question, is an excellent temper for the propagation "and advancement of Christianity."1

Lord Falkland's attention had been peculiarly drawn to the consideration of the pretensions of the Church of Rome, not only by the deep interest which every reflecting man must take in the faith to which he subscribes, but by circumstances of a personal and domestic nature. "Many attempts were made upon him by the instiga"tion of his mother (who was a lady of another persua"sion in religion, and of a most masculine understanding, allayed with the passion and infirmities of her "own sex) to pervert him in his piety to the Church "of England, and to reconcile him to that of Rome;2 "which they prosecuted with the more confidence "because he declined no opportunity or occasion of "conference with those of that religion, whether priests

Life, vol. i. p. 43.

2 In the Archbishop of Canterbury's (Laud) annual accounts of his province to the King there is the following account of Lady Falkland :-“St. Asaph.—In the diocese of St. Asaph there is no complaint but the usual, that there is a great resort of recusants to Holy Well, and that "this summer the Lady Falkland and her company came as pilgrims "thither, who were the more observed because they travelled on foot and "dissembled neither their quality nor their errand; and this boldness of "theirs is of very ill construction among your Majesty's people. My "humble suit to your Majesty is, that, whereas I complained of this in open "council in your Majesty's presence, you would now be graciously pleased "that the order then resolved on for her confinement may be put in "execution.

JC. R.

Itt is done."

In a letter dated London, November 17, 1626, and addressed to the Rev. Joseph Mead, the following notice of Lady Falkland is to be found :"The Lady Falkland is newly banished the Court for lately going to mass "with the Queen, in whose conversion the Roman Church will reap no "great credit because she was called home out of Ireland for her grievous "extortions."-Life and Times of James I. and Charles I., vol. i. p. 170.

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or laics; having diligently studied the controversies, "and exactly read all or the choicest of the Greek and "Latin fathers, and having a memory so stupendous, "that he remembered on all occasions whatsoever he "read. And he was so great an enemy to that passion "and uncharitableness which he saw produced, by "difference of opinion, in matters of religion, that in "all those disputations with priests and others of the "Roman Church he affected to manifest all possible

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civility to their persons and estimation of their parts; "which made them retain still some hope of his reduc❝tion, even when they had given over offering farther "reasons to him to that purpose. But this charity "towards them was much lessened, and any correspond

ence with them quite declined, when by sinister arts they had corrupted his two younger brothers,' being "both children, and stolen them from his house and trans ported them beyond seas, and perverted his sisters." 2 It was said3 of Lord Falkland, even in his lifetime, but still more after his death, that he had adopted the religious opinions of Socinus, and had been strengthened in those opinions by Chillingworth. This impression seems however to have been without foundation, and may possibly have originated in Lord Clarendon's misapprehension of a passage in Cressy's book. In Lord

The Peerages incorrectly mention but one brother, Lorenzo, killed at the battle of Swords in Ireland, and one sister, Anne, married to Lord Hume.

2 Hist. of the Rebellion, vol. iv. p. 243. See Appendix T.-They were said to be lodged in a convent at Cambray.

8

Anthony Wood, Athenæ Oxon.'

• Entitled 'Fanaticism Fanatically Imputed to the Catholic Church by Mr. Stillingflect.'

Clarendon's animadversions upon that work, he accused the author of speaking of Lord Falkland as a Socinian. Cressy explained in reply,' saying, the words concerned Mr. Chillingworth, and added, "Touching my Lord "Falkland, I was so far from entertaining a suspicion, "and much more from propagating this suspicion to "others, that I believe there are scarce three persons "besides myself that are so enabled to give a demon"stration to the contrary, which was a solemn protesta❝tion made by himself to the greatest prelate of England "of his aversion from those blasphemous heresies which "had been laid to his charge." In further corroboration of the fact, that between Lord Falkland and Mr. Chillingworth there was no agreement in opinion on the subject of Socinianism, a letter exists from Lord Spencer to his wife, in which is to be found the following passage :— "It is not to be imagined with what diligence and "satisfaction (I mean to himself) Mr. Chillingworth "executes this command; for my part, I think it not

unwisely done of him to change his profession, and I "think you would have been of my mind if you had "heard him dispute last night with my Lord Falkland "in favour of Socinianism; wherein he was by his lordship so often confounded, that really it appears he "has much more reason for his engine than for his

The early attention paid by Lord Falkland to his religious duties is thus commented upon by one who

In his Epistle Apologetical.'

2 Mr. Chillingworth was engaged in the trenches before Gloucester to try the effects of certain machines he had invented for the attack of fortifications.-Sidney Papers, vol. ii. p. 669.

was intimately acquainted with his character and habits in private "His religion was the more eminent, "because the more early, at that age when young gallants "think least of it. When they, young candidates of "Atheisme, begin to dispute themselves out of a beleefe "of the Deity, urging hard against that which indeed is "best for them that it should never be-' a judgment to "come;' then, I say, that salvation which these mention “with a scoff or a jeere, he began to work out with fear "and trembling, and effectually to remember, that is, "to honour and serve his Creator in the daies of his "youth."

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In domestic life Lord Falkland seems to have found in his wife a companion who was capable of appreciating his worth, and who returned the tenderness and confidence with which he regarded her. "She was a lady," says Lord Clarendon, "of a most extraordinary wit and judgment, and of the most signal virtue and exemplary "life that the age produced, and who brought him many hopeful children in which he took great delight."* Lord Clarendon mentions in the History of his Own Life, -and which, being written only for the information of his own children, must be regarded throughout in the nature of a confidential communication,-that the melancholy which Lord Falkland had contracted from the very beginning of the war was partly attributed by those who were not well acquainted with him to his having formed an attachment "to a noble lady," who died on the same 2 Life, vol. i. p. 40.

4

3

See Dr. Triplet's dedication.

3 Preface to the Life of the Earl of Clarendon, p. 1.

Aubrey calls her "Mrs. Moray, a handsome lady about court." Perhaps he is to be relied on as to the name of the person alluded to, but the

day as that on which he was killed. Lord Clarendon's plain but full refutation of this calumny is best given in his own words:-"They who knew either the lord "or the lady knew well that neither of them was "capable of an ill imagination. She was of the most "unspotted, unblemished virtue, never married, of an

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"extraordinary talent of mind, but of no alluring beauty, nor of a constitution of tolerable health, being "in a deep consumption and not like to have lived so long by many months. It is very true the Lord Falkland "had an extraordinary esteem of her, and exceedingly "loved her conversation, as most of the persons of emi"nent parts of that time did, for she was in her under

standing, and discretion, and wit, and modesty, above "most women, the best of which had always a friendship "with her. But he was withal so kind to his wife, "whom he knew to be an excellent person, that, though "he loved his children with more affection and fondness "than most fathers use to do, he left by his will "all he had to his wife, and committed his three sons, "who were all the children he had, to her sole care and bounty." Nor is Lord Clarendon's the only testimony left to us of the happiness of Lord Falkland in his domestic life. Dr. Triplet, who had been one of those admitted into his closest intimacy at Tew, and who speaks with such affectionate regret "of those happy "times, as that he would not willingly afflict himself by "recalling the felicity he had outlived," thus alludes to

rest of his information seems to be incorrect. Lord Clarendon says she was of no alluring beauty, and Aubrey speaks of Lord Falkland's grief at her death, whereas she seems not to have died till the day on which he was killed. 1 Life, vol. i. p. 166.