ell founded that his death
occurred some time during that same year. One account says that he
poisoned himself at Paris. A more popular story is from letters in Lord
Oxford's collection, and is given both by Spence and by Oldys. Sir John
arrived late at night in Calais. In the morning, he found that his
servant had run away with his money and papers. He called for a horse,
and on drawing on his boot, felt a sharp pain, but making nothing of it
in his hurry, he mounted and drove off in hot pursuit. The dishonest
valet was apprehended, and the property recovered. Then he complained,
the tale goes on to say, of pain in one of his feet; his boot was found
to be full of blood. The servant had placed a nail in his master's boot,
which had been driven into the flesh. He fainted from loss of blood,
fell into a violent fever, and died in a few days. This, at least, is
believed to be certain: that he perished in early manhood--almost before
time was given him to repent of the follies of youth--in miserable
exile from the land of his birth and kindred.

Suckling's literary remains, as we have already stated, consist of
poems, letters, and dramas. These last-named productions were four in
number. _Aglaura_, which was _presented at the Private House in
Blackfriars by his Majesty's Servants_, is a tragedy, the scene of which
is laid in Persia. This play was brought upon the stage in a style of
princely magnificence. The dresses were of rich material, profusely
ornamented with gold and silver, the kind indulgence of the audience,
for once, not being asked to attribute an extraordinary value to
professional tinsel. The author is said to have laid out four hundred
pounds for this occasion. _Brennoralt_, also a tragedy, was first
published under the title of _The Discontented Colonel_, in 1639, as a
satire on the Scottish insurgents. _The Goblins_, a comedy in five acts,
is enlivened by the presence of a motley crew of devils, clowns,
wenches, and fiddlers; and an unfinished piece, entitled _The Sad One_,
may also be classed as a tragedy, as it opens briskly with a 'murder
within' in the very first scene, which undoubtedly would have culminated
in wholesale horrors had the author gone on and completed the play.

We will not stop for any minute examination of these dramas. Suffice it
to say, that they are devoid of interest at the present day; and from
what we have been able to read of them, we question whether the success
that is said t