Falkland

Falkland, Lucius Cary, Viscount, was born at Burford, Oxfordshire, in 1610. At Trinity College, Dublin, and at Cambridge he laid the foundations of a scholarly education, and was distinguished for his knowledge of Greek. Succeeding to his father in 1633, he held an appointment in the Royal Household, but abandoned it to join as a volunteer in the expedition of 1639 against the Scots. In 1640 he entered Parliament, supported the prosecution of Strafford, and displayed strong sympathy with the popular cause. However, on the outbreak of Civil War he preserved his allegiance to the king, and became Secretary of State, though he felt deeply the wrongs of the Commons, and abhorred the double-dealing of his royal master; His courage in the fight at Edgehill was as conspicuous as his humanity after the battle was over. At Newbury he joined Lord Byron's cavalry as a volunteer, and was shot in the front rank (1643). Clarendon uses the highest language of commendation in describing his character, and all his contemporaries regarded him as the most virtuous and enlightened man of his age. He wrote a Discourse on the Infallibility of the Church of Rome, and is believed to have helped Chillingworth in his History of Protestantism.