Peter Simple and The Three Cutters, Vol. 1 | Page 2

Somerset ... In the reign of Edward I., Sir John de
Maryet is called to attend the Great Parliament; in that of Edward II.,
his son is excommunicated for embowelling his deceased wife; 'a
fancy,' says the county historian, 'peculiar to the knightly family of
Meryat.'" Mrs Lean quotes records of other Meryat "hearts" to which an
honourable burial has been accorded. The house of Meryat finally lost
its property on the fall of Lady Jane Grey, to whom it had descended
through the female line.
Captain Marryat belonged to the Suffolk branch of the family, of whom

"one John de Maryat had the honour of dancing in a masque before the
Virgin Queen at Trinity College, Cambridge ... was sent to aid the
Huguenots in their wars in France ... escaped the massacre of St
Bartholemew and, in 1610, returned to England." Here he married
"Mary, the daughter and heiress of Daniel Luke, of the Covent Garden
(a rank Puritan family in Hudibras), and again settled in his paternal
county of Suffolk." Less partial biographers neglect to trace the
Marryats beyond this Huguenot officer, who is described by them as a
refugee.
Whatever may be the truth of these matters, it is certain that during the
17th and 18th centuries the Maryats were a respectable, middle-class
Puritan family--ministers, doctors, and business men. In the days of the
merry monarch a John Marryat became distinguished as a "painful
preacher," and was twice expelled from his livings for non-conformity.
Captain Marryat's grandfather was a good doctor, and his father, Joseph
Marryat of Wimbledon House, was an M.P., chairman for the
committee of Lloyd's, and colonial agent for the island of Grenada--a
substantial man, who refused a baronetcy, and was honoured by an
elegy from Campbell. He married Charlotte Geyer, or Von Geyer, a
Hessian of good descent.
Frederick, born July 10, 1792, was one of fifteen sons and daughters,
"of whom ten attained maturity, and several have entered the lists of
literature." His eldest brother, Joseph, was a famous collector of china,
and author of Pottery and Porcelain; the youngest, Horace, wrote One
Year in Sweden, Jutland and the Danish Isles; and his sister, Mrs Bury
Palliser, was the author of Nature and Art (not to be confounded with
Mrs Inchbald's novel of that name), The History of Lace, and Historic
Devices, Badges and War Cries. His father and grandfather published
political and medical works, respectively, while the generation below
was equally prolific. Marryat's youngest son, Frank, described his
travels in Borneo and the Eastern Archipelago and Mountains and
Molehills, or Recollections of a Burnt Journal; and his daughter
Florence, Mrs Lean, the author of his Life and Letters, has written a
great many popular novels.

We can record little of Marryat's boyhood beyond a general impression
of his discontent with school-masters and parents. Mr Hannay is
probably right in regarding his hard pictures of home and school life as
reflections of his own experience.
It is said that on one occasion he was found to be engaged in the pursuit
of knowledge while standing on his head; and that he accounted for the
circumstance with a humorous philosophy almost worthy of Jack
Easy--"Well! I've been trying for three hours to learn it on my feet, but
I couldn't, so I thought I would try whether it would be easier to learn it
on my head." Another anecdote, of a contest with his school-fellow
Babbage, is interesting and characteristic. It appears that the inventor of
the calculating machine, unlike Marryat, was a very diligent lad; and
that he accordingly arranged, with some kindred spirits, to begin work
at three in the morning. The restless Marryat wished to join the party,
but his motives were suspected and the conspirators adopted the simple
expedient of not waking him. Marryat rolled his bed across the door,
and Babbage pushed it away. Marryat tied a string from his wrist to the
door handle, and Babbage unfastened it. A thicker string was cut, a
chain was unlinked by pliers, but at last the future captain forged a
chain that was too stout for the future mathematician. Babbage,
however, secured his revenge; as soon as his comrade was safely asleep
he slipped a piece of pack thread through the chain and, carrying the
other end to his own bed, was enabled by a few rapid jerks to waken
Marryat whenever he chose. Apparently satisfied with his victory in the
gentle art of tormenting, Babbage yielded voluntarily upon the original
point of dispute. Marryat and others joined the reading party,
transformed it to a scene of carnival, and were discovered by the
authorities.
Meanwhile Marryat was constantly running away--to sea; according to
his own account because he was obliged to wear his elder brother's old
clothes. On one occasion his