885 
T E M 
The two principal persons were Hugo de Paganis, and 
'Geoffry of St. Omers. Baldwin II., then king of Jerusalem, 
gave them an apartment in his palace, near the temple at 
Jerusalem. 
Their first undertaking, and what they had first in view at 
their institution, was, to guard the highway against robbers, 
&c., chiefly for the safety of pilgrims and croises. 
In the year 1228, this order acquired stability, by being 
confirmed in the council of Troyes, and subjected to a rule 
of discipline drawn up by St. Bernard. 
The order of Templars flourished for some time, and ac¬ 
quired by the valour of its knights immense riches, and an 
eminent degree of military renown: but as their prosperity 
increased, their vices were multiplied, and their arrogance, 
luxury, and cruelty, rose at last to such a monstrous height, 
that their privileges were revoked, and their order suppressed 
with the most terrible circumstances of infamy and severity. 
Their accusers were two of their own body, and their chief 
prosecutor Philip the Fair, of France, who addressed his 
complaints to Clement V. The pope, though at first un¬ 
willing to proceed against them, was under the necessity of 
complying with the king’s desire, so that, in the year 1307, 
upon an appointed day, and for some time afterwards, all 
the knights, who were dispersed throughout Europe, were 
seized and imprisoned. Such of them as-refused to confess 
the enormities of which they were accused, were put to 
death; and those who, by tortures and promises, were in¬ 
duced to acknowledge the truth of what was laid to their 
charge, obtained their liberty. In 1312, the whole order 
was suppressed by the council of Vienne. A part of the 
rich revenues they possessed was bestowed upon other orders, 
especially on the knights of St. John, and the rest confis¬ 
cated to the- respective treasuries of the sovereign princes in 
whose dominions their possessions lay. 
It is probable, that king Philip set on foot this bloody 
tragedy, with a view to gratify his avarice, and glut his re¬ 
sentment against the Templars, and especially against their 
grand-master, who had highly offended him. The princi¬ 
pal cause of this invincible hatred against them was, that in 
his quarrel with Boniface VIII., the knights espoused the 
cause of the pope, and furnished him with money to carry 
on the war. Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. Bower's Hist, of the 
Popes. 
TEMPLE (Sir William), a statesman and miscellaneous 
writer, was the son of Sir John Temple, master of the rolls 
in Ireland, in the reign of Charles I. and II., and author 
of a History of the Irish Rebellion, born in London in the 
year 1628. Having finished his course of classical educa¬ 
tion, he was entered, at the age of seventeen, at Emanuel 
college, in the university of Cambridge, under the tuition of 
the learned Cudworth. Being designed for public life, his 
principal attention at the university was engaged by the 
study of the modern languages, French and Spanish ; and 
at the age of twenty, he was sent to finish his education by 
travelling on the continent. Declining to accept any office 
under Cromwell, he resided with his father in Ireland, and 
devoted his time to the study of history and philosophy. 
At the Restoration he became a member of the Irish par¬ 
liament, and during Ihe reign of Charles II., he was con¬ 
cerned in a variety of negociations. Alter the peace of 
Breda (July 10, 1067), Sir William went over to Holland, 
and formed an intimate acquaintance and friendship with 
De Wit, a man frank and open, and of the same generous 
and enlarged sentiments with himself; and in consequence 
of the negociations of these two able statesmen, a defensive 
alliance was concluded between Holland and England. Swe¬ 
den acceded to the confederacy; and thus was formed the 
triple league, which was generally regarded with equal sur¬ 
prise and approbation. In the conduct of this business. 
Temple acquired great honour; but to all the compliments 
that were paid to him on the occasion, he modestly replied, 
that to remove things from their centre, or proper element, 
required force and labour; but that of themselves they 
easily returned to it. The French monarch and the court 
of Spain were equally displeased; but in the treaty at Aix- 
Vol.XXIIL No. 1615. 
