Peter Simple; and, The Three Cutters Part 1

Peter Simple and The Three Cutters.

by Frederick Marryat.

Frederick Marryat

Without yielding implicit credence to the handsome pedigree of the Marryats supplied by Mrs Lean, the novelist's daughter, we may give a glance in pa.s.sing to the first-fruits of this family tree. They-- naturally--came over with the Conqueror, and emerged from obscurity under Stephen as the proud "possessors of much lands at the village of Meryat, Ashton Meryat, and elsewhere in Somersetshire ... One Nicotas de Maryet is deputed to collect the ransom of Richard Coeur de Leon through the county of 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 ma.s.sacre 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-cla.s.s 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 circ.u.mstance 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 father injudiciously sent him back in a carriage with some money in his pocket. The wise youth slipped out, and finding his way home by some quiet approach, carried off his younger brothers to the theatre. He finally ran away from a private tutor, and Mr Marryat recognised the wisdom of compliance. Being then fourteen, that is of age to hold a commission, Frederick was allowed to enter the navy, and on the 23rd of September 1806, he started on his first voyage on board H.M.S. _Imperieuse_, Captain Lord Cochrane, for the Mediterranean.

He could scarcely have entered upon his career under better auspices. In a line-of-battle ship he would have had no chance of service at this stage of the war, when the most daring of the French could not be decoyed out of port; but the frigates had always more exciting work on hand than mere patrolling. There were cruisers to be captured, privateers to be cut off, convoys to be taken, and work to be done on the coast among the forts. And Lord Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald, was not the man to neglect his opportunities. His daring gallantry and cool judgment are accredited to most of Marryat's captains, particularly in _Frank Mildmay_, where the cruise of the _Imperieuse_ along the Spanish coast is most graphically and literally described. Cochrane's _Autobiography_ betrays the strong, stern individuality of the man, invaluable in action, somewhat disturbing in civil life. As a reformer in season and out of season, at the Admiralty or in the House of Commons, his zeal became a bye-word, but Marryat knew him only on board his frigate, as an inspiring leader of men. He never pa.s.sed an opportunity of serving his country and winning renown, but his daring was not reckless.

"I must here remark," says Marryat in his private log, "that I never knew any one so careful of the lives of his ship's company as Lord Cochrane, or any one who calculated so closely the risks attending any expedition. Many of the most brilliant achievements were performed without loss of a single life, so well did he calculate the chances; and one half the merit which he deserves for what he did accomplish has never been awarded him, merely because, in the official despatches, there has not been a long list of killed and wounded to please the appet.i.te of the English public."

Marryat has left us a graphic account of his first day at sea:--

"The _Imperieuse_ sailed; the Admiral of the port was one who _would_ be obeyed, but _would not_ listen always to reason or common sense.

The signal for sailing was enforced by gun after gun; the anchor was hove up, and, with all her stores on deck, her guns not even mounted, in a state of confusion unparalleled from her being obliged to hoist in faster than it was possible she could stow away, she was driven out of harbour to encounter a heavy gale. A few hours more would have enabled her to proceed to sea with security, but they were denied; the consequences were appalling, they might have been fatal. In the general confusion some iron too near the binnacles had attracted the needle of the compa.s.ses; the ship was steered out of her course. At midnight, in a heavy gale at the close of November, so dark that you could not distinguish any object, however close, the _Imperieuse_ dashed upon the rocks between Ushant and the Main. The cry of terror which ran through the lower decks; the grating of the keel as she was forced in; the violence of the shocks which convulsed the frame of the vessel; the hurrying up of the ship's company without their clothes; and then the enormous wave which again bore her up, and carried her clean over the reef, will never be effaced from my memory."

This, after all, was not an inappropriate introduction to the stormy three years which followed it. The story is written in the novels, particularly _Frank Mildmay[1]_ where every item of his varied and exciting experience is reproduced with dramatic effect. It would be impossible to rival Marryat's narrative of episodes, and we shall gain no sense of reality by adjusting the materials of fiction to an exact accordance with fact. He says that these books, except _Frank Mildmay,_ are "wholly fict.i.tious in characters, in plot, and in events," but they are none the less truthful pictures of his life at sea. Cochrane's _Autobiography_ contains a history of the _Imperieuse_; it is from _Peter Simple_ and his companions that we must learn what Marryat thought and suffered while on board.

