Name John Trusler | ||
Died 1820, Bathwick, United Kingdom Books The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings With Descriptions, and a Comment on Their Moral Tendency | ||
CHR Golf Outing: John Trusler
Revd John Trusler (1735–1820) was an eccentric English divine, literary compiler, and medical empiric.
Contents
Early life
Trusler was born in Hanover Square, London, England, in July 1735. His father was the proprietor of the public tea gardens at Marylebone. In his tenth year, he was sent to Westminster School, and at the age of fifteen he was transferred to Mr Fountaine's fashionable seminary at Marylebone. Next he proceeded to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, whence he graduated B.A. in 1757. On his return home he translated from the Italian several burlettas and adapted them to the English stage. One of these, he says, was 'La Serva Padrona,' or the 'Servant-Mistress,' of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, performed in Marylebone Gardens in 1757; but it seems that the real translator was Stephen Storace.
Ordination
Trusler took holy orders, becoming a priest in 1759. He was curate successively of Enford, Wiltshire, of Ware, Hertfordshire, at Hertford, at the Hythe church, Colchester, of Ockley, Surrey, and of St Clement Danes in the Strand, London. In 1761, Dr Bruce, the king's chaplain at Somerset House, employed him as his assistant and procured for him the chaplaincy to the Poultry-Compter. He also held a lectureship in the city. At this period he took a house at Rotherhithe.
However, clerical work was not enough for Trusler. In 1762, he established an academy for teaching oratory 'mechanically,' but, as it did not pay, he soon gave it up. To acquire a knowledge of physic he admitted himself a perpetual pupil of Drs Hunter and Fordyce. He then went to Leyden University to take the degree of M.D., but his name does not appear in the catalogue of graduates in that university. However, he either obtained or assumed the title of doctor, and he is frequently styled LL.D. He superintended for some time the Literary Society established in 1765 with the object of abolishing publishers.
In 1769, Trusler sent circulars to every parish in England and Ireland proposing to print in script type, in imitation of handwriting, about a hundred and fifty sermons at the price of one shilling each, to save the clergy both study and the trouble of transcribing. This scheme appears to have met with success. Trusler next established a printing and bookselling business upon an extensive and lucrative scale. At one time he resided in Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell, and also at Boyle Street. He afterwards lived at Bath on the profits of his trade, and subsequently on an estate of his own at Englefield Green, Middlesex. In 1806, he published at Bath the first part of his autobiography, entitled The Memoirs of the Life of the Revd. Dr. Trusler, 4to. Only part i. appeared, and, it is said, the author sought to suppress it. The remainder of the memoirs in Trusler's autograph were in 1851 in the possession of James Crossley of Manchester. Trusler died in 1820 at the Villa House, Bathwick, Bath. He married in 1759, his wife dying in December 1762. His portrait has been engraved.
Selected publications
Among Trusler's numerous publications are: