Biographical Sketch of the Author. XIX 
By his first wife Tusser had no children, but by the second, 
who survived him, he had three sons, Thomas, John and 
Edmond, and one daughter Mary. 
His will, which is exceedingly characteristic, is given in 
full at the end of this introduction, p. xxix, from a copy in the 
British Museum, privately printed in 1846 by Mr. Charles 
Clark, of Great Totham, Essex, from a transcript furnished to 
him by Mr. E. Ventris, of Cambridge, by whom the original 
was discovered in the Registry at Ely.” At the end of the will 
were printed Tusser’s metrical Autobiography, and a few notices 
from nearly contemporary authors. Mr. Clark also printed in 
1834 a few copies of the original edition of 1557 of the 
“Hundredth good Poyntes of Husbandrie.” 
Tusser was, as may be seen from his writings, a man of 
high religious principles, good-natured and cheerful, of a kindly 
and generous disposition, and hospitable to a fault. Although 
he constantly inculcates economy, he was entirely free from 
the meanness and pitiful spirit, which, according to Stillingfleet, 
made farmers of his time starve their cattle, their land and 
everything belonging to them; choosing rather to lose a pound 
than spend a shilling. ‘‘ Mirth and good cheer,” seems to have 
been his motto, and although he may have been imprudent in 
allowing his love of hospitality to be carried to such an excess 
as to keep him from independence, yet we cannot help loving 
the man, and admiring the justness of his sentiments on 
every subject connected with life and morals. Strict as he 
appears to have been in all matters connected with religion, he 
1 Shelf-mark, 10817, g. 
2 Notes and Queries, Ist Ser. vol. xii. p. 193. 