Under Cochrane he cruised along the coast of France from Ushant to the mouth of the Gironde, saw some active service in the Mediterranean, and, after a return to the ocean, was finally engaged in the Basque Roads. A page of his private log contains a lively _resume_ of the whole experience:--

"The cruises of the _Imperieuse_ were periods of continual excitement, from the hour in which she hove up her anchor till she dropped it again in port; the day that pa.s.sed without a shot being fired in anger, was to us a blank day: the boats were hardly secured on the booms than they were cast loose and out again; the yard and stay tackles were forever hoisting up and lowering down. The expedition with which parties were formed for service; the rapidity of the frigate's movements night and day; the hasty sleep s.n.a.t.c.hed at all hours; the waking up at the report of the guns, which seemed the only keynote to the hearts of those on board, the beautiful precision of our fire, obtained by constant practice; the coolness and courage of our captain, inoculating the whole of the ship's company; the suddenness of our attacks, the gathering after the combat, the killed lamented, the wounded almost envied; the powder so burnt into our face that years could not remove it; the proved character of every man and officer on board, the implicit trust and adoration we felt for our commander; the ludicrous situations which would occur in the extremest danger and create mirth when death was staring you in the face, the hair-breadth escapes, and the indifference to life shown by all--when memory sweeps along these years of excitement even now, my pulse beats more quickly with the reminiscence."

After some comparatively colourless service in other frigates, during which he gained the personal familiarity with West Indian life of which his novels show many traces, he completed his time as a midshipman, and in 1812, returned home to pa.s.s. As a lieutenant his cruises were uneventful and, after being several times invalided, he was promoted Commander in 1815, just as the Great War was closing. He was now only twenty-three, and had certainly received an admirable training for the work with which he was soon to enchant the public. Though never present at a great battle, and many good officers were in the same position, he had seen much smart service and knew from others what lay beyond his own experience. He evidently took copious notes of all he saw and heard. He had sailed in the North Sea, in the Channel, in the Mediterranean, and along the Eastern coast of America from Nova Scotia to Surinam. He had been rapidly promoted.

It is tolerably obvious that, both as midshipman and lieutenant, he evinced the cool daring and manly independence that characterises his heroes, with a dash perhaps of Jack Easy's philosophy. It was a rough life and he was not naturally amenable to discipline, but probably his superiors made a favourite of the dashing handsome lad. The habit, which helps to redeem Frank Mildmay and even graces Peter Simple, of saving others from drowning, was always his own. His daughter records, with pardonable pride, that he was presented while in the navy with twenty-seven certificates, recommendations, and votes of thanks for having saved the lives of others at the risk of his own, besides receiving a gold medal from the Humane Society.

During the peace of 1815 he "occupied himself in acquiring a perfect knowledge of such branches of science as might prove useful should the Lords of the Admiralty think fit to employ him in a voyage of discovery or survey." A vaguely projected expedition to Africa was, however, relinquished on account of his marriage with "Catherine, second daughter of Sir Stephen Shairp, Knt., of Houston, Co. Linlithgow (for many years Her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General, and twice _charge d'affaires_ at the court of Russia);" which took place in January 1819. In this same year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, according to tradition on account of his skill in drawing caricatures.

He was at sea again soon after his marriage as commander of the _Beaver_ sloop, in which commission he was sent to mount guard over Napoleon at St Helena until his death. He took a sketch of the dead emperor in full profile, which was engraved in England and France, and considered a striking likeness. He was meanwhile no doubt perfecting the code of signals for the use of merchant vessels of all nations, including the cipher for secret correspondence, which was immediately adopted, and secured to its inventor the Cross of the Legion of Honour from Louis Philippe. It was not actually published in book form till 1837, from which date its sale produced an appreciable income.

After returning in the _Rosario_ with the despatches concerning Napoleon's death, he was sent to escort the body of 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 p.r.o.nounced 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 Suss.e.x.

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 a.s.signed 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 Suss.e.x 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 _j.a.phet in search of a Father_(!) 1834, besides a comedy in three acts, ent.i.tled _The Gipsy,_ a tragedy called _The Cavalier of Seville,_ and the miscellaneous papers afterwards collected under the t.i.tle, _Olla Podrida._

In 1833 he stood, as a reformer, for Tower Hamlets, but his methods of canva.s.sing 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 a.s.sistance 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 will not believe it, those who did not will care little about it, and forget the name in a week. Had he given the decision in our favour, I should have been better pleased, _but it's no use crying; what's done can't be helped."_

This letter was written from Brighton, and the following year found Marryat on the Continent, at home in a circle of gay spirits who might almost be called the outcasts of English society. They were pleasure-seekers, by no means necessarily depraved but, by narrow incomes or other causes, driven into a cheerful exile. The captain was always ready to give and take in the matter of entertainment, and he was invited everywhere though, on one occasion at least, it is recorded that he proved an uncongenial guest. Having dined, as a recognised lion among lions, he "didn't make a single joke during the whole evening." His host remarked on his silence the next morning, and Marryat replied:--

"Oh, if that's what you wanted you should have asked me when you were alone. Why, did you imagine I was going to let out any of my jokes for those fellows to put in their next books? No, that is not _my_ plan.

When I find myself in such company _as that_ I open my ears and hold my tongue, glean all I can, and give them nothing in return."

He did not always, however, play the professional author so offensively, and we hear of his taking part in private theatricals and dances, preparing a Christmas tree for the children, and cleverly packing his friends' portmanteaux.

Meanwhile, he was writing _The Pirate and Three Cutters,_ for which he received 750, as well as _Snarley-yow_ and the _Pacha of many Tales._ He had been contributing to the _Metropolitan_ at 15 guineas a sheet, until he paid a flying visit to England in 1836 in order to transfer his allegiance to the _New Monthly Magazine,_ from which he secured 20 guineas. Mrs Lean states that her father received 1100 each for _Peter Simple, Jacob Faithful, j.a.phet,_ and _The Pacha of many Tales;_ 1200 for _Midshipman Easy,_ 1300 for _Snarley-yow,_ and 1600 for the _Diary in America._ Yet "although Captain Marryat and his publishers mutually benefited by their transactions with each other, one would have imagined, from the letters exchanged between them, that they had been natural enemies." She relates how one of the fraternity told Marryat he was "somewhat eccentric--an odd creature," and added, "I am somewhat warm-tempered myself, and therefore make allowance for yours, which is certainly warm enough."

Marryat justified the charge by replying:--

"There was no occasion for you to make the admission that you are somewhat warm-tempered; your letter establishes that fact. Considering your age, you are a little volcano, and if the insurance were aware of your frequent visits at the Royal Exchange, they would demand double premium for the building. Indeed, I have my surmises _now_ as to the last conflagration.

Your remark as to the money I have received may sound well, mentioned as an isolated fact; but how does it sound when it is put in juxtaposition with the sums you have received? I, who have found everything, receiving a pittance, while you, who have found nothing but the shop to sell in, receiving such a lion's share. I a.s.sert again that it is slavery. I am Sinbad the sailor, and you are the old man of the mountain, clinging on my back, and you must not be surprised at my wishing to throw you off the first convenient opportunity.

The fact is, you have the vice of old age very strong upon you, and you are blinded by it; but put the question to your sons, and ask them whether they consider the present agreement fair. Let them arrange with me, and do you go and read your Bible. We all have our ideas of Paradise, and if other authors think like me, the most pleasurable portion of antic.i.p.ated bliss is that there will be no publishers there. That idea often supports me after an interview with one of your fraternity."

Marryat only returned to England a few months before hurrying off to America in April 1837. The reasons for this move it is impossible to conjecture, as we can scarcely accept the apparent significance of his comments on Switzerland in the _Diary on the Continent:--_

"Do the faults of these people arise from the peculiarity of their const.i.tutions, or from the nature of their government? To ascertain this, one must compare them with those who live under similar inst.i.tutions. _I must go to America--that is decided_."

He was received by the Americans with a curious mixture of suspicion and enthusiasm. English men and women of letters in late years had been visiting the Republic and criticising its inst.i.tutions to the mother country--with a certain forgetfulness of hospitalities received that was not, to say the least of it, in good taste. Marryat was also an author, and it seemed only too probable that he had come to spy out the land. On the other hand, his books were immensely popular over the water and, but for dread of possible consequences, Jonathan was delighted to see him.

His arrival at Saratoga Springs produced an outburst in the local papers of the most p.r.o.nounced journalese:--

"This distinguished writer is at present a sojourner in our city.

Before we knew the gallant Captain was respiring our balmy air, we really did wonder what laughing gas had imbued our atmosphere--every one we met in the streets appeared to be in such a state of jollification; but when we heard that the author of _Peter Simple_ was actually puffing a cigar amongst us we no longer marvelled at the pleasant countenances of our citizens. He has often made them laugh when he was thousands of miles away. Surely now it is but natural that they ought to be tickled to death at the idea of having him present."