Background

Cary was born at Burford in either 1609 or 1610 as the son of Sir Henry Cary, afterwards first Viscount Falkland, and his wife Elizabeth, whose father Sir Lawrence Tanfield was at that time Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. In 1625 he inherited from his grandfather the manors of Great Tew and Burford in Oxfordshire. Involved in 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 the Roman Catholic faith, to which it was now sought to attract Falkland himself, but his studies and reflections led him, under the influence of Chillingworth, to the interpretation of religious problems rather by reason than by tradition or authority.

Education

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. At Great Tew he enjoyed a short but happy period of study, and he assembled round him many gifted and learned men, whom the near neighborhood of the university and his own brilliant qualities attracted to his house.

Career

In 1639, he took part in the war against the Scots, but soon moved to the side of the parliamentary party, to which he was attracted by the power of his personality, John Gumpden. He joined parliament in 1640 and sharply expressed his discontent when the parliament was dissolved in 3 weeks for not agreeing to allow subsidies to the king before correcting abuses. He supported the prosecution of Strafford, at the same time endeavoring on more than one occasion to moderate the measures of the Commons in the interests of justice, and voted for the third reading of the attainder on the 216t of April 1641. On the great question of the church he urged, in the debate of the 8th of 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 1st of January 1642, immediately before the attempted arrest of the five members, of which, however, he was not cognizant, he was offered by the king the secretaryship of state, and was persuaded by Hyde to accept it, thus becoming 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 the 15th of June 1642. On the 5th of September 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. He was present with the His speeches are in the Thomason Tracts, E 196 (9), (26), (36). 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. 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. Nor could Falkland find any support or consolation in his own inward convictions or principles. His ideals and hopes were now destroyed, and he had no definite political convictions such as inspired and strengthened Strafford and 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. At Gloucester he had in vain exposed himself to risks. On the morning of the battle of Newbury, on the 20th of 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. " Fie 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. His death took place at the early age of 33, which should be borne in mind in every estimate of his career and character.

Achievements

• 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.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Letters of the Dead, or Epistles From the Statesmen of Former Days to Those of the Present Hour (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Letters of the Dead, or Epistles From the St...)

  • Sir Lucius Cary, late lord viscount of Falkland; His discourse of infallibility, with an answer to it: and his lordships reply

    (This historic book may have numerous typos and missing te...)

  • Sir Lucius Cary Late Lord Viscount of Falkland: His Discourse of Infallibility, With an Answer to it and His Lordships Reply.

Religion

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. 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. " Even Hampden still believed that a compromise with the Episcopal principle was possible, and assured Falkland that if the bill taken up to the Lords on the 1st of 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 favorable to compromise. The bill was lost in the Lords and on the 27th of 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 the 216t of October. 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 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”.

Politics

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.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• “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. "4Authorities. -There is a Life and Times by J. Д. R. Marriott

Connections

At the age of 21, married Lettice, daughter of Sir Richard Morrison, of Tooley Park in Leicestershire.

Father:

Sir Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland

1575 – September 1633

Mother:

Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland

1585–1639

Wife:

Lettice

She was a daughter of Sir Richard Moryson, of Tooley Park in Leicestershire.

Son:

Lucius, 3rd Viscount Falkland

References

• The life and times of Lucius Cary, viscount Falkland,
• The Life And Times Of Lucius Cary Viscount Falkland
• Falklands
• The Life and Times of Lucius Cary Viscount Falkland (Classic Reprint)
• Lucius Cary, Lord Falkland: A Lecture Delivered In Philadelphia In 1896, Under The Auspices Of The American Society For The Extension Of University Teaching