Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland
Encyclopedia
Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland (c. 1610 – 20 September 1643) was an English
author and politician who sat in the House of Commons
from 1640 to 1642. He fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War
and was killed in action at the First Battle of Newbury
.
, afterwards 1st Viscount Falkland, and his wife Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland, whose father Sir Lawrence Tanfield
was at that time Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer
. Henry Cary, a member of an ancient Devon
family, was lord deputy of Ireland
from 1622 to 1629. In 1621 Lucius was admitted to St John's College, Cambridge
but in the following year he migrated to Trinity College, Dublin
, where he graduated BA in 1625. In 1625 he inherited from his grandfather the manors of Great Tew
and Burford
in Oxfordshire
, and, about the age of 21, married Lettice, daughter of Sir Richard Morrison, of Tooley Park in Leicestershire
. Following a quarrel with his father, whom he failed to propitiate by offering to hand over to him his estate, he left England to take service in the Dutch
army, but soon returned. In 1633, by the death of his father, he became Viscount Falkland
. His mother had embraced Roman Catholicism, to which it was now sought to attract Falkland himself, but his studies and reflections led him, under the influence of William Chillingworth
, to the interpretation of religious problems rather by reason
than by tradition
or authority
.
he enjoyed a short but happy period of study, and he assembled a cultured circle, whom the near neighbourhood of the university and his own brilliant qualities attracted to his house. He was the friend of John Hales
and Chillingworth, was celebrated by Ben Jonson
, John Suckling
, Abraham Cowley
and Edmund Waller
in verse, and in prose by Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
, who calls him the "incomparable" Falkland, and draws a delightful picture of his society and hospitality.
to take part on the side of King Charles I
as a volunteer under Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
in the Bishops' Wars
of 1639 against the Scots
. In 1640 he elected Member of Parliament
for Newport
in the Isle of Wight
to the Short Parliament
. He was re-elected for Newport for the Long Parliament
in November 1640, and took an active part on the side of the opposition. He spoke against the exaction of ship money
on 7 December 1640, denouncing the servile conduct of Lord Keeper Finch and the judges.
He supported the prosecution of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, at the same time trying more than once to moderate the measures of the House of Commons in the interests of justice, and voted for the third reading of the attainder
on 21 April 1641. On the question of the church he urged, in the debate of 8 February 1641, that the interference of the clergy in secular matters, the encroachments in jurisdiction of the spiritual courts, and the imposition by authority of unnecessary ceremonies, should be prohibited. On the other hand, though he denied that episcopacy existed jure divino, he was opposed to its abolition; fearing the establishment of the Presbyterian system, which in Scotland had proved equally tyrannical. Triennial parliaments would be sufficient to control the bishops, if they meditated any further attacks upon the national liberties, and he urged that "where it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change". (This was probably said in reply to Hampden during the Root and Branch Bill debate that happened later.) Even Hampden
still believed that a compromise with the episcopal principle was possible, and assured Falkland that if the bill
taken up to the House of Lords
on 1 May 1641, excluding the bishops from the Lords and the clergy from secular offices, were passed, "there would be nothing more attempted to the prejudice of the church". Accordingly the bill was supported by Falkland.
The times, however, were not favourable to compromise. The bill was lost in the Lords, and on 27 May the Root and Branch Bill, for the total abolition of episcopacy, was introduced in the House of Commons. This measure Falkland opposed, as well as the second bill for excluding the bishops, introduced on 21 October 1641. In the discussion on the Grand Remonstrance
he took the part of the bishops and the Arminians. He was now opposed to the whole policy of the opposition, and, being reproached by John Hampden
with his change of attitude, replied "that he had formerly been persuaded by that worthy gentleman to believe many things which he had since found to be untrue, and therefore he had changed his opinion in many particulars as well as to things as to persons".
On 1 January 1642, immediately before the attempted arrest of the five members, of which, however, Falkland was unaware, the King offered him the secretaryship of state
, and Hyde persuaded him to accept it. Falkland thus became involved directly in the king's policy, though evidently possessing little influence in his counsels. He was one of the peers who signed the protestation against making war, at York
on 15 June 1642. On 5 September 1642 he carried Charles's overtures for peace to the parliament, when he informed the leaders of the opposition that the king consented to a thorough reformation of religion. The secret correspondence connected with the Waller plot passed through his hands.
Falkland fought for the king at the Battle of Edgehill
(23 October 1642) and at the siege of Gloucester
. By this time the hopelessness of the situation had completely overwhelmed him. The aims and principles of neither party in the conflict could satisfy a man of Falkland's high ideals and intellectual vision. His royalism could not suffer the substitution, as the controlling power in the state, of a parliament for the monarchy, nor his conservatism the revolutionary changes in church and state now insisted upon by the opposite faction. The fatal character and policy of the king, the most incapable of men and yet the man upon whom all depended, must have been by now thoroughly understood by Falkland. Compromise had long been out of the question. The victory of either side could only bring misery; and the prolongation of the war was a prospect equally unhappy.
