In 1631 he was proctor and also chaplain to Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, then chancellor of the university, which led in 1639 to incumbency of the rectory of Bishopston[1] in Wiltshire.

After the final Royalist defeat at the Battle of Worcester, Earle went abroad, and was made Clerk of the Closet (1651–1664) and chaplain to his former student Charles II.

During the Great Plague of London in 1665 – 1666, Earle attended to Charles II and his Queen consort Catherine of Braganza at Oxford, and there he died.

"[2] Earle's chief title to remembrance is his witty and humorous work, Microcosmographie, or a Peece of the World discovered, in Essayes and Characters, which throws light on the manners of the time.

Several reprints of the book have been issued since the author's death; and in 1671 a French translation by James Dymocke appeared with the title of Le Vice ridicule.