 Over a 50 @-@ year period , the Civil War and high taxation under William III economically crippled many members of the gentry , meaning that they could not afford to allow their sons to study at the Inns . David Lemmings considers it to have been more serious than that , for two reasons ; firstly , Inner Temple and Middle Temple had actually shown an increase in membership following the Restoration , and secondly because Gray 's Inn had previously had far more " common " members than the other Inns . The decrease in the number of gentry at the Inn could therefore not completely explain the large drop in members . 
