On this day in 1609 the Cavalier poet Sir John Suckling was born. A soldier as well as a poet, he is famous as the inventor of the card game cribbage. He is said to have hit upon the plan of sending packs of marked playing cards to several of the stately homes in the land and then travelling around the country playing cribbage and amassing a huge fortune.

Suckling’s short life had many ups and downs but after falling on hard times, he is believed to have poisoned himself in Paris, aged 32, rather than face living in poverty.

His opportunist attitude appears in his poetry:

Why so pale and wan, fond lover?
Prithee, why so pale?
Will, when looking well can’t move her,
Looking ill prevail?
Prithee, why so pale?
Why so dull and mute, young sinner?
Prithee, why so mute?
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 will not love,
Nothing can make her:
The devil take her!

Today I will remember the distinction between pleasure and happiness and not pursue the first at the expense of the second.