P L E. 
la-Chapelle, where Temple appeared as ambassador extraor¬ 
dinary and mediator, on behalf of England, his address 
prevailed; the Spanish minister complied with the conditions 
proposed; and the peace between the contending powers 
was signed in May, 1668. In consequence of this event. 
Sir William was nominated ambassador to the States-General, 
and taking up his residence at the Hague in the month of 
August of this year, he maintained his intimacy with De 
Wit, and was also on familiar terms with William, prince 
of Orange, who had then attained the age of eighteen years. 
But this triple alliance was of short duration. The corrup¬ 
tion and intrigues of the English court produced a recall of 
Temple in the year 1669, and when it was proposed to him 
to return and make way for a breach with Holland, he de¬ 
clined, much to his honour, engaging in hostility against a 
country to which he was attached, and retired from public 
business to his seat at Sheen, near Richmond. Here he em¬ 
ployed himself in the improvement of his mansion, and in 
the cultivation of his garden; and also in writing his “ Ob¬ 
servations on the United Provinces,” and a part of his 
“ Miscellanea.” When the war with the Dutch became un¬ 
popular through the nation, and the court and its ministers 
were under a necessity of bringing it to a termination. Sir 
William Temple was called out of his retirement to nego- 
ciate with .the Spanish minister in London: and when the 
separate peace with Holland was concluded, he was requested 
in the next year, 1674, to undertake the office of ambassa¬ 
dor to the States-General, for the purpose of negociating a 
general peace. This he performed, but the peace did not 
last long. 
When the king, in January, 1681, dissolved the parlia¬ 
ment without the advice of his privy council, Temple boldly 
remonstrated against the measure; and at length, wearied 
with the faction and misgovernment which he had witnessed, 
he declined the offered return for the university to the new 
parliament, and retired to Sheen, conveying from thence a 
message to the king, “ that he would pass the rest of his life 
as good a subject as any in his kingdom, but would never 
more meddle with public affairs.” The king replied to the 
message, that he bore him no resentment; but his name 
was expunged from the council. The remainder of his life 
was spent in retirement and seclusion from all public busi¬ 
ness ; and it is said, that he interfered so little in political 
matters, as not to know the design of the prince of Orange 
to engage in the expedition that terminated in the revolu¬ 
tion, and to be the last person who gave credit to his land¬ 
ing. After James’s abdication, however, he waited on the 
prince at Windsor, and presented to him his son. King 
William urged upon him the acceptance of the office of se¬ 
cretary of state; but he maintained his purpose of living in 
retirement. His son was appointed secretary at war; but in 
the week in which he assumed the office, he was seized with 
melancholy, and threw himself into the Thames. His re¬ 
flection on this afflictive event was that which his stoic 
philosophy alone could have dictated:—“ A wise man might 
dispose of himself, and render his life as short as he pleased.” 
In his state of retirement, he admitted Swift to be his com¬ 
panion. King William occasionally visited him, and con¬ 
fidentially consulted him on several important affairs. In 
1694, he lost his wife; and sinking gradually under increase 
ing infirmities, occasioned by repeated fits of the gout, his 
life was terminated at Moor park, in January, 1698, in his 
70th year. The greatest part of his fortune was bequeathed 
to the-daughters of his unfortunate son by a French lady, 
under the express condition that they should not marry 
Frenchmen. 
As a writer, he is known by his “ Observations upon the 
United Provinces of the Netherlands,” printed in 1672 : his 
“ Miscellanea;” “ Memoirs;” and an “ Introduction to the 
History of England,” published in 1695. His “ Letters,” 
in 3 vols., which relate to public transactions, were pub¬ 
lished after his death by Swift. “ All Sir William Temple's 
writings,” says one of his biographers, “ display much ac¬ 
quaintance both with books and men, and are entirely free 
from the licentiousness so prevalent in that age. Their style 
10 Q is 
