Why so dull and mute, young sinner? Will, when speaking well can't win her, Prythee, why so mute? Quit, quit for shame! this will not move, This cannot take her; If of herself she will not love, Nothing can make her. The Devil take her. Suckling was the first writer (in English) of those critical Sessions, or gatherings together of the poets for the adjustment of their claims to superiority, which gave rise to similar pleasantries on the part of Rochester, Sheffield and others. Sir John's Sessions of the Poets seems to have been poured forth at a sitting, as heartily as his bottle. It has all the negligence, but at the same time spirit, of a first impulsive sketch; and perhaps it might have been hurt by correction; though such a verse as the second in the fifth stanza could hardly have been intended to remain. The whole poem here given almost verbatim. A SESSION OF THE POETS.' A session was held the other day, Was now to be given to him best deserved : And therefore the wits of the town came thither, Thought to bear the laurel away that day. There was Selden, and he sat close by the chair; Sands with Townsend, for they kept no order, There was Lucan's translator too, and he The first that broke silence was good old Ben, Prepar'd with Canary wine; And he told them plainly he deserv'd the bays, For his were call'd "Works," where others were but Plays. And bid them remember how he had purg'd the stage Of errors that had lasted many an age; And he hop'd they didn't think the Silent Woman, Apollo stopt him there, and bid him not go on ; But those that were there, thought it not fit And therefore Apollo call'd him back again, Tom Carew was next, but he had a fault That wouldn't well stand with a Laureat; His muse was so slow, that the issue of his brain And all that were present there did agree A Laureat muse should be easy and free. Yet sure 'twas n't that; but 'twas thought that his grace' Consider'd he was well he had a cup-bearer's place 3 Will Davenant, asham'd of a foolish mischance And surely the company would have beer. content • Who was this? * Pronounced Carey. But in all their records, either in verse or prose, 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; That Apollo himself scarce knew him yet. Toby Matthews (plague on him, how came he there?) For had not her "Character" furnish'd you out In the number of those that were not let in. In haste from the court two or three came in, This made a dispute; for 'twas plain to be seen 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; And priz'd black eyes, or a lucky hit Wat Montagu next stood forth to his trial, For if he cou'd do it, 'twould plainly appear But the Monsieur was modest, and silence confest. During these troubles in the court was hid And having spy'd him, call'd him out of the throng, Murray was summon'd; but 'twas urg'd, that he Hales, set by himself, most gravely did smile But he was of late so gone with divinity, Though to say the truth, and Apollo did know it, At length who but an Alderman did appear, He openly declar'd, that the best sign Of good store of wit was to have good store of coin; 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 Only the small Poets cheer'd up again Out of hope, as 'twas thought, of borrowing; "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, after. wards Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; Porter, Endymion, an accomplished courtier and loyalist; Toby Matthews, a busybody 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 "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 labor 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? He forfeits his “crown,” When he lends to any Poet about the town. A run on the word crown. Suckling's dramas are so confused and obscure, that they |