Page:A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices.djvu/18

 which the legal knowledge acquired at the Inn doubtless qualified them.

The period over which the Catalogue extends embraces exactly four centuries, extending back from the end of the past year (1901) to the year 1501, the date of the earliest of the Inn Registers. It is, of course, only reasonable to suppose that there were many distinguished Middle Templars before that time, but unfortunately no means exists of tracing any beyond a few of the judicial class, who have been identified from entries in the Year Books and other legal records. Tradition has, indeed, connected two of the most interesting names in English literature—those of (1325—1402) and  (1340—1400) with "the Temple," but there is nothing to show to which of the Inns (if either) they belonged. They are, therefore, excluded from the Catalogue.