Falkland's ideals and hopes were now destroyed, and he had no definite political convictions such as inspired and strengthened Strafford and John Pym
. In fact his sensitive nature shrank from contact with the practical politics of the day and prevented his rise to the place of a leader or a statesman. Clarendon
has recorded his final relapse into despair:
At Gloucester he had in vain exposed himself to risks. On the morning of the First Battle of Newbury
, on 20 September 1643, he declared to his friends, who would have dissuaded him from taking part in the fight, that "he was weary of the times and foresaw much misery to his own Country and did believe he should be out of it ere night." He served during the engagement as a volunteer under Sir John Byron
and, riding alone at a gap in a hedge commanded by the enemy's fire, was immediately killed.
, edited by A. B. Grosart in Miscellanies of the Fuller Worthies Library, vol. iii. (f 871).
John Aubrey
attributed to Falkland the title "the first Socinian in England" but later gave that title to John Hales
.
Also attributed to Falkland is the dictum, "When it is not necessary to make a decision, it is necessary not to make a decision."
Falkland is notable not for his writings or political career, but his intellectual position, his isolation from his contemporaries seeking reformation in the inward and spiritual life of the church and state and not in its outward and material form, and as a leader of rationalism
in an age dominated by intolerance and dogmatism.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
author and politician who sat in the House of Commons
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...
from 1640 to 1642. He fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
and was killed in action at the First Battle of Newbury
First Battle of Newbury
The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex...
.
Early life
Cary was born either in 1609 or 1610 as the son of Sir Henry CaryHenry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland
Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland ; son of a Hertfordshire knight; said to have studied at Oxford; served abroad; gentleman of the bedchamber to King James I; K.B., 1608; controller of the household, 1617-21; created Viscount Falkland in the Scottish peerage, 1620; lord-deputy of Ireland, 1622;...
, afterwards 1st Viscount Falkland, and his wife Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland, whose father Sir Lawrence Tanfield
Lawrence Tanfield
Sir Lawrence Tanfield was an English lawyer, politician and Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer.He was the eldest son of Robert Tanfield of Burford by his wife Wilgiford Fitzherbert and educated at Eton College and the Inner Temple...
was at that time Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer
Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer
The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" of the English Exchequer of pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who presided in the equity court and answered the bar i.e...
. Henry Cary, a member of an ancient Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
family, was lord deputy of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
from 1622 to 1629. In 1621 Lucius was admitted to St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
but in the following year he migrated to Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, where he graduated BA in 1625. In 1625 he inherited from his grandfather the manors of Great Tew
Great Tew
Great Tew is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in Oxfordshire, England, about northeast of Chipping Norton and southwest of Banbury.-Archaeology:...
and Burford
Burford
Burford is a small town on the River Windrush in the Cotswold hills in west Oxfordshire, England, about west of Oxford, southeast of Cheltenham and only from the Gloucestershire boundary...
in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, and, about the age of 21, married Lettice, daughter of Sir Richard Morrison, of Tooley Park in Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
. Following a quarrel with his father, whom he failed to propitiate by offering to hand over to him his estate, he left England to take service in the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
army, but soon returned. In 1633, by the death of his father, he became Viscount Falkland
Viscount Falkland
Viscount of Falkland is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1620 for Sir Henry Cary, although he was actually English and had no connection to Scotland. He was made Lord Cary at the same time, also in the Peerage of Scotland. His son, the second Viscount, was a prominent statesman...
. His mother had embraced Roman Catholicism, to which it was now sought to attract Falkland himself, but his studies and reflections led him, under the influence of William Chillingworth
William Chillingworth
William Chillingworth was a controversial English churchman.-Early life:He was born in Oxford, where his father served as mayor; William Laud was his godfather. In June 1618 he became a scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, of which he was made a fellow in June 1628...
, to the interpretation of religious problems rather by reason
Reason
Reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ...
than by tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
or authority
Authority
The word Authority is derived mainly from the Latin word auctoritas, meaning invention, advice, opinion, influence, or command. In English, the word 'authority' can be used to mean power given by the state or by academic knowledge of an area .-Authority in Philosophy:In...
.
Great Tew circle
At Great TewGreat Tew
Great Tew is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in Oxfordshire, England, about northeast of Chipping Norton and southwest of Banbury.-Archaeology:...
he enjoyed a short but happy period of study, and he assembled a cultured circle, whom the near neighbourhood of the university and his own brilliant qualities attracted to his house. He was the friend of John Hales
John Hales
John Hales was an English theologian born in St. James's parish, Bath, England. As eminent divine and critic, his singular talents and learning have procured him by common consent the title of the "Ever-memorable".-Life:...
and Chillingworth, was celebrated by Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
, John Suckling
John Suckling (poet)
Sir John Suckling was an English poet and one prominent figure among those renowned for careless gaiety, wit, and all the accomplishments of a Cavalier poet; and also the inventor of the card game Cribbage...
