To Will Bartlet sure all the wits meant well,*

But first they would see how his "Snow" would sell; Will smil'd, and swore in their judgments they went less, That concluded of merit upon success.

Suddenly taking his place again,

He gave way to Selwin, who straight stept in ;

But alas! he had been so lately a wit,

That Apollo himself scarce knew him yet.

Toby Matthews (plague on him) how came he there?
Was whispering nothing in somebody's ear,
When he had the honour to be nam'd in court;
But, sir, you must thank my Lady Carlisle for 't;

For had not her "Character" furnish'd you ont
With something of handsome, without all doubt
You and your sorry lady-muse had been

In the number of those that were not let in.

In haste from the court two or three came in,

And they brought letters, forsooth, from the Queen ! 'T was discreetly done too, for if they had come Without them, they had scarce been let into the room.

This made a dispute; for 't was plain to be seen
Each man had a mind to gratify the Queen;

But Apollo himself could not think it fit;

There was difference, he said, betwixt fooling and wit.

Suckling next was call'd, but did not appear;
But straight one whisper'd Apollo i' th' ear,

That of all men living he car'd not for 't;
He lov'd not the Muses so well as his sport;

And priz'd black eyes, or a lucky hit
At bowls, above all the trophies of wit;

But Apollo was angry, and publicly said 'T was fit that a fine were set on 's head.

Wat Montagu next stood forth to his trial,
And did not so much as suspect a denial;
But witty Apollo ask'd him first of all
If he understood his own "Pastoral."

For if he cou'd do it, 't would plainly appear
He understood more than any man there,
And did merit the bays above all the rest,

But the Monsieur was modest, and silence confest.

During these troubles in the court was hid
One that Apollo soon miss'd,-little Sid;

And having spy'd him, call'd him out of the throng,
And advis'd him in his ear not to write so strong.

Murray was summon'd; but 't was urg'd, that he
Was chief already of another company.

Hales, set by himself, most gravely did smile
To see them about nothing keep such a coil;
Apollo had spy'd him, but knowing his mind
Past by, and call'd Falkland, that sat just behind :

But he was of late so gone with divinity,
That he had almost forgot his poetry;

Though to say the truth, and Apollo did know it,
He might have been both his priest and his poet.

At length who but an Alderman did appear,
At which Will Davenant began to swear;
But wiser Apollo bade him draw nigher,
And, when he was mounted a little higher,

He openly declar'd, that the best sign

Of good store of wit was to have good store of coin;

And without a syllable more or less said,
He put the laurel on the Alderman's head.

At this all the wits were in such amaze,

That, for a good while, they did nothing but gaze
One upon another; not a man in the place

But had discontent writ at large in his face.

Only the small Poets cheer'd up again

Out of hope, as 't was thought, of borrowing;
But sure they are out; for he forfeits his "crown,"
When he lends to any Poet about the town.

1 “A Session of the Poets."—Of the "poets" here mentioned, Selden is the famous jurist; Sands (or Sandys) the translator of Ovid; Digby, Sir Kenelm; Chillingworth, the controversialist; "Lucan's translator," May; Jack Vaughan, Sir John, afterwards Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; Porter, Endymion, an accomplished courtier and loyalist; Toby Matthews, a busy body about town, author of a "Character" of Lady Carlisle, of whom he was a great admirer; Wat Montague, Walter of the Manchester family, author of a poem called the "Sheppard's Paradise," who became a Roman Catholic, and had an abbey given him in France, whence he is called

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Monsieur;" Little Sid, Sidney Godolphin, one of the many great men of the age, who were diminutive in person; Hales, the "ever-memorable" of Eton; Falkland, Lord Falkland, the romantic victim of the civil wars. Ben Jonson, Waller,

Carew, and Davenant need no explanation. Who the others were I cannot say.

2 For his were call'd Works, where others were but Plays.”An actual boast of Jonson's. "Works" they certainly were,—the result of the greatest labour and pains. Shakspeare's plays were emanations. But the classic Ben thought no title for his books comparable to one that was a translation of the Latin word opera. The New Inn, subsequently mentioned, is the name of one of his comedies.

3“A cup-bearer's place."-Carew held this office at court.

4 “How his ' Snow' would sell."—A poem, I presume, so called.

5" There was difference, he said, betwixt fooling and wit." This seems hardly respectful towards the Queen from the son of his Majesty's Comptroller of the Household. But perhaps Henrietta Maria was sometimes forced to give letters, which she was not unwilling to see regarded accordingly. Still the tone of the rejection, notwithstanding what is said of the wish to gratify her, seems hardly such as would have been liked by a woman of her temper. Had she ever called Suckling a fool? and so provoked him to show the difference between a real wit like himself, and some of the pretenders in her Majesty's train?

6

He forfeits his "crown,"

When he lends to any Poet about the town.

A pun on the word crown.

Suckling's dramas are so confused and obscure, that they seem to have been written when he was half awake. Probably he was too impatient to fashion them properly. The construction of a regular play with not enough passion in it to make it flow off at a heat, must have been a heavy task to a man accustomed to the excitement of the gaming-table, and with his hands full of "affairs of the heart." Sir John's most renowned effusion, therefore, was a Ballad on a Wedding; and exquisite of its kind it is. Its only fault is that it commences in language more provincial than it goes on with. Yet times and manners are so altered, that I can only give the two following portraits out of it. The latter fortunately contains the most charming touches in the poem. The bridegroom is said to have been Lord Broghill, the well-known soldier and politician (afterwards Earl of Orrery), and the bride, Lady Margaret Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk.