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SIR JOHN SUCKLING
PAGE
| 10. | l. 45. | cup-bearer's place] Carew was appointed a sewer to the royal table about 1630. |
| l. 47. | travelling in France] See Aubrey, loc. cit., i. 205, 206, where Sir John Mennes's satirical lines are given. Aubrey says that the mischance was got in Westminster: 'travelling in France' is thus merely an allusion to its nature. | |
| l. 52. | precedent] President all early editions. Many parallels may be found for this form—e.g., Shakespeare, Richard III., III. vi. 7 (quarto). | |
| 11. | l. 63. | Toby Mathews] Sir Tobie Matthew, son of Tobie Matthew, Archbishop of York. His conversion to Romanism brought him the reputation of a dangerous intriguer: Fuller, Church History, lib. xi., sect. i., § 76, expresses the common Protestant estimate of his character. Harrington, quoted in Dict. Nat. Biog., esteemed him 'likely for learning, memory, sharpness of wit, and sweetness of behaviour.' Bacon, whose Essays and Wisdom of the Ancients he translated into Italian, is said to have added his Essay on Friendship to the rest at his request and in his honour. His favour at court was largely due to Lady Carlisle's friendship: his panegyric on her character, published with a volume of his letters in 1660, had been seen in MS. as early as 1637, the presumptive date of this poem. |
| l. 64. | ear] ears all early editions. | |
| l. 66. | Lady Carlisle] Lady Lucy Percy, daughter of Henry, ninth Earl of Northumberland, and second wife of James Hay, first Earl of Carlisle of the second creation. Her political intrigues are matter of history; and it will be remembered that Browning made her the chief female character of his Strafford. She was a patroness of poets: Waller, Herrick, and D'Avenant addressed verses to her when she was in mourning for her husband; she was Carew's Lucinda; and cf. the dialogue between Suckling and Carew, pp. 21, 22. Sir Tobie Matthew writes of her: 'Her wit being most eminent among the rest of her great abilities, she affects the conversation of the persons who are most famed for it'; and again he calls her 'too lofty and dignified to be capable of friendship, and |
