Life of Frederick Marryat

Lord Napier, begun-and stopped-at the request of the widow, and much miscellaneous journalism-if that is the correct description of contributions to magazines. His pen was rapid, and he

stage, diaries on the Continent and in America, letters of N

eral way one gathers that the question of money was a very important, sometimes a very pressing one, with Marryat. Money earned, inherited, spent-money to be recovered from debtors, and, doubtless, paid to creditors, had much of his attention. It is manifest that he was what Carlyle would have called "a very expensive Herr." He liked to lead a large life, and to show a gentlemanly indifference to money. By preference he lived in good houses, in good neighbourhoods, and it is not overrash or uncharitable to guess that his income was not always adequate to his expenses. Finally, he was addicted to some of the most effectual o

exchanged Sussex House for it, but how Sussex House was got we are not told. It cannot have been bought either out of prize money, or the proceeds of the two books he had published already, although his prices were remarkably good for a beginner. Four hundred pounds is the sum said to have been given by Colburn for "Frank Mildmay"-a good deal more than the most sanguine of novices would expect to receive from the most generous of publishers for a first book in these days. Certainly, in 1830, Marryat was working as a man works who has reasons

, if the work succeeded, I should expect an addition of ￡100, and if it continued profitable, another ￡100, so as to raise the final pay of the editor to ￡600 per annum. The stipulations may be talked over afterwards. To choose my sub-editor is indispensable. He must be a nautical man." Marryat had learnt plainly how necessary it is to be captain of your own ship-and withal he quite understood how to laun

to guide his literary beginnings, he deserves all the more credit for his spontaneo

which still continues to be catalogued with Marryat's own stories. There were contributors to be hunted up-kept up to the mark, more or less successfully-and occasionally soothed down-Thomas Moore for one, who wrote in agony to insist on the necessity there was that he should see his proofs, and also to make monetary arrangements. Of course there were quarrels to be fought out, for in those days no periodical was able to exist without its regular battle. But in the midst of these forgetable and forgotten things-Marryat contributed to the Metropolitan five of t

burning interest in the sorrows of the slave. He took up the logically strong, but practically ineffective, position of the man who declined to be troubled for the slave while there was so much suffering unremedied at home. This might be a very sensible decision, but unfortunately it was discredited by the fact that it had been a favourite one with the slave-holders, whose tenderness for sufferers at home was never heard of till their own property in the West Indies seemed to be in danger. On another question, which proved a trying one to candidates till very recently, Marryat took a disastrously sensible course. He was called upon to give his opinion of the practice of flogging in the navy-and committed himself to the side of discipline most fatally. "Sir," he said to a heckler, who wanted to know whether the "gallant captain" would be capable of flogging him or his sons; "Sir, you say the answer I gave you is not direct; I will answer you again. If ever you

ndence with ministers on those naval affairs which he understood. He forwarded observations on the Merchant Shipping Bill of that year-one of our portentous list of shipping measures-to Sir James Graham. His volunteer help was well received, and the[65] First Lord, one of the ablest men who ever was at the head of the department, invited him to come to Whitehall and talk the Bill over. This invitation may be taken as a proof, among others, that if M

t," he wrote to his mother, who had plainly been hurt, "I cannot say 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[66] one in a thousand will read it; those who do, know it refers to a

n. He cannot have edited it, but he sent in his "Diary on the Continent," and he wrote, in this year, "The Pirate" and "The Three Cutters," in which, for the first time, he had the advantage of being illustrated by Clarkson Stanfield. With the Metropolitan his connection was coming to an end. In 1836 he returned to England, to get rid of his proprietary interest in it to Saunders and Otley, and to part with those publishers in a friendly manner-but to part decisively,

was the sheriff's-officer. Now and then it was only the English winter. That was the most wholesome reason; but it was the least commonly genuine, and the most frequently assumed. In all that curious expatriated world there was something of the Cave of Adullam. It was often only the more pleasant on that account. Acquaintances matured quickly; among people who were all more or less fugitives, few questions were asked; even Captain Rook and Mr. Deuceace were received without too much inquiry by people who[68] neither imitated nor liked all their ways. Now we are less strict at home, and by a natural reaction more circumspect abroad. Besides railways keep people rolling, and have greatly bro

uster two-neither, it must be confessed, very brilliant nor very honourable. According to the first, Marryat was asked to dinner to meet a company of celebrities and friends[69] of his own, in hopes that he would talk. He held his tongue, and when asked whether he had been silent because he was bored, answered, "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 re

y chance of obtaining the money from R-- is by telling him that I am coming to Paris as soon as I can, and that I shall expose him by publishing the whole affair, his letters, &c.; and, moreover that you strongly suspect that it is my intention, independent of exposure, to break[70] every bone in his body on my arrival. He holds himself as a gentleman, being the son of some post-captain, and will not like that message, an

ties which must have made him the most tolerable of husbands and fathers on his travels. He was at all times tender-hearted with children, as befitted an author who ended by writing almost wholly for them; and would quiet his own by telling them stories, when the rattling of carriages and diligences had made them fractious.

7

June 9

nce I have been here I have discovered what I fancy will be new in England-a variety of carnation, with short stalks-the stalks are so short that the flowers do not rise above the leaves of the plant, and you have no idea how pretty they are; they are all in a bush (? blush). There are two varieties here, belonging to a man, but he will not part with them. He says they are very scarce, and only to be had at Vervier, a town eight miles off. They are celebrated for flowers at Liége, but a flower-woman from Liége, to whom I showed them, said she had never seen them there; so I presume the man was correct. Have you heard of them? By-the-by, you should ask V-- to send for some Ghent roses-they are extremely beautiful. I did give most posi

The cures are miraculous. Love to Ellen. She sha'n't come German over me when we meet.

d," who had been playing truant so enviably in Paris, was afterwards the Lieute