Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
Do you need
volunteer, community service, work, military or court hours?
|
|
Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
|
|
Click here and add this page to your favorites!
|
Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MAR-MEC |
|
|
MARRYAT, FREDERICK (1792-1848) , English sailor and novelist, was born at Westminster on the loth of July 1792. He was the grandson of Thomas Marryat (physician, author of The Philosophy of Masons, and writer of verse), and son of Joseph Marryat, agent for the island of Grenada, who wrote pamphlets in defence of the Slave Trade. His mother was a Bostonian of German extraction. Young Marryat distinguished himself as a boy by frequently running away to go to sea; and at last, at the age of fourteen, he was allowed to enter the navy. His first service was under Lord Cochrane (afterwards tenth earl
commander
Marryat brought ripe experience and unimpaired vivacity to his work when he began to write novels. Frank Mildmay, or the Naval Officer, was published in 1829, and The King's Own followed in 183o. The novels of the sea captain at once won public favour. The freshness of the new field which was opened up to the imaginationso full of vivid lights and shadows, light-hearted fun, grinding hardship, stirring adventure, heroic action, warm friendships, bitter hatredswas in exhilarating contrast to the world of the historical romancer and the fashion-able novelist, to which the mind of the general reader was at that date given over. He had an admirable gift of lucid, direct narrative, and an unfailing fund of incident, and of humour, sometimes bordering on farce. Of all his portraits of adventurous sailors, " Gentleman Chucks " in Peter Simple and " Equality Jack " in Mr Midshipman Easy are the most famous, but he created many other types which take rank among the characteristic figures in English fiction. Marryat's first attempt was somewhat severely criticized from an artistic point of view, and he was accused of gratifying private grudges by introducing real personages too thinly disguised; and as he attributed some of his own adventures to Frank Mildmay he was rather shocked to learn that readers identified him with that disagreeable character. The King's Own was a vast improvement, in point of construction, upon Frank Mildmay; and he went on, through a quick
Keene (1842); Monsieur Violet (1842); The Privateer'sMan (1844) ; The Mission, or Scenes in Africa (1845); The Little Savage (1848-1849), published posthumously; and Valerie, not completed (1849). His novels form an important link between Smollett and Fielding and Charles Dickens. Captain Marryat had retired from the naval service in 183o, becoming equerry to the duke of Sussex. He edited the Metropolitan Magazine from 1832 to 1835, and some of his best stories appeared in that paper. He spent a great part of his time in Brussels, where he was very popular. He visited Canada during Papineau's revolt and the United States in 1837, and gave a disparaging account of American institutions in a Diary published on his return to England. While at New York
capital snatches of verse are scattered throughout his novels, the best being " Poll put her arms akimbo " in Snarleyyow, and the " Hunter and the Maid " in Poor Jack. In 1843 he settled at Langham Manor, Norfolk. He indulged in costly experiments in farming, so that in spite of the large income earned by his books he was not a rich man. He died at Langham on the 9th of August 1848, his death being hastened by news of the loss of his son by shipwreck.His daughter, Florence Marryat, herself a novelist, published his Life and Letters in 1872. See also David Hannay, Life of Marryat (1889). (D. H.) End of Article: MARRYAT, FREDERICK (1792-1848) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/MAR_MEC/MARRYAT_FREDERICK_1792_1848_.html"> MARRYAT, FREDERICK (1792-1848) </a> |
|
|
(Previous) MARRUVIUM |
(Next) MARS |
|
Sponsored Advertisements