C.H.

St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge.


The _Temple or_ a _Temple_.--I am happy to see that your
correspondent, Mr. Thoms, is about to illustrate some of the
obscurities of Chaucer. Perhaps he or some of your learned
contributors may be able to remove a doubt that has arisen in my mind
relative to the poet's well-known description of the Manciple in his
Prologue to the _Canterbury Tales_.

You are aware that the occupation of the Temple by students of the
law in the reign of Edward III. has no other authority than tradition.
Dugdale, Herbert, Pearce, and others who have written on the Inns of
Court, adduce this passage from Chaucer in support of the assertion;
and they all quote the first line thus:

"A manciple there was of _the_ Temple."

In Tyrwhitt's edition of _Chaucer_, however, and in all other copies
I have seen, the reading is

"A gentil manciple was ther of _a_ temple."

Now the difference between "the Temple" and "a temple" is not
inconsiderable. I should feel obliged, therefore, by any explanation
which will account for it. If Chaucer was, as he is sometimes
pretended to be, a member of the Temple, it is somewhat extraordinary
that he should have designated it so loosely. The words in the real