licking sugar; making characteristic grimaces over bitter and sweet tastes ”

“ Let's lose no time, but leave her:
That giant upon air will live,35
And hold it out for ever.
10
To such a place our camp remove,
As will no siege abide:
I hate a fool that starves her love. ”

“ In the action of sucking, the lips of the infant are closed around the nipple of its mother, till he has filled his stomach, and the pleasure occasioned by the stimulus of this grateful food succeeds. Then the sphincter of the mouth, fatigued by the continued action of sucking, is relaxed; and the antagonist muscles of the face gently acting, produce the smile of pleasure: as cannot but be seen by all who are conversant with children. ”

“ That love hath wings and soars aloft.
Then let me grow in my desire,
Though I be martyr'd in that fire;
For grace it is enough for me,
But only to love such as he:20
For never shall my thoughts be base,
Though luckless, yet without disgrace:
Then let him that my love shall blame
Or clip love's wings, or quench love's flame. ”

“ Will, when speaking well can't win her,
Saying nothing do't?
Prithee, why so mute?
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! ”

“ Why should I not come myself? Those tyrants, business, honour, and necessity, what have they to do with you and I? Why should we not do love's commands before theirs, whose sovereignty is but usurped upon us? Shall we not smell to roses 'cause others do look on, or gather them 'cause there are prickles, and something that would hinder us? Dear, I fain would, and know no hindrance but what must come from you; and why should any come? since 'tis not I, but you, must be sensible how much time we lose, it being long time since I was not myself, but
Yours. ”

“ There acts, as glorious as the sun,
Are by her veneration spun,
In one of which I would have brought
A pure, unspotted, abstract thought,
Considering her as she is good,⁠45
Not in her frame of flesh and blood.
These atoms then, all in her sight,
I bad him join, that so he might
Discern between true love's creation,
And that love's form that's now in fashion.⁠50
Love, granting unto my request,
Began to labour in my breast ”

“ Alas, it is too late! I can no more
Love now than I have loved before:
My Flora, 'tis my fate, not I;
And what you call contempt is destiny.
I am no monster, sure: I cannot show⁠5
Two hearts; one I already owe ”

“ And then, whose fate shall be to die
First of us two, by legacy
Shall all his store bequeath, and give
His love to him that shall survive;⁠40
For no one stock can ever serve
To love so much as she'll deserve. ”

“ Enter Lorenzo and his father, with servants, whispering together and frowning. They pass over the stage, and exeunt
Scene II
Enter Lorenzo solus, as going to prison
Arm'd with the love of sovereignty and revenge,
I'll ravish fortune, and all engines try,
That heaven or hell have yet discovered;
But I will scale my end, and plant desire
As high as any thought durst e'er aspire.5
The dotage of the king shall not secure thee,
Poor old man!
Clarimont, I come: this night our quarrel ends!
Nothing but death could ever make us friends. ”

“ At my arrival here I am saluted by all as risen from the dead, and have had joy given me preposterously and as impertinently as they give it to men who marry where they do not love. If I should now die in earnest, my friends have nothing to pay me, for they have discharged the rites of funeral sorrow beforehand. ”

“ Hopes join'd with doubts, and joys with April tears,
That crowns our love with pleasures: these are gone
When once we come to full fruition,⁠10
Like waking in a morning, when all night
Our fancy hath been fed with true delight. ”

“ Yet still I love the fairsome (why?
For nothing but to please my eye) ;⁠10
And so the fat and soft-skinn'd dame
I'll flatter to appease my flame:
For she that's musical I'll long,
When I am sad, to sing a song. ”

“ Thus absence dies, and dying proves
No absence can subsist with loves
That do partake of fair perfection;⁠15
Since in the darkest night they may
By love's quick motion find a way
To see each other by reflection. ”

“ May these my curses light upon his head:
May he be first in love, and let it be
With a most known and black deformity,
Nay, far surpass all witches that have been,5
Since our first parents taught us how to sin! ”