Memoirs, part 2, [1809].

1 v. (425 p.) ; 22 cm.

English

Purchased from Sotheby's, June 1965.

This material is available for research.

John Trusler (1735-1820), Church of England clergyman and author, published many works on a wide variety of topics, including medicine, farming, history, politeness, law, theology, travel, and gardening. In addition to a collaboration with William Hogarth's widow to supply commentaries of Hogarth's prints for the work Hogarth Moralized (1768), he also published Principles of Politeness in 1775, an abridged version of Lord Chesterfield's Letters to His Son; and an abridged version of Thomas Stackhouse's biblical history for the use of schools titled A Compendium of Sacred History (1797). He also wrote several conduct and self-help manuals, including The Way to be Rich and Respectable, Addressed to Men of Small Fortune (1775); and a range of almanacs, guidebooks, and manuals. He is credited with publishing the first thesaurus to the English language, titled The Distinction between Words Esteemed Synonymous (1766). In 1806, he published the first part of his Memoirs, but, having changed his mind, tried to suppress it by destroying all the copies that he could find.

Manuscript, in a single hand, of the second part of Trusler's diary, written when he was 74 years old. The author begins by considering the art of memoir-writing and reflecting on the public reception of the first part of his Memoirs; the rest of the volume covers a wide variety of professional, personal, social, philosophical, and anecdotal subjects. In addition to his own successes as a preacher and author and analyses of the status of these professions, he discusses issues of real estate and financial planning; warns his readers against entering into debt; explains the financial relationship between the bookselling trade and writers; and complains about the evils of the printing trade and of low-priced books. Elsewhere, he discusses his ideas about education; whether thieves possess honor; the disgraceful state of medical practice; and criticizes prevailing fashions of women's dress, comparing them unfavorably to the modesty of Quakers. He also mentions current events and a wide variety of notable personages, including the arrival in 1762 of three Cherokee chiefs to England, where they were displayed in a "raised Covered Theatre" and exhibited, with their wives, to the public, reflecting on their appearance and moral beliefs of the "savages." Other names he mentions include Henry Fielding, Benjamin Franklin, Christopher Columbus, William Hogarth, Horace Walpole, and Robert Walpole. The volume also contains personal anecdotes of his two wives and children and the experience of his second wife in childbed. The manuscript is accompanied by a typed transcription.

Memoirs of the life of the Rev. Dr. Trusler, with his opinions on a variety of interesting subjects, and his remarks ... on men and manners, written by himself ... Part I ... / John Trusler.

March 14, 2008

John Trusler, Memoirs, Part 2. The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.

John Trusler, Memoirs, Part 2. The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.