Peter Simple and The Three Cutters, Vol. 1 | Page 5

Queen Caroline to
Cuxhaven. He was then told off for revenue duty in the Channel, and

had some smart cruising for smugglers until the Rosario was
pronounced unseaworthy and paid off on the 22nd of February 1822.
As a result of this experience he wrote a long despatch to the Admiralty,
in which he freely criticised the working of the preventive service, and
made some practical suggestions for its improvement. In 1822 he also
published Suggestions for the abolition of the present system of
impressment in the Naval Service, a pamphlet which is said to have
made him unpopular with Royalty. He frequently in his novels urges
the same reform, which he very earnestly desired.
He was appointed to the Larne in March 1823, and saw some hard
service against the Burmese, for which he received the thanks of the
general and the Indian Government, the Companionship of the Bath,
and the command of the Ariadne. Two years later, in November 1830,
he resigned his ship, and quitted active service, according to Mrs Lean,
because of his appointment as equerry to His Royal Highness the Duke
of Sussex.
He was probably influenced, however, by a distaste for routine duties in
time of peace, the claims of a growing family, and literary ambitions.
He had already published Frank Mildmay, and received for it the
handsome sum of £400, and negotiations were very possibly on foot
concerning The King's Own, of which the composition had been
completed.
There is considerable difficulty in following the remainder of Marryat's
life, owing to the silence of our only authority, Mrs Lean. No reasons
can be assigned for the sudden flittings in which he constantly indulged,
or for his hasty journeys to America and to the Continent. He was
clearly impulsive in all things, and, though occasionally shrewd,
betrayed a mania for speculation. Moreover, he was naturally addicted
to the Bohemian pleasures of life, being somewhat promiscuous in
hospitality, and absolutely prodigal in the art of making presents. To
satisfy these various demands on his pocket, he was often driven to
spells of desperate work, in spite of the really handsome sums he
received from the publishers and editors with whom he was always at
variance.

His first regular establishment was Sussex House, Hampstead, which
he soon "swapped," after dinner and champagne, for a small estate of
1000 acres at Langham, Norfolk; though he did not finally settle in the
country till 1843. His original occupation of Langham, which realised
him a steady annual deficit, was followed by a return to London, a visit
to Brighton and, in 1835, a journey on the Continent to Brussels and
Lausanne.
He had, meanwhile, been contributing to The Metropolitan Magazine,
which he edited from 1832 to 1835, finally selling his proprietary rights
to Saunders and Otley for £1050. His editorial work was arduous, and
many of his own compositions were first published in The Metropolitan.
Here appeared Newton Forster, 1832, Peter Simple, 1833, Jacob
Faithful, Midshipman Easy, and Japhet in search of a Father(!) 1834,
besides a comedy in three acts, entitled The Gipsy, a tragedy called The
Cavalier of Seville, and the miscellaneous papers afterwards collected
under the title, Olla Podrida.
In 1833 he stood, as a reformer, for Tower Hamlets, but his methods of
canvassing were imprudent. He dwelt upon his own hobbies, and
disregarded those of the electors. He apparently expected to carry the
day by opposing the pressgang in a time of peace, and even permitted
himself to repudiate philanthropy towards the African negro. The
gallantry with which, on one occasion, he saved the lives of his
audience when the floor of the room had fallen in, was not permitted to
cover the rash energy of his reply to a persistent questioner:--"If ever
you, or one of your sons, should come under my command at sea and
deserve punishment, if there be no other effectual mode of conferring it,
I shall flog you." It is hardly necessary to add that he lost the election.
He afterwards failed in a plan for the establishment of brevet rank in
the army, but gave some valuable assistance in the preparation of the
Merchant Shipping Bill of 1834.
It was about this time that Marryat is currently reported to have
challenged F.D. Maurice to a duel. The latter had published an
anonymous novel, called Eustace Conway, in which "a prominent
character, represented in no amiable colours, bore the name of Captain

Marryat." The truth of the story seems to be that the Captain went in
hot wrath to Bentley, and demanded an apology or a statement that the
coincidence was unintentional. Maurice replied, through his publisher,
that he had never heard of Captain Marryat. It may be questioned
whether the apology was not more galling than the original offence.
In 1834 some