, Abraham Cowley
Abraham Cowley
Abraham Cowley was an English poet born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the 17th century, with 14 printings of his Works published between 1668 and 1721.-Early life and career:...
and Edmund Waller
Edmund Waller
Edmund Waller, FRS was an English poet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1679.- Early life :...
in verse, and in prose by Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was an English historian and statesman, and grandfather of two English monarchs, Mary II and Queen Anne.-Early life:...
, who calls him the "incomparable" Falkland, and draws a delightful picture of his society and hospitality.
Political and military career
Falkland's intellectual pleasures, however, were soon interrupted by war and politics. He felt it his dutyDuty
Duty is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment to someone or something. The moral commitment is the sort that results in action and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition...
to take part on the side of King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
as a volunteer under Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the seventeenth century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, also known as the Roundheads...
in the Bishops' Wars
Bishops' Wars
The Bishops' Wars , were conflicts, both political and military, which occurred in 1639 and 1640 centred around the nature of the governance of the Church of Scotland, and the rights and powers of the Crown...
of 1639 against the Scots
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. In 1640 he elected Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Newport
Newport (Isle of Wight) (UK Parliament constituency)
Newport was a parliamentary borough located in Newport , which was abolished in for the 1885 general election. It was occasionally referred to by the alternative name of Medina....
in the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
to the Short Parliament
Short Parliament
The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....
. He was re-elected for Newport for the Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...
in November 1640, and took an active part on the side of the opposition. He spoke against the exaction of ship money
Ship money
Ship money refers to a tax that Charles I of England tried to levy without the consent of Parliament. This tax, which was only applied to coastal towns during a time of war, was intended to offset the cost of defending that part of the coast, and could be paid in actual ships or the equivalent value...
on 7 December 1640, denouncing the servile conduct of Lord Keeper Finch and the judges.
He supported the prosecution of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, at the same time trying more than once to moderate the measures of the House of Commons in the interests of justice, and voted for the third reading of the attainder
Attainder
In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura is the metaphorical 'stain' or 'corruption of blood' which arises from being condemned for a serious capital crime . It entails losing not only one's property and hereditary titles, but typically also the right to pass them on to one's heirs...
on 21 April 1641. On the question of the church he urged, in the debate of 8 February 1641, that the interference of the clergy in secular matters, the encroachments in jurisdiction of the spiritual courts, and the imposition by authority of unnecessary ceremonies, should be prohibited. On the other hand, though he denied that episcopacy existed jure divino, he was opposed to its abolition; fearing the establishment of the Presbyterian system, which in Scotland had proved equally tyrannical. Triennial parliaments would be sufficient to control the bishops, if they meditated any further attacks upon the national liberties, and he urged that "where it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change". (This was probably said in reply to Hampden during the Root and Branch Bill debate that happened later.) Even Hampden
John Hampden
John Hampden was an English politician, the eldest son of William Hampden, of Hampden House, Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire, John Hampden (ca. 15951643) was an English politician, the eldest son of William Hampden, of Hampden House, Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire, John Hampden (ca. 15951643)...
still believed that a compromise with the episcopal principle was possible, and assured Falkland that if the bill
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
taken up to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
on 1 May 1641, excluding the bishops from the Lords and the clergy from secular offices, were passed, "there would be nothing more attempted to the prejudice of the church". Accordingly the bill was supported by Falkland.
The times, however, were not favourable to compromise. The bill was lost in the Lords, and on 27 May the Root and Branch Bill, for the total abolition of episcopacy, was introduced in the House of Commons. This measure Falkland opposed, as well as the second bill for excluding the bishops, introduced on 21 October 1641. In the discussion on the Grand Remonstrance
Grand Remonstrance
The Grand Remonstrance was a list of grievances presented to King Charles I of England by the English Parliament on 1 December 1641, but passed by the House of Commons on the 22nd of November 1641, during the Long Parliament; it was one of the chief events which were to precipitate the English...
he took the part of the bishops and the Arminians. He was now opposed to the whole policy of the opposition, and, being reproached by John Hampden
John Hampden
John Hampden was an English politician, the eldest son of William Hampden, of Hampden House, Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire, John Hampden (ca. 15951643) was an English politician, the eldest son of William Hampden, of Hampden House, Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire, John Hampden (ca. 15951643)...
with his change of attitude, replied "that he had formerly been persuaded by that worthy gentleman to believe many things which he had since found to be untrue, and therefore he had changed his opinion in many particulars as well as to things as to persons".
On 1 January 1642, immediately before the attempted arrest of the five members, of which, however, Falkland was unaware, the King offered him the secretaryship of state
Secretary of State (England)
In the Kingdom of England, the title of Secretary of State came into being near the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I , the usual title before that having been King's Clerk, King's Secretary, or Principal Secretary....
, and Hyde persuaded him to accept it. Falkland thus became involved directly in the king's policy, though evidently possessing little influence in his counsels. He was one of the peers who signed the protestation against making war, at York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
on 15 June 1642. On 5 September 1642 he carried Charles's overtures for peace to the parliament, when he informed the leaders of the opposition that the king consented to a thorough reformation of religion. The secret correspondence connected with the Waller plot passed through his hands.
Falkland fought for the king at the Battle of Edgehill
Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642....
(23 October 1642) and at the siege of Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
. By this time the hopelessness of the situation had completely overwhelmed him. The aims and principles of neither party in the conflict could satisfy a man of Falkland's high ideals and intellectual vision. His royalism could not suffer the substitution, as the controlling power in the state, of a parliament for the monarchy, nor his conservatism the revolutionary changes in church and state now insisted upon by the opposite faction. The fatal character and policy of the king, the most incapable of men and yet the man upon whom all depended, must have been by now thoroughly understood by Falkland. Compromise had long been out of the question. The victory of either side could only bring misery; and the prolongation of the war was a prospect equally unhappy.
Falkland's ideals and hopes were now destroyed, and he had no definite political convictions such as inspired and strengthened Strafford and John Pym
John Pym
John Pym was an English parliamentarian, leader of the Long Parliament and a prominent critic of James I and then Charles I.- Early life and education :...
. In fact his sensitive nature shrank from contact with the practical politics of the day and prevented his rise to the place of a leader or a statesman. Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was an English historian and statesman, and grandfather of two English monarchs, Mary II and Queen Anne.-Early life:...
has recorded his final relapse into despair:
- Sitting amongst his friends, often, after a deep silence and frequent sighs (he) would with a shrill and sad accent ingeminate the word "Peace, Peace," and would passionately profess that the very agony of the war, and the view of the calamities and desolation the kingdom did and must endure, took his sleep from him and would shortly break his heart.
At Gloucester he had in vain exposed himself to risks. On the morning of the First Battle of Newbury
First Battle of Newbury
The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex...
, on 20 September 1643, he declared to his friends, who would have dissuaded him from taking part in the fight, that "he was weary of the times and foresaw much misery to his own Country and did believe he should be out of it ere night." He served during the engagement as a volunteer under Sir John Byron
John Byron, 1st Baron Byron
John Byron, 1st Baron Byron was an English Royalist and supporter of Charles I during the English Civil War.-Life:...
and, riding alone at a gap in a hedge commanded by the enemy's fire, was immediately killed.
Death
His death took place at the age of 33. He was succeeded in the title by his eldest son Lucius, 3rd Viscount Falkland, his male descent becoming extinct in the person of Anthony, 5th viscount, in 1694, when the viscounty passed to Lucius Henry (1687–1730), a descendant of the first viscount and his direct descendants.Works
Falkland wrote a Discourse of Infallibility, published in 1646 (Thomason Tracts, E 361), reprinted in 1650, in 1651 (E 634) edited by Triplet with replies, and in 1660 with the addition of two discourses on episcopacy by Falkland. This is a work of some importance in theological controversy, the general argument being that "to those who follow their reason in the interpretation of the Scriptures God will either give his grace for assistance to find the truth or his pardon if they miss it. And then this supposed necessity of an infallible guide (with the supposed damnation for the want of it) fall together to the ground." Also A Letter ... 30 Sept. 1642 concerning the late conflict before Worcester (1642); and Poems, in which he shows himself a follower of Ben JonsonBen Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
, edited by A. B. Grosart in Miscellanies of the Fuller Worthies Library, vol. iii. (f 871).
John Aubrey
John Aubrey
John Aubrey FRS, was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the collection of short biographical pieces usually referred to as Brief Lives...
attributed to Falkland the title "the first Socinian in England" but later gave that title to John Hales
John Hales
John Hales was an English theologian born in St. James's parish, Bath, England. As eminent divine and critic, his singular talents and learning have procured him by common consent the title of the "Ever-memorable".-Life:...
.
Also attributed to Falkland is the dictum, "When it is not necessary to make a decision, it is necessary not to make a decision."
Assessment
According to Clarendon, he was- "in no degree attractive or promising. His stature was low and smaller than most men; his motion not graceful ... but that little person and small stature was quickly found to contain a great heart ... all mankind could not but admire and love him."
Falkland is notable not for his writings or political career, but his intellectual position, his isolation from his contemporaries seeking reformation in the inward and spiritual life of the church and state and not in its outward and material form, and as a leader of rationalism
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
in an age dominated by intolerance and dogmatism.