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

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 legal difficulties arose in connection with his father's memory, which Marryat accepted with admirable philosophy:--
"As for the Chancellor's judgment," he told his mother, "I cannot say that I thought anything about it, on the contrary, it appears to me that he might have been much more severe if he had thought proper. It is easy to impute motives, and difficult to disprove them. I thought, considering his enmity, that he let us off cheap; as there is no punishing a chancellor, and he might say what he pleased with impunity. I did not therefore roar, I only smiled. The effect will be nugatory. Not one in a thousand will read it; those who do, know it refers to a person not in this world; and of those, those who knew my father