John Trusler

Revd John Trusler (1735–1820) was an eccentric English divine, literary compiler, and medical empiric.

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.