Page "Thomas Tryon" Paragraph 2

He traveled to Barbados hoping to succeed in his hat trade and to profit from greater religious tolerance there, but was shocked by the cruelty of slavery in the plantations.

In 1669 he returned to London and settled in Hackney.

In 1682 his inner voice told him to engage in writing and to publish books in order to propagate temperance and nonviolence.

So in the last two decades of his life he published twenty-seven works on a wide range of subjects, including education, nutrition, abstinence from alcohol and tobacco and other health issues, and treatment of slaves.

At the same time he continued his hat trade and grew wealthy.

Some of his self-help books sold very well.

His most widely-read book was The Way to Health, published in 1691 as a second edition of Health's Grand Preservative ; or, The Women's Best Doctor ( 1682 ).

It inspired Benjamin Franklin to adopt vegetarianism.

Tryon ’ s writings also impressed playwright Aphra Behn and vegetarian poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Tryon died in 1703 and his Memoirs were published posthumously in 1705.