Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 57.djvu/275

This page has been validated.
Trussell
269
Trussell

    Sublime Reader, or the Morning & Evening Services of the Church so pointed … as to display all the Beauty and Sublimity of the Language,’ 1784.
  1. ‘Compendium of Useful Knowledge,’ 1784.
  2. ‘Modern Times, or the Adventures of Gabriel Outcast,’ a satirical novel, in the manner of Gil Blas (anon.), 3 vols., 1785.
  3. ‘The London Adviser and Guide,’ 1786 and 1790.
  4. ‘The Honours of the Table, or Rules for Behaviour during Meals; with the whole Art of Carving,’ London, 1788, 12mo; 5th edit., Bath, 1795.
  5. ‘A Compendium of Useful Knowledge,’ London, 1788, 12mo; 6th edit., Bath [1800?], 12mo.
  6. ‘The Habitable World described,’ 20 vols. London, 1788–97, 8vo.
  7. ‘The Progress of Man and Society,’ with woodcuts by J. Bewick, Bath [1790?], 12mo; London, 1791, 12mo.
  8. ‘Proverbs Exemplified, and illustrated by pictures from real life. … With prints by J. Bewick,’ London, 1790, 12mo.
  9. ‘Life, or the Adventures of William Ramble, Esq.’ (anon.), a novel, 3 vols., 1793.
  10. ‘Monthly Communications,’ a periodical publication, 1793.
  11. ‘The Way to be Rich and Respectable,’ 7th edit., London, 1796, 8vo.
  12. ‘A Compendium of Sacred History,’ 1797, being a compilation from Stackhouse's History of the Bible.
  13. ‘A System of Etiquette.’ Bath, 1804, 12mo; 3rd edit., London, 1828.
  14. ‘Detached Philosophic Thoughts of the best Writers, ancient and modern, on Man, Life, Death, and Immortality,’ 2 vols., Bath, [1810], 8vo.
  15. ‘A Sure Way to lengthen Life with Vigor; particularly in Old Age; the result of Experience. Written by Dr. Trusler at the age of 84,’ 2 vols., Bath, 1819, 8vo. This is based on ‘A Sure Way to lengthen Life,’ which was printed in 1770 and passed through five editions.

[Autobiography; Annuaire Nécrologique, 1822, p. 339; Biogr. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816, pp. 355, 447; Critical Review, 1780, p. 442; Cromwell's Clerkenwell, p. 171; Pinks's Clerkenwell; Donaldson's Agricultural Biography, p. 65; Gent. Mag. 1778 p. 85, 1804 ii. 1105, 1820 ii. 89, 120, 1854 i. 114; London Chronicle, 18 Jan. 1770, advertisement; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn); Marshall's Cat. of 500 celebrated Authors, 1788; New Monthly Mag. 1820, ii. 353; Nichols's Life of Hogarth; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iii. 133, 5th ser. iv. 345; Rivers's Lit. Memoirs of Living Authors, 1798, ii. 329; St. James's Chronicle, 26 Jan. 1769; Cat. of Dawson Turner's MSS. p. 287; Willis's Current Notes, 1853, p. 41.]

T. C.

TRUSSELL, JOHN (fl. 1620–1642), historical writer, was the elder of the two sons of Henry Trussell by his wife, Sarah, whose maiden name is given variously as Ketlewood and Restwoold (Berry, Hants Genealogies, p. 143; Visit. Warwickshire, Harl. Soc. p. 93). The family came originally from Northamptonshire (Bridges, ii. 51), but the branch to which Trussell belonged had long been settled at Billesley, Warwickshire (Dugdale, ii. 714–18; Harl. Soc. Publ. iv. 28, xii. 93, xiii. 359, xvii. 298, xviii. 225).

Henry Trussell's elder brother, Thomas (fl. 1610–1625) of Billesley, styled in the ‘Visitation’ the ‘souldier,’ was the last member of the family to own Billesley, which he sold before 1619 to Sir Robert Lee. In 1610 he wrote to Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, requesting his acceptance of ‘a small labour composed by him and dedicated to his lordship, the object of which is to suggest means for supplying the king's private state’ (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1603–10, p. 612); he was afterwards employed as government messenger (ib. 1611–26 passim). He married Margaret, daughter of Edward Boughton of Causton. He was author of ‘The Souldier pleading his own Cause … with an Epitome of the qualities required in the … officers of a private company. The second impression much enlarged with Military Instructions,’ London, 1619, 8vo (Brit. Mus.); it contains some useful information on the military practices of the time.

John Trussell, is said by Wood to have been a scholar of Winchester (but cf. Kirby). He settled down to business in that city, and took an active part in municipal politics. He became steward to the bishop of Winchester and alderman of the city, and served as mayor in 1624 and again in 1633 (Hist. and Antiq. of Winchester, 1773, ii. 289, 290; cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1633–4, p. 377). But most of his time was devoted to historical research; in 1636 he published ‘A Continuation of the Collection of the History of England, beginning where S[amuel] Daniel [q. v.] … ended, with the raigne of Edward the Third, and ending where … Viscount Saint Albones began … being a compleat history of the beginning and end of the dissension betwixt the two houses of Yorke and Lancaster. With the Matches and issue of all the Kings, Princes, Dukes, Marquisses, Earles, and Viscounts of this Nation, deceased during those times,’ London, fol. Trussell's book is a very creditable production, and is much superior to many works subsequently written on the period. In fulness and accuracy of information it is, at any rate, comparable with Bacon's ‘Henry VII.’ He does not quote his authorities, but professes to have ‘examined, though not all, the most and best that have written of those times.’ Differing from the chroniclers,