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Sir Richard Sackville died in 1566, when his son Thomas was already thirty years of age. Very little is known about Thomas’ early life; we only know that he went for a short time to Oxford (Hertford), and subsequently to the Inner Temple. While at Oxford he attracted some attention as a poet and writer of sonnets, but I have only been able to find one of these early sonnets, written for Hoby’s translation of the Courtier of Count Baldessar Castilio (published in 1561), and which I quote, not so much for its worth as for its interest as a little-known work from the pen of one who, as the author of our earliest tragedy, has a certain renown:

These royal Kings, that rear up to the sky

Their palace tops, and deck them all with gold:

With rare and curious works they feed the eye,

And show what riches here great princes hold.

A rarer work, and richer far in worth,

Castilio’s hand presenteth here to thee:

No proud nor golden court doth he set forth

But what in court a courtier ought